2002 - 2003 PROGRAMMING — Galerie VAV Gallery

GALERIE VAV GALLERY

2002 - 2003 PROGRAMMING

MONTREAL-PHILADELPHIA PRINT EXCHANGE

EN
A group of young artists from Montreal organize an exhibition and print exchange with Philadelphia. The Canadian body of work was exhibited in Philadelphia last January and the VAV gallery present now 25 prints produced by students and faculty members from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Organized by the concordia student printmaking association, Montreal - Philadelphia Print Exchange take place from june 30th - July 13th. The Vernissage is on July 9th from 7pm - 10pm.

A poster, reproducing the Concordia work, alongside Tyler's prints will be exhibited. This will allow the Montreal audience to see, compare and contrast the schools' productions and styles.

The Exchange will incorporate a physical exchange of artwork in which every participant will receive an artwork from the other school's. This project creates the opportunity for emerging artists to share and meet with their contemporaries through their art works.

FR
De jeunes artistes montréalais organisent une exposition et échange d'oeuvres entre Montréal et Philadelphie. Après les 25 gravures des participants de l'université Concordia qui ont été exposées à Philadelphie en janvier dernier, c'est maintenant les 25 oeuvres des étudiants et membres du personnel de Tyler School of Art à Philadelphie qui seront exposées à Montréal. Organisée par l'association étudiante de gravure (SPA) de l'université Concordia et présentée à la Galerie VAV, l'exposition se tiendra du 30 juin au 13 juillet. Le vernissage aura lieu le 9 juillet de 19:00 à 22:00.

Une affiche représentant les oeuvres des artistes montréalais sera exposée avec les oeuvres des artistes de Philadelphie. Ceci permettra aux visiteurs montréalais de voir, de comparer et d'évaluer les différences entre les deux groupes d'artistes évoluant dans deux milieux différents.

Le projet inclut une échange réelle d'oeuvres. Chaque participant reçoit une oeuvre de l'un de ses confrères, en échange de celle remise pour participer au projet. Cette exposition offre l'opportunité pour des jeunes artistes de partager leur culture et de se rencontrer via leurs oeuvres.

EXHIBITION: JUN 30 - JUL 13, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: JUL 9

GROUP
DONNA LOGRASSO
DANIEL LOBDELL
KATHERIN SITKO REITZ
EVA WYLIE
KAREN OREMUS
CHERYL CATHERWOOD
DANNY ALVAREZ
DOUG JEREMIAS
ESTHER LEE
ANDREW JEWEL
BETH-ADRIA MOBBS
DENNIS LO
MEGAN DRISCOLL
THOMAS CHRISTOPHER HACKER
REBEKAH TOLLEY
NATASHA PESTICHE
HEIDI PETERSON
BRIAN PHILIPS
MEGAN CZEKAJ
ERIKA SWEENEY WEBBER
ELIZABETH POZZI
ANGELA VICTOR
ANNA THOMPSON
JOE COY

Montreal-Philadelphia Print Exchange, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Montreal-Philadelphia Print Exchange, 2002.

Print exchange Montreal/Philadelphia

The nature of the proposed project involves a Printmaking Exchange-Exhibition with Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, USA. The show will consist of approximately 25 prints produced by undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and monitors. SPA judges the VAV Gallery an ideal location for this kind of student collaboration that would encompass a form of exchange with another student-run gallery in the US. This is an exciting opportunity for student artists at Concordia University to view print media works from another country with a different background and different "art world environment". Conversely, Concordia students were already given that opportunity: the Canadian body of work was exhibited in Penrose Hall of the Tyler School of Art, on January 22-26, 2002, and documented on the following web-site: http:/ /spa.concordia.ca. Our goal is to bring together two unique segments of contemporary print media works for students to learn and grow from each other with the basis for an international critique.

Unfortunately distance often excludes this kind of communication from taking place, it is nevertheless an important form of exchange and sharing that need to be encouraged.

This then creates the opportunity for emerging artists to share/meet with their contemporaries-tellow artists at the same level of experience, to participate in shaping their art world rather than being shaped solely by a unidirectional academic system of established artists.

SPA proposes to exhibit a poster, reproducing the Concordia work, alongside Tyler's prints. This will allow the Montreal audience to see, compare and contrast the schools' productions and styles and emphasize the partnership involved in the exchange, as well as minimizing this distance. It also completes the process started by Tyler's organizer Rebecca Tolley, whereby the prints were brought together in the beginning in Montreal, documented, exchanging hands, exhibited separately, and regathered in Montreal completing the cycle. This show will provide Concordia students with an excellent opportunity to see as their own works, as they were viewed in Philadelphia exhibited alongside their fellow students works, in the form of this poster.

The Exchange will incorporate a physical exchange of artwork in which every participant will receive an artwork from the other school's. While not meeting in person, students meet each other through their art works.

Montreal-Philadelphia Print Exchange, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Montreal-Philadelphia Print Exchange, 2002.

THE GRIM REAPER

Katja Kessin, aka MacLeod: Grim Reaper - a multi-media painting-installation

Grim Reaper is a painting series based on imagery derived from early childhood experience. The series combines two separate yet connected components, each consisting of 11 individual works. The main body consists of eleven large-scale acrylic paintings on stretched canvas, measuring up to 5' x 7'. The paintings are oversized, yet visually exact copies of select drawings from my early childhood (two to five years of age, 1961 to 1964). These portraits of the human figure and its environment have been enlarged free-handed up to life-size. The paintings recapture the emotional impact which originally may have caused a specific image to come into existence, while bringing the audience into direct contact with the original experience: firstly, the life-size scale resembles the oversized scale of the world as it was originally perceived by the child - children are and feel small compared with their surroundings. Secondly, in early childhood, each of life's moments holds an entirely new experience for the child. As early childhood experiences once inspired us with awe, this awe may now be re-experienced through the impact of the images' large scale. The size of the paintings thus not only mimics but furthermore recreates childhood experience.

This group of large paintings is accompanied by a series of 11 small works: original sized, color lazer-copies of the small-scale childhood drawings have been laminated on wood for wall display. They have been altered in photo-shop by the addition of a mere word or a simple phrase, which now sheds a different light on their original meaning. The shock the viewer has experienced when encountering the large paintings thus doubles: initially harmless childhood drawings first overwhelm by their sheer size and the resulting, uncomfortable proximity, then shock once more by their altered content, which may be viewed as an inappropriate context with regards to the subject of early childhood. The text of the photo-shop images reads:

Grim Reaper; Kristallnacht (Crystal Night); Endangered Species; Do not enter; Kong; Groom; Hiroshima; Daddy; All in the same boat; Auschwit, K is for Kill. I do not recall the events that originally caused me to draw the images nearly 40 years ago, nor do I remember the kind of emotions that accompanied their execution. What I do know, though, are the intense emotions that I experienced when I carefully rendered each line and mark featured on the originals. The originals may appear "cute" - the very work we use in connotation with children - but their 90's versions reveal a harsh truth: violence, abuse and death are no strangers in a child's world, even if later-on in adult life we may re-invent one's childhood as sheltered.

EXHIBITION: AUG 5 - 16, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: AUG 6

SOLO
KATJA KESSIN

Katja Kessin, The Grim Reaper, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Katja Kessin, The Grim Reaper, 2002.

Grim Reaper not only deals with grave subject matter, but the size of the paintings dismantles the illusion of and safety and thus permits a more accurate reading which in turn reconnects us to our own early childhood experiences, thus encouraging the audience to re-evaluate the past. The combination of graveness and black humor - image and text - adds a startling effect: what initially might have been misread as cute now leaves no doubt regarding its potential menace, informing us that childhood is indeed an extremely vulnerable state of being.

Grim Reaper combines contemporary art with childhood imagery, traditional methods of art production (painting) with modern technology (laser printing) and image with text in unexpected ways, effectively challenging concepts of art is, and who the artist.

Katja Kessin, The Grim Reaper, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

The Grim Reaper, 2002.

ANATOMIA

Natalie Keis and Kara Pokrzywko
Contemporary Medical Art Exhibition: Painting, Sculpture and Photography

ANATOMIA

"A certain degree of obsession is imperative in order to nourish inspiration.

Everyday when I wake up in this body, 1 hope that this flesh machine works, that no virus disturbs my system, and that no part will break. My body is beautiful, as long as it is normal, alive and in one piece"

The art works presented in the VAV Gallery consist of two separate bodies of works by two artists: Natalie Reis and Klara Pokrzywko. These pieces, that have been incorporated into one entire show, focus on a main theme: the body seen from the inside and out, intact and apart.

There is a conscious division between the body and identity. This from the animalistic, physical, muscular and alive to the digital, processed, multiplied and recycled images of today. Certain pieces refer to illnesses and injuries while contrasting the fact that the body is beautiful in one piece and denied when taken apart.

Canvases are smeared in fleshy colours as though the interior of the body has been extracted yet veiled in beauty all at once. Physical remains have been transformed into sculptures, holding pieces of the human body that have been cut, clipped, cast or moulded. All put into one entire ensemble of body parts and human experiences.

EXHIBITION: AUG 19 - 30, 2000
OPENING RECEPTION:

DUO
NATALIE REIS
KLARA POKRYZKWO

(Slide 1-6)

Klara Pokrzywko

Selon moi, me présenter, plus que superficiellement, est chose utile pour apprécier à un degré plus élever les oeuvres que je confectionne.

Moi et la Solidarité, nous sommes nées en même temps; En 1980 à Varsovie, moi d'une mère ingénieure et d'un père acteur, elle d'un régime communiste atroce et une population criant : liberté! En 1981, moi et ma mère eûmes la chance de quitter les conditions difficiles de la Pologne communiste et de s'installer en Algérie. Là bas, dans les rues et les ruelles de Constantine, j'ai grandi avec des enfants immigrantes et arabes. Pendant les années de mon enfance, nous (ma mère, ma grand-mère qui est venue nous rejoindre par après, et moi) voyagions beaucoup. J'ai été assez chanceuse de visiter avant l'âge de 6 ans plus de la moitié de l'Europe, L'Algérie, la Tunisie et le Sahara. Ma mère me reproche souvent de ne pas me souvenir de certains voyages, mais je suis sûre que ce changement constant de climat socioculturel a laissé des cicatrices indispensables à ma perception des choses. En 1986, je suis arrivée à Montréal, et ce moment donna fin à une partie de mon innocence. J'ai ressenti, pour la première fois, comment fait mal différer. Personne ne croyait à mes histoires du passé : « Retourne dans ton pays » est une phrase qui me fait rire noire jusqu'à aujourd'hui; c'est où mon pays? Je suis née en Europe, j'ai grandi en Afrique et j'ai suis devenue adulte ici, au Canada.

Relations humaines...? Logiquement, un résultat très direct de l'équation qui est ma vie. Un père mythologique remplacé par un amour fou et une grande admiration pour les deux fortes femmes qui m'ont précédée, don't une perdue à lâge de 12 ans.

Tout cela est égal à ce que je porte dans mon cœur; Une culpabilité pour la pauvreté, un respect envers l'innocence et la fragilité d'un enfant autant que d'une personne âgée, et une haine profonde envers l'injustice.

(Slide 7-15)
Natalie Reis, Legs, bees wax and plaster cast 32” x 5” each, 2002.
Natalie Reis, Paper - Doll, acrylic, gel medium on masonite, 66” x 48”, 2002.
Natalie Reis, RETENTION, Acrylic paint, oil sticks, gel medium and collage on canvas, 65” x 51”, 2002.
Natalie Reis, Carnal Legs, acrylic paint, gel medium, oil sticks on metal stretched on masonite, 72” x 48”, 2002.
Natalie Reis, Mechanical Hearts, acrylic paints, oil sticks matte medium, photo transfers on canvas, 75” x 54”, 2001.
Natalie Reis, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, acrylic paint, modelling paste, matte medium on canvas board, 30” x 24” each, 2001.
Natalie Reis, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, acrylic paint, modelling paste, matte medium on canvas board, 30” x 24” each, 2001.
Natalie Reis, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, acrylic paint, modelling paste, matte medium on canvas board, 30” x 24” each, 2001.
Natalie Reis, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, acrylic paint, modelling paste, matte medium on canvas board, 30” x 24” each, 2001.

Klara Pokrzywko, Brainwave VII, coloured photography, mounted in plexiglass with nails, 11 x 14, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Klara Pokrzywko, Brainwave VIII, coloured photography, mounted in plexiglass with nails, 11 x 14, 2002.

Klara Pokrzywko, Brainwave XI, coloured photography, mounted in plexiglass with nails, 11 x 14, 2002.

Klara Pokrzywko, Brainwave II, coloured photography, mounted in plexiglass with nails, 11 x 14, 2002.

Klara Pokrzywko, Brainwave VI, coloured photography, mounted in plexiglass with nails, 11 x 14, 2002.

Klara Pokrzywko, Formes géomètriques de cheveux à l'infini, 3 Miroirs, source de lumière, cheveux 52" x 15" x 12", 2002.

Natalie Reis, Legs, bees wax and plaster cast 32” x 5” each, 2002.

Natalie Reis, Paper - Doll, acrylic, gel medium on masonite, 66” x 48”, 2002.

Natalie Reis, RETENTION, Acrylic paint, oil sticks, gel medium and collage on canvas, 65” x 51”, 2002.

Natalie Reis, Carnal Legs, acrylic paint, gel medium, oil sticks on metal stretched on masonite, 72” x 48”, 2002.

Natalie Reis, Mechanical Hearts, acrylic paints, oil sticks matte medium, photo transfers on canvas, 75” x 54”, 2001.

Natalie Reis, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, acrylic paint, modelling paste, matte medium on canvas board, 30” x 24” each, 2001.

(Slide 17-22)
Natalie Reis

My art work is an expansion of an idea that has interested me for some time, which is the complex issue of body image. This issue goes far deeper than notions of ugly vs. pretty or fat vs. thin. It involves many complicated and paradoxical feelings of simultaneous illness, vitality, power and vulnerability - a reminder as to what happens to our body's systems when we ascribe to the concept of beauty that has been put forth by our culture via the media.

To lay emphasis on theses concepts, the body is seen as an array of rich colours, alluding to interior bodily colours (i.e. Retention). At other times, we see the body in a state of illness (i.e. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis or dis-case). The female figure is a reoccurring image in these works and is to be viewed as a sacrificial character - a known or unknown identity. The figures represented in the paintings were created on the basis of a self-portraiture. The idea of producing pieces based on a photographic self-image or a reflexion is how I keep the work close to what I intend to reveal. This play on identity spawns my creativity and intensifies the production of these works. The majority of the self-portraits in my work have undergone various metamorphosis. The female form is covered in painterly marks along with collage and text.

My process strongly consists of layering, where each layer has its own significance. These works are painted in such a way to reveal underlining sentiments and auras that are inevitably present. A broken body, a bruised surface, illness, memory, a body that is veiled by personal experience and no matter how much it is removed from cultural symbols, it is veiled by it as well. A body that has information etched into its flesh, a flesh that has been taken apart, represented by colours seen under our own flesh - colours which become a bridge to describe human experience (i.e. Paper-doll).

As humans, with our exterior stripped, we are all the identical - muscle, tissue, and our experiences and beliefs are more similar than different. The presented body of work humanizes what the body has become through recycled, digitized images that we have come to know as reflections of ourselves.

Klara Pokrzywko, Formes géomètriques de cheveux àl'infini, 3 Miroirs, source de lumière, cheveux 52" x 15" x 12", 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Klara Pokrzywko, Ongles, Carton blanc, plexiglass, source de lumière, ongles, 45" x 18" x 20", 2002.

Klara Pokrzywko, 2002.

Klara Pokrzywko, Ongles, Carton blanc, plexiglass, source de lumière, ongles, 45" x 18" x 20",2002.

Klara Pokrzywko, 2002.

Entrance Piece - Anatomia,textured paint in glass, 30” x 29” each, 2002.

Natalie Reis, Incarnated Hospital Bed, oil sticks, blender, acrylic paint, chalk, pastel on paper, 91” x 44”, 2002.

Natalie Reis, Dis - Ease, gel medium, oil sticks, acrylic paint, wax on plywood, 48” x 48”, 2002.

Natalie Reis, Dilate, acrylic paint, gel medium on metal, 24” x 24” each, 2002.

Natalie Reis, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, acrylic paint, modelling paste, matte medium on canvas board, 30” x 24” each, 2001.

TARGET PRACTICE

EXHIBITION: SEPT 9 - 15, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: SEPT 10

GROUP
HAIG AIVAZIAN
FRANÇOIS LEMIEUX
ROBIN SIMPSON
REMI ADORA
PAHL O’DONNEL
SUZIE SMITH
CATTO HOUGHTON
NED SCHWARTZ
SARAH STEEVES

Target Practice, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Target Practice, 2002.

Target Practice, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Target Practice, 2002.

PERIPHERY

EN
Interdisciplinary works by Ariel Tarr and Michela Slipp
VAV Gallery, 1395 René Lévesque W.
Monday September 16 to Saturday September 21st , 2002
Vernissage: Tuesday, September 17th at 7:00 p.m.
Gallery hours: Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

Michela Slipp and Ariel Tarr's work span several disciplines: photography, human painting, drawing and installation. In a series of works expressing very viewer and the work itself.

Central to the photography and video work in this exhibition are several individuals who face physical and psychological challenges and with whom Ariel Tarr shares a close bond. Focusing on the subjects' commonalties with those around them, she hopes to make the viewer more aware of the humanity of individuals with disabilities and mental illness. By working interactively with these individuals, she subverts prescribed roles of power, and allows their voices to be heard.

Highly organic in nature, Michela Slipp's work is an exploration of internal and external bodily spaces. It articulates the curiosity that is an inherent part of inhabiting a human body whose intricate functions largely remain a mystery to us throughout most of our lives. Whatever ideas or visual impressions we have are either mediated through technological means or exist as fantastic manifestations in the realm of the imagination. This lack of a distinct visual understanding lends itself to a sense of mystification and even estrangement when contemplating the unknown of the body. Her work attempts to address this mystification in generating a body of images that explores the trepidation and wonder inherent in the prospect of entering our interior space.

FR
Oeuvres multidisciplinaires d'Ariel Tarr et Micheala Slipp
Galerie VAV, 1395 René Lévesque O.
Le 16 au 21 septembre, 2002
Vernissage: mardi, le 17 septembre à 19h
Heures d'ouverture de la galerie: lundi au samedi de 10h à 22 h

Dans leur désir de communiquer une série de problématiques humanistes, Micheaia Slipp et Ariel Tarr cherchent à établir un contact profondément intime avec le spectateur.

A l'origine des photographies et vidéos d'Ariel Tarr, se trouvent des proches et des amis qui font face à des troubles psychologiques et des déficiences physiques. Elle espère faire resortir le côté humain de ses sujets en accentuant les points qu'on a tous en commun, plutôt que nos différences. Travaillant d'une manière interactive avec ses sujets et en questionnant des rôles de pouvoir prescrits de la société, elle se fait ainsi leur porte-parole.

Les oeuvres de Micheala Slipp sont une exploration des espaces du corps: internes ou externes. Elles excitent la curiosité autour du corps qui pour nous reste un mystère. A l'exception des manifestations fantastiques de notre imagination, le peu d'idées et d'impressions visuelles que nous avons du corps humain nous proviennent de la technologie. Ce manque de compréhension visuelle concernant le corps, donne place à une certaine mystification, voire d'aliénation lors de la contemplation de ce dernier. Le travail de Micheala Slipp tente de traiter cette mystification en produisant une série d'images explorant l'inquiétude et l'émerveillement impliqués dans l'idée même de penétrer nore espace intérieur.

EXHIBITION: SEPT 16 - 21, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: SEPT 17

DUO
MICHAELA SLIPP
ARIEL TARR

Periphery, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Periphery, 2002.

Periphery, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Periphery, 2002.

HOLLOW TEETH

A photographic exhibition by
Lorna Adair Bauer and Andrew Duncan Finlayson

The intention of this exhibition is to open worlds often forgotten or overlooked by our culture and the photographic cannon as a whole. The two bodies of work differ in their subject matter and intent, but both call to the viewers imagination and memory and are formally complementary when seen together.

Lorna seeks to evoke contrasting emotions through images which are dreamlike and beautiful but at the same time haunting and disturbing. Within the nebulous framework of a terrifying fairytale, the actions of the children in her photographs portray an inherent wisdom born of their vivid imagination. The viewer is caught up in this nightmare world of forgotten fears and challenged to examine their own responses to the sinister undercurrents. Her work reveals the dark savagery and strange richness of these fantasy worlds.

Andrew's work awakens us to how much richness and mystery lies in the world of animals. Our physical and mental connections with domesticated animals have become extremely distanced within modern urban society. The cultural images provided by sources such as advertising and children's books tend to build cartooned stereotypes which strip animals of the reality we once knew and blanket them under a nostalgic pastoral romanticism. Conversely, Andrew's photographs show the intense presence of these dominated, explained, and yet ultimately unknown creatures.

EXHIBITION: SEPT 30 - OCT 5, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: OCT 1

DUO
LORANA ADAIR BAUER
ANDREW DUNCAN FINLAYSON

PULSE

EXHIBITION: OCT 7 - 11, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: N/A

GROUP
SKOL
ARTICULE
VIDEOGRAPHE
RCAAQ
STUDIO XX
LA CENTRALE
DAZIBAO
DARE-DARE
B-312 ET. AL

VAV GALLERY PRESENTS PULSE.

CONCORDIA'S STUDENT RUN GALLERY; THE VAV, HAS OPENED IT'S SPACE UP TO THE NUMEROUS ARTIST RUN CENTERS LOCATED IN MONTREAL. FOR ONE WEEK STUDENTS WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN ABOUT MONTREAL'S VIBRANT ARTS COMMUNITY.

SKOL, ARTICULE, VIDEOGRAPHE, RCAAQ, STUDIO XX, LA CENTRALE, DAZIBAO, DARE-DARE, B-312 AND OTHERS WILL ALL CONVERGE IN THE VAV'S STREET LEVEL SPACE PROVIDING INFORMATION TO THE STUDENT BODY ABOUT EACH OF THEIR UNIQUE ROLES IN OUR COMMUNITY.

WORKSHOPS WILL BE OFFERED THROUGHOUT THE WEEK ON HOW TO ASSEMBLE ARTISTS DOSSIERS, HANGING WORK AND OTHER ISSUES RELEVANT TO THE WORLD IN WHICH OUR YOUNG ARTISTS ARE ENTERING.

THIS EXHIBITION FURTHER REITERATES THAT THE VAV CONTINUES TO RECOGNIZE IT'S UNIQUE ROLE AS BOTH A SPACE FOR EXHIBITION AND EDUCATION, AS WELL AS THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY.

THE SHOW RUNS FROM MONDAY THE 7TH OF OCTOBER TO FRIDAY THE 11TH.

GALLERY HOURS ARE 10:00AM - 22:00PM
ALL ARE WELCOME.

FURTHER QUESTIONS CAN BE DIRECTED TO THE GALLERY CO-DIRECTORS MATHIEU CONWAY AND ROBIN SIMPSON.

PICTUREBREAD

2002-10-09

Galerie VAV Gallerie
Naledi Jackson
Allison Katz

PICTUREBREAD Paintings
October 15-19 2002
Vernissage October 15, beginning at 18h
1395 Rene-Levesque W.
Montreal QC H3G 2M5

New paintings from two of Concordia's talented graduating students in Studio Arts.

Allison Katz paints on small panels in oil. Her subjects are drawn from the diverse inventory of the everyday, unified by her interest in the emotional power of the familiar.

Portraits of close friends, a series of still lifes using the same objects, and dark memories of bathers are some examples of the pictures that are rendered in a syrupy oil that paradoxically approaches the Stoic. Naledi Jackson's large oil on canvas paintings are strong in their use of a limited palette. These illuminating pictorial reflections of our current political spectrum range from the provocative to the disastrous. A must-see for all those who are interested in new works coming out of Concordia's Fine Arts department.

EXHIBITION: OCT 14 - 20, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: OCT 15

DUO
NADELI JACKSON
ALLISON KATZ

Nadeli Jackson and Allison Katz, PICTUREBREAD, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

PICTUREBREAD, 2002.

Nadeli Jackson and Allison Katz, PICTUREBREAD, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

PICTUREBREAD, 2002.

AUDIO BLUEPRINTS TRACKING STAINS

Audio Blueprints Tracking Stains is a collaborative performance-based installation addressing the methods and strucures that we use to retain memory. Challenging the normal (mundane) ritual of teeth brushing, Jessica MacCormack has been brushing her teeth with people in front of their homes, spitting on the sidewalk and exchanging a new toothbrush for their old one. Days, week, months later documenting the stains left by the toothpaste on the cement. Zoe Kreye's project originates from interviews she did with people asking them to describe their first childhood home. Her installation is a translation of the participants memories, reconstructed in the gallery space as a 3D blueprint. It is accompanied by segments from the recorded interviews.

Appointments for interviews are available throughout the week and the public is also invited to brush their teeth in front of the gallery or throughout the city.

EXHIBITION: OCT 21 - 27, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: OCT 22

DUO
JESSICA MACCORMACK
ZOE KREYE

Jessica MacCormack and Zoe Kreye, Audio Blueprints Tracking Stains, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Jessica MacCormack and Zoe Kreye, Audio Blueprints Tracking Stains, 2002.

Jessica Alice MacCormack
2002

I am interested in the marks and stains left by events of intimacy; exploring the ways a mark can challenge the culturally defined boundaries between dichotomies ( such as public/private, clean/dirty, inside/outside, together/alone, sane/insane, etc.)

The Performance 'Brush Your teeth with Me' takes the normal (mundane) ritual of brushing teeth and explores it as an act of intimacy. I make appointments with people to brush their teeth with me on the sidewalks in front of their homes. Without the usual confines of the bathroom (no mirrors, walls or doors) the city observes the inversion of behavior. The negatively constructed act of spitting is juxtaposed against the sanctified act of personal hygiene. Language is broken down as our mouths are full of toothpaste and toothbrush. Our speech is temporarily impaired but our breath will be minty fresh. I exchange their old toothbrush for a new one.

The performance lasts a few minutes and the stained concrete documents the event. That is when I begin the obsessive investigation into the permanance of this document, repeatedly returning to the stains, at the many locations around the city, to document them with a polaroid camera; days, weeks, and months later.

I will display the photos and toothbrushes as an installation in the gallery while continuing the public performance.

Jessica MacCormack and Zoe Kreye, Audio Blueprints Tracking Stains, 2002. Click to expand the image

VANTAGE POINTS-FAKING THE FUNK

EXHIBITION: OCT 28 - NOV 2, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: OCT 29

DUO
AURÈLE PARISIEN
DYSKE (CHARLES PERREAULT)

EN
Vantage Points - Faking the Funk

Photographs by Aurèle Parisien - Paintings by Dyske

Montreal, 18 October 2002 - From 27 October to 2 November 2002, VAV Galery presents a joint exhibition of two Montreal artists who, in complementary ways, question the relation of art to architecture and the city as well as the nature of their respective media. Vantage Points is a series of photographs that explore the relationships between our experience of interior urban spaces, linear perspective, Renaissance painting, and photography. Faking the Funk is a series of paintings that ironically question the vocabulary of graffiti by juxtaposing it with an iconography of industrial objects and a paradoxical treatment of space.

Vantage Points and Faking the Funk establish a critical dialogue between the inner space of the gallery and the built, social, and ideological contexts of the surrounding city.

Aurèle Parisien is a photographer, editor, and theatre critic.

Dyske, aka Charles Perreault, is a graffity artist and graphic designer.

The VAV Gallery is located at 1395 René-Lévesque West, Montreal, and is open Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 8 PM.

A vernissage will be held on Tuesday, 29 October, from 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM, featuring DJs Jordan Dare and Joey Paradise starting at 8:30 PM.

Vantage Points - Faking the Funk, Photographs by Aurèle Parisien, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Vantage Points - Faking the Funk, 2002.

FR
Faking the Funk - Points de fuite

Peintures par Dyske - Photographies par Aurèle Parisien

Montréal, le 18 octobre 2002 - Du 28 octobre au 2 novembre prochain, la Galerie VAV présente une exposition de deux artistes qui interrogent la relation entre l'art et l'architecture ainsi que la nature de leurs média respectifs. La série de tableaux Faking the Funk examine avec ironie le vocabulaire du graffiti en juxtaposant celui-ci à une iconographie industrielle et un traitement paradoxal de l'espace.

La série photographique Points de fuite explore les relations qui existent entre notre expérience des espaces intérieurs urbains, la perspective linéaire, la peinture de la Renaissance et la photographie.

Les deux artistes montréalais cherchent à générer un dialogue entre l'espace intérieur de la galerie et les contextes architectural, social et idéologique de la ville environnante.

Dyske, alias Charles Perreault, est graffiteur et designer graphique.

Aurèle Parisien est photographe, éditeur, et critique de théâtre.

La Galerie VAV est située au 1395, boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest, Montréal et elle est ouverte du lundi au samedi, de 10 h à 20 h.

Le vernissage aura lieu le mardi 29 septembre, de 19 h à 22h30, avec, dès 20h30, la participation des DJs Jordan Dare et Joey Paradise.

Vantage Points - Faking the Funk, 2002. Click to expand the image

COLLECT_3 PRESENTS: A_415

Collect_3 was formed on the basis of creating an outlet to express our common concerns and ideas. Through collaborative paintings and sculptures, we use communication and observation to identify our urban environment.

The input of each artist's personal reflection, experimentation, and compositional concept play an equal role in creating each piece. Since our areas of study and personal objectives differ, our collaborations convey ideas and use techniques that stem from both our individual experiences and the collective experience. Throughout the process ideas and actions are discussed and applied simultaneously. The text, images and colours interact to create different planes of interpretation. The individual work in each piece combines to communicate a unified
experience.

EXHIBITION: NOV 4 - 9, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: NOV 5

GROUP
SAKRO JONES
ADA FOLEY
SARAH MCMASTER

Sakro Jones, Ada Foley, and Sarah McMaster, Collect_3 Presents: A_415, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Sakro Jones, Ada Foley, and Sarah McMaster, Collect_3 Presents: A_415, 2002.

Collect_3 Presents: A_415, 2002.

K7

Five days of sonics.

Guest curators:
Tasman Richardson (famefame, toronto)
Gordon Allen (technot)
Alexandre Lemieux (dhqd ind.)
Brian Damage (total zero)
Aaron McConomy (intr_version records)

EXHIBITION: NOV 11 - 15, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION:

GROUP
TASMAN RICHARDSON
GORDON ALLEY
ALEXANDRE LEMIEUX
BRIAN DAMAGE
AARON MCCONOMY

N/A

RÊVE ET RÉALITÉS

EN
The VAV Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition entitled DREAMS AND REALITIES; which includes some of the most recent works of six mature emerging artists:
Sowsan Al-Sarraf
Helen Kyle
Soon-Ja Park
Rasa Pavilanis
Chris Riley
Harry Vandelman

The exhibition encompasses different styles ranging from abstract to figurative, and focuses on each artists' explorations of dreams and realities in our society, and at a personal level. Hence the title for our exhibition "Dreams and Reality."

These dreams and realities range from Al Sharrafs' dreams of returning to a once familiar environment; Kyles' presentation of our own natural environment that has become dream-like simply because of life in the modern-day world; Parks' arresting figures in dream-like situations that are left to us to decipher; Pavilanis' horse portraits where it is not clear who is being the dreamer and who is being assessed; Rileys' delving into the reality of war where dreams and ambitions are often destroyed; to Vandelmans' dream-like flux as he struggles with issues confronting today's society.

FR
La Galerie VAV est heureuse de vous présenter les oeuvres les plus récentes de six artistes:
Sowsan Al-Sarraf
Helen Kyle
Soon-Ja Park
Rasa Pavilanis
Chris Riley
Harry Vandelman

L'exposition met de l'avant différents styles - de l'abstrait au figuratif. L'accent est mis sur l'exploration de la part de l'artiste des rêves et réalités au niveau de la collectivité et au niveau personnel. D'òu le titre de notre exposition "Rêves et réalités"

La gamme de ces rêves et réalités comprend les rêves d'Al-Sarraf de retourner à un environnement jadis familier; la presentation de Kyle de notre propre environnement naturel qui est devenu comme un rêve tout simplement suite a la vie moderne; les situations rêveures des figurews frappantes de Park qui nous laissées a déchiffer; les portraits de cheval de Pavilanis ou il n'est pas clair qui rêve et qui se fait évaluer; la destruction des rêves et des ambitions par la réalité de la guerre explorée par Riley; et le flux rêveur de Vandelman qui lutte avec les questions qui confrontent la société d'aujourd'hui.

EXHIBITION: NOV 18 - 22, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: NOV 19

GROUP
SAWSAN AL-SARRAF
HELEN KYLE
SOON-JA PARK
RASA PAVILANIS
CHRIS RILEY
HARRY VANDELMAN

Rêves et réalités, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Rêves et réalités, 2002.

DREAMS & REALITY

“There is many a boy here who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell“
General William Tecumseh Sherman

Ever since time immemorial peoples or states have waged war; for acquisition, for revenge, for religion, for national pride, or for many other reasons.

When doing so they have dreams of success, of heroic conquest, of historic fame, or rich rewards.

But to achieve these ends, whether fortune smiles or not, results in the reality of agony, death, and destruction, for both the attacked and the attacker. To paraphrase Napoleon:

“One cannot make an omelette without first breaking the eggs.”

Nationalism and religious fervour are fundamental sentiments, that are cloaked in tradition, practice, symbols or icons, and memorials to past glories: but these hide the inhumanities resulting from conflicts undertaken in their name.

A visual artist, like other artists, is a product of their time and reflect their times. During the century just passed, and continuing into this century, there have been two world wars, and numerous other conflicts; some of which continue today. As a product of these times I have chosen to visualize my thoughts on this era in a series of four paintings, entitled "The Pageantry of War", "The Agony of War", "The Destruction of War", and "The End of War"; Where dreams most often turn into reality.

C.J.Riley
June 20th. 2002

Rêves et réalités, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Rêves et réalités, 2002.

WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW

The show was upon invitation to exhibit drawing work at the Galerie VAV Gallery. The request the artist received when considering their work with regards to this drawing exhibition was to just arrive on the set up date with something valid for a drawing exhibition. There was no set theme or point of direction that the show was aiming, Instead of direction the show was based upon subjection and reflection from the artists' own work. This meant that each work would be diverse. Curating the show meant that collision of ideology was a possibility and that the consideration of control was not possible. Instead of controlling the space in terms of arrangement the artists were allowanced to propose were there works should reside for the time of the exhibition. Thankfully the shows arrangement managed to settle in a very consistent manner for both ideology and aesthetical outcome; The viewer could emphasis by recognizing that the figurative sketchy works were concentrated in the fore-front of the exhibition space, while in the back the space finished with Cal Crawford's and François LeMeiux's more minimal drawing explorations. The show was great!

EXHIBITION: NOV 25 - 28, 2002
OPENING RECEPTION: NOV 26

GROUP
FRANÇOIS LEMIEUX
ALISON JUDD
SUZIE SMITH
JANICE TIEFENBACH
PAHL O’DONNEL
BETH STUART
STÉPHANIE CHABOT
LOGAN MACDONALD
CÉLINE HUDREAUX
CAL CRAWFORD
KRYSTYNA SZDDKOWSKA
MORAG HELLERND-KYDD
JERRY ROPSON

Win, Lose, or Draw, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Win, Lose, or Draw, 2002.

Logan MacDonald

The set-up date for this exhibition was also the same date of my parent's 29th wedding anniversary. I kept that in mind while producing and arranging the work for this show. I want a variety of themes to appear. Primarily I want the work to convey a sense of ambiguity. I organized the objects in a way to refer to family conflict and segregation. I placed tensions where tensions gathered for most families, yet where there could be no resolution, only confusion. These icons are acting as the most obtuse family, obscured by gossip and reality. This leaves room for the viewers to interact, to comment, argue, develop opinions and find discussion to solve the problems of family (much like families do). The feelings generated about certain issues I've evoked with this work have left the audience divided, to either applaud or be appalled. Ultimately the family portrayed has no resolution for the audience, the family's narration is just as fragmented, as it is continuous. While we're searching for that conclusive chapter, we are simply finding our own position in a family (the social family) where we are merely in the role as spectator. In the end, we are all simply acting out a family plan in which you are ordered to discuss, to be shocked and to not give a fuck. Conclusively we are as much witnessing the dysfunction of this family as we are responding to our own.

Logan MacDonald
Who do you most relate to? Is it Michael, is it Julia?
Who?

Win, Lose, or Draw, 2002. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Win, Lose, or Draw, 2002.

PLAYING WITH MUD

EXHIBITION: JAN 12 - 18, 2003
OPENING RECEPTION: JAN 14

DUO
KELLY AKINS
JAIME ALLEN

There is currently no documentation available for our archive; only written texts are accessible.

Artists play down and dirty at Concordia's VAV Gallery

Playing With Mud brings together the paintings of Concordia students Jaime Allen and Kelly Akins for fun with thick and oozing paint. The exhibition, running from January 12-18 at Concordia's VAV Gallery will showcase the recent work of both artists. The vernissage held Tuesday, January 14 at 7:30pm features the artists in attendance and is rumored to include a serving of fresh crepes and beverages.

Allen appoaches her work in a playful lighthearted way striving to evoke similar feelings in others. Her current work consists of reflective painted collages, which include a variety of images, primarily relating to the themes of childhood and dream sequences. "Working in a collage style allows me the freedom to play with various images and compose them intuitively," says Allen.

Her colleague Kelly Akins shares this casual approach. As an inter media artist engaged with painting, Akins is concerned with making the medium not only formally interesting but an equally fun diversion to view. Invoking a humorous play of symbols and puns, he incorporates discarded mementos of technology, butchering and extending the flat plane of the canvas. Together these artists offer a glib response to the idea that art is a world overrun with awkward crowds of black clad minimalists.

Kelly Akins
Lines of flight

Jaime Allen
Girl with Birds

Jaime Allen

As a painter, I approach my work in a playful lighthearted way and strive to evoke similar feelings in others. My current work consists of reflective painted collages, which include a variety of images, primarily relating to the themes of childhood and dream sequences. Working in a collage style allows me the freedom to play with various images and compose them intuitively. I also enjoy the effect of strong contrasts, both in my choice of imagery and in the process of applying paint, whether it be through subtle details or vibrant brushstrokes.

Kelly Akins

As an artist engaged with painting, I am concerned with making the medium not only formally interesting but playful and fun to experience. Invoking a humorous play of symbols, puns, and word games, and further extending the plane of the canvas by incorporating the discarded mementos of technology. I seek to play with the viewer establishing tenuous connections and self effacing references.

ESQUISSITE

EXHIBITION: JAN 23, 2003
OPENING RECEPTION: N/A

GROUP
DAVE CAPELL
CAL CRAWFORD
MICHAEL DAVIDGE
MICHAEL DOERKSEN
JOANNE HUI
MATTHEW LAW
AARON ROSSNER

Esquissite, 2003. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Esquissite, 2003.

Esquissite, 2003. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Esquissite, 2003.

PRIMP

EN
"Primp: A Case for Embellishment"

The Fibres Area of the Studio Arts Department at Concordia University is pleased to announce an exhibition featuring undergraduate and graduate student work in fibres, January 27-31, 2003 in the VAV Gallery, 1395 Rene-Levesque O. (corner of Crescent).

The artworks in this exhibition focus on themes of ornamentation, pattern and embellishment, and include performances and site-specific installations coinciding with the gallery show. All are welcome to the vernissage on Tuesday January 28 at 7pm in the VAV Gallery. For more information please contact Annie Martin.

Annie Martin
Fibres Coordinator,
Department of Studio Art

FR
"Primp: A Case for Embellishment"

Le département d'arts plastiques de l'Université Concordia est fier d'annocer l'exposition annuelle des uvres étudiantes et étudiants inscrit(e)s au programme Fibres, du 27 au 31 javier, 2003à la Galerie VAV, 1395 René-Levesque O. Vous êtes invité au vernissage, mardi, le 28 janvier a 19h.

The Fibres Area of the Studio Arts Department at Concordia University is pleased to announce an exhibition featuring undergraduate and graduate student work in fibres, January 27-31, 2003 in the VAV Gallery, 1395 René-Lévesque O. (corner of Crescent).

The artworks in this exhibition focus on themes of ornamentation, pattern and embellishment, and include performances and site-specific installations coinciding with the gallery show. All are welcome to the vernissage on Tuesday January 28 at 7pm in the VAV Gallery. For more information please contact Annie Martin.

Annie Martin
Fibres Coordinator, Department of
Studio Art

EXHIBITION: JAN 27 - 31, 2003
OPENING RECEPTION: JAN 28

GROUP
JOHANNA AUTIN
KIRSTIN BOEHM
EMILY BIRNBAUM
THALI BRUS
SARAH BUNCH
KRISTA BURSEY
KYD CAMPBELL
EMILY CARON
EMMA CURTIS
AMY DROVER
JENNIFER FEIGAN
EDITH HADRAVSKA
ELIZABETH HAZEL
FAITH LAROQUE
LARA MARKIN
CONAN MASTERSON
JAKE MOORE
LOIS ROWE
SARAH STEEVES
BETH STUART
SARAH THOMAS
MICHI YAMASHIRO

Primp, 2003. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Primp, 2003.

"Is Ornament a Crime?”

Fibres Exhibition, January 2003

Fibres 360/480 Project Proposal: Collaborative site specific installation in VA courtyard

The class will cast a series of ice blocks to occupy the gaps in the cement retaining wall that borders the streets Rene Levesque and Crescent. The ice blocks will infuse each gap with idea, pattern and decoration to create a constellation of ideas around the circumference of the courtyard. Each cluster will represent or allude to common human needs, wants and desires through embedding objects and/or adding colour to the ice. This began with an examination of Mazlow's Hierarchy of Needs*, and has since branched out to include a larger relationship with materials and process.

We have considered several relationships between the ice blocks and the wall, some dichotomous, some binary:

Cyclical continuum / transience
Necessity-extravagance / melting boundaries
Transformation / confinement
Freedom / barrier
Mobility / isolation
Need / shelter
Wants / excess
Compassion

The proposed site brings a diverse and wide-ranging spectrum of people into contact with the work.

*Mazlow proposed that all people function in a hierarchy of needs. Self-actualization is achieved only through meeting this series of basic needs, which include food and shelter as well as aesthetic (creative) impulses and affection.

Primp, 2003. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Primp, 2003.

ON THE EDGE

EXHIBITION: FEB 2 - 8, 2003
OPENING RECEPTION: FEB 4

GROUP
N/A

N/A

LES VILLES INVISIBLES

This exhibition would be a first chance to put my interests in curatorial studies into practice.

Though I have not yet had the opportunity to curate a show on my own, I have, during an internship at the Liane and Danny Taran Gallery of the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts, assisted in the production of two exhibitions. I have also done a significant amount of research and reading on museum studies, and intend to pursue this field at the graduate level, as well as professionally. I think the curating of this show will be a relatively easy task for me to accomplish because I have known the work of both Lafrance and Londoño for about five years, and believe that their artistic productions merit display and attention.

My intent with this exhibition is to create a comfortable and open space where viewers will be able to reflect on their own experiences in the city, as well as appreciate the aesthetic quality of the images. I am also interested in presenting, through a variety of curatorial strategies, photographic works not as unmediated representations of reality or "windows unto the world", but as sculptural objects. These strategies will, I hope, emphasize the evocative rather than representational aspect of the photographic image.

Zoë Tousignant

EXHIBITION: FEB 4 - 7, 2003
OPENING RECEPTION: N/A

CURATION
ZOË TOUSIGNANT

DUO
VINCENT LAFRANCE
JOHN LONDOÑO

There is currently no documentation available for our archive; only written texts are accessible.

What type of work will you exhibit? Note specific media & techniques, themes or ideas.

The proposed project is a collaboration between two photography students and one student in art history. While Vincent Lafrance and John Londoño will be presenting some of their most recent photo-works, Zoë Tousignant will be responsible for the conceptualization, organization and publicity of the exhibition. The works to be shown are the following (see annexe 1):

A series of about 20 16×20" b&w prints by Lafrance
4 large-format (about 3×5 feet) b&w prints by Lafrance

3.4 large-format (about 3x5 feet) colour prints by Londoño

A dual båw slide projection by Londoño
A series of about 14 20×24" colour prints by Londoño

The theme of the proposed project concerns the idea of the invisible, and more specifically the invisible city. The images to be displayed are results of a particular way of seeing and being in the urban environment. This way of seeing, which can be defined as hesitant, blurred, and often awkward, makes apparent the invisible moods, sensations and emotions experienced in the city. In short, this exhibition will address the nature of the intimate relationship between the city and the self.

Each of the works will be juxtaposed with excerpts from literary and philosophical texts that discuss the ideas of the invisible and the city (Calvino, Les villes invisibles; Merleau-Ponty, Le visible et l'invisible). This use of texts, aside from enriching visual reception, will position the photographs as graphic objects rather than unmediated snapshots of the real or "windows onto the world". Through this and other curatorial strategies, this exhibition hopes to demonstrate the photographic medium's ability to evoke what is there but cannot be seen.

Why do you want to have a show at the VAV Gallery?

For Lafrance and Londoño, a show at the VAV Gallery would represent an opportunity to exhibit a large part of their recent work to their fellow students and to the local artistic community. For Tousignant, a VAV exhibition would be a chance to put her professional interests in curatorial studies into practice.

John Londoño

Making of n'est pas un enregistrement qui suit l'évolution d'une oeuvre en création, comme le nom le suggère, mais une série d'images photographiques couleur formant un scénario en constante évolution. Les images sont présentées en une longue bande où elles se succèdent et se touchent, rappelant la pellicule photographique comme cinématographique. Cette série d'images est composée de scènes urbaines, de personnages anonymes, de nocturnes et d'espaces ambiguës, et tend à créer une narration ouverte, sans début ni fin.

Il s'y traite de la ville, mais plus particulièrement de l'espace urbain en tant que scène de nos propres scénarios affectifs et amoureux. La série est surtout composée d'éléments autobiographiques, mais tente de les utiliser de manière à ouvrir vers l'extérieur, vers la vie personnelle et l'imaginare du spectateur. La série s'ouvre sur une multitude de possibilités et de personnages: elle va vers la création d'un film « arrêté » où notre imagination et notre propre lecture des images créeront une (ou des) histoire(s), un (ou des) scénario(s). Making Of explore notre capacité de former des histoires cinématographiques, de reconnaître ou d'interpréter des références visuelles propres à son imagerie, et suggère l'impact que celle-ci peut avoir sur notre perception de la réalité.

Vincent Lafrance

La série d'images proposées se compose de photographies noir et blanc qui jettent un regard sur l'étrangeté du contact avec l'espace urbain. Avec leurs quartiers sans références, leurs hommes silhouettes et leurs espaces ambiguës, les images donnent l'effet d'un paysage aveugle. Une certaine photographie de rue s'applique dans l'expression d'un lien avec le sujet, d'une prise de contact, voire d'une méditation sur le lieu. Dans mon cas, il est évident que les sujets se « contemplent » dans le trouble, la tête et les yeux posés sur les prochains pas. C'est la fuite des appartenances au monde et aux lieux. Dans l'espace intime, celui des apartements Loués, c'est ce même contact fuyant et incertain qui me relie aux choses. Les attachements sont précaires. En vérité, elles sont loin ces maisons familiales, ces lieux chargés des histoires et des mémoires communes aux individus qui y vivent et aux murs des pièces. Le malaise de l'étrangeté fait photographier le souffle court. Mais derrière l'approche réservée il y a une fascination pour la ville et un désir d'évoquer cette part d'angoisse et d'imprécision dans le regard et dans le senti. La prise de vue accompagne le mouvement du corps: photographier sans poser de geste. La recherche de l'accident provoqué est importante. Ainsi les images naissent sous des formes imprécises, jamais pré-visualisées; elles sont des bribes de passages sans signification, ou simplement de passages « pratiques ».

LYING ON THE SURFACE

EXHIBITION: FEB 24 - MAR 1, 2003
OPENING RECEPTION: FEB 25

DUO
MICHAEL DOERKSEN
ALANA RILEY

Michael Doerksen and Alana Riley, Lying on the Surface, 2003. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Lying on the Surface, 2003.

TRAIL SONGS

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF STÉPHANIE CHABOT AND MICHAEL FARNAN

The VAV Gallery is proud to present Trail Songs: the collected works of Stéphanie Chabot and Michael Farnan-two exceptional emerging Montreal artists.

In Trail Songs, both artists use the stories they have been told to tell their own.

In these paintings and sculpture, individuality confronts cultural identity.

In Chabot and Faran's work, popular myths and symbols that have played a great part in their own upbringing are revisited and manipulated through artistic practice. Emerging from an intimate artistic process, these familiar symbols may be charged with irony, humour, ambiguity, deception, violence; in a sense, they are stripped of their authority and are exposed to questioning and personal doubt.

The exhibition embodies a dialogue between the individual and the dominant hegemony. The aesthetic of high art is confronted by the more accessible expression of folk art and craft.

STÉPHANIE CHABOT is an emerging Montreal artist graduating from Concordia University this spring, This is Stéphanie's second show at VAV. She was awarded the Mill's Purchase Prize for her work in the 2002 undergrad show at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery. She has been involved in many group projects and exhibitions, including Montreal Ville Peinture-curated by Marc Seguin to promote promising young Montreal painters.

MICHAEL FARNAN is an emerging young Canadian artst. Hailing from Saskatchewan, he is completing his BFA in Sculpture at Concordia University. As both painter and sculptor, his work has been shown in Montreal, Toronto, and Saskatoon. This is his second show with Chabot. Both artists have been selected for this year's annual Undergrad Show (Green/Vert) at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery.

EXHIBITION: MAR 9 - 15, 2003
OPENING RECEPTION: MAR 11

DUO
STÉPHANIE CHABOT
MICHAEL FARNAN

Trail Songs, 2003. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Trail Songs, 2003.

PRESS

COWBOY-CRUSHING AND MECHANICAL MAYHEM AT THE VAV
THE LINK
Volume 23, Issue 26
2003.03.18
by Laura Roberts

Entering the VAV gallery to take a gander at Trail Songs: The Collected Works of Stéphanie Chabot and Michael Farnan, the viewer notices several paintings on the right-hand wall and a contraption taking up floor space on the left. The paintings, an intensely surreal grouping of four canvasses entitled "Good Bye Flesh Mountain," are the work of Stéphanie Chabot.

The first panel in the series features a mountain of flesh with a white house perched on top, while the second shows a witch on a broomstick surrounded by glaring eyes. The third composition depicts a sparsely decorated Christmas tree surrounded by red-lipsticked mouths, and the final canvas depicts a girl with moth-like wings rising high above a cubic industrial zone. "Good Bye Flesh Mountain" appears to be a commentary on weight-loss: the 'flesh mountain of her overweight form gives way to a dieting witch with all eyes upon her. It tests the weight-loser over a Christmas amongst gossiping relatives, and finally she emerges from the chrysalis of fat as a lean butterfly, floating on air. It is interesting to note that all of OR Chabot's paintings of women, including her self-portrait, feature hollow circles in place of eyes. Is this a commentary on the female as object, blinding herself to avoid the constant gaze of the Other? One would wonder.

Chabot has several other paintings currently on display, but the other interesting piece is a mixed media work entitled, "Self Portrait." This particular self-portrait is a bit unnerving. It is composed of the sculpted, doll-like head of the artist, hanging from an oversized nail that looks like a railroad tie. The head is expressionless, seemingly unaware that it is suspended on a wire and totally unattached to a body. It casts a shadow on the wall as it sways gently in an imperceptible breeze. In a word: freaky.

Michael Farnan's work, in contrast, is supposed to be interactive. This, however, may be difficult for the viewer to discern when casually sauntering in off the street. One of his works, "They Come from the Farm," features metal spider-like machines that would crawl in the viewer's direction if they weren't glued to the floor. Instead, when approached they shake menacing-ly, emitting sounds like angry wasps buzzing against a screen. In lieu of bodies these spiders each sport wooden heads that vaguely resemble the Moai statues of Easter Island.

Two of Farnan's other works, "Cowboy Army" and "Cowboy Crusher" are also designed to be interactive. To interact, you grab one of the several plaster cowboy clones lined up on the floor, take it to the crusher on the opposite end of the gallery, and turn the crank on the crusher until the cowboy is dust. This is sure to satiate any frustrated art critics desire for destruc-tion, and leaves an interesting pile of rubble that contains the question, "Is this art, too?"

In the end, Chabot and Farnan had a number of unusual works on display at the VAV, definitely worth the time spent wandering through the student gallery. If nothing else, there's always the thrill of smashing a work of art to bits without museum staff ejecting you.

Stay tuned for next week's VAV at a glance.

Trail Songs, 2003. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Trail Songs, 2003.

ELSEWHERE II: INTERNATIONAL / EXCHANGE STUDENT EXHIBITION

EXHIBITION: MAY 12 - 23, 2003
OPENING RECEPTION: N/A

GROUP
ALI SHAKER
ARIANA GARCIA-FIALDINI
BENTE HALSNES
CECILIE CAVE
DORIA CHENEY
ELISA VIVIAN MONREAL
EMILIE RONDEAU
GUILLAUME SEGUR
JOHN LONDONO
JOUKO VAARALA
KATERINE CLÉMENT
LAUREN BUNKER
LUCAS RESTREPO
MACIEJ KOZMINSKI
MAGUY G. CARPENTIER
MARIA BERTHOMME
MICHI YAMASHIRO
PHILOMENE LONGPRÉ
SAMAN MALIK
SANDRA TOMB
SHEFALI PATEL
THEDORA DOUMALIS
THIERRY BOUTONNIER
TOMASZ SZADKOWSKI
VALENTINA GUEVARA ANGUILERA
VÉRO MALO

There is currently no documentation available for our archive; only written texts are accessible.

EN
ELSEWHERE II
CONCORDIA'S INTERNATIONAL ART STUDENTS' EXHIBITION

From May 12-23, 2003 the international students in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University will present a group show in the VAV Gallery, 1395 René Lévesque West, Montréal, Québec.

Vernissage: Tuesday May 13 at 6 p.m.
VAV Gallery Opening Hours: Monday - Friday 10 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Saturday 7am. - 5 p.m.

There are over 2000 international students at Concordia University, which include both VISA and exchange students, from all over the worid. Among these, Over 150 students are enrolled in a program at the Faculty of Fine Arts. In May 2002 the first Elsewhere exhibition was held exclusively with these students to make visible the international artistic aspect existing at Concordia University. This year a follow-up exhibition will be held, entitled, Elsewhere II, as a response to the positive feedback produced by last year's show.

As Concordia's international students are represented in all of the Fine Arts Departments, the show will range over a wide span of fields comprising various themes and medias.

The exhibition will bring into focus the number of students at Concordia either studying as foreigners in Montréal or going abroad on exchange, giving these students the opportunity to voice their experience visually.

The idea of dislocation, change of perspective and identity within a new culture may serve as a gathering description of the subjects displayed. The medias present include photo based work, painting/drawing sculpture and video. The title of the show-elsewhere - reflects the shared experience of the students involved, finding themselves 'somewhere else'

ELSEWHERE II has been sponsored by Concordia University's Rector's Cabinet, Office of the Dean (Fine Arts), Office of Student Affairs (Fine Arts), Centre for International Academic Cooperation, Office of Advocacy and Support, International Student's Office, Department of Art Education, Department of Design Art and Digital Image/Sound and the Fine Arts, Department of Studio Arts, Department of Art History, the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, CISA, Embassy of Norway, Dean of Student's Office (CCSL) and FASA.

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AILLEURS
EXPOSITION DES ETUDIANTS ÉTRANGERS EN ARTS DE CONCORDIA

Du 12 au 23 mai 2003, les étudiants étrangers de la faculté des Beaux-arts de l'Université Concordia présenterons une exposition collective à la Galerie VAV, 1395 boul. René Lévesque Ouest, Montréal (Québec).

Vernissage : le mardi 13 mai, à 18 h.
Heures d'ouverture de la galerie : du lundi au vendredi, de 10 h à 23 h
Le samedi, de 7 hal7h

L'Université Concordia compte plus de 2000 étudiants étrangers venus du monde entier. Plus de 150 d'entre eux sont inscrits dans un programme de la faculté des Beaux-arts. Pour la seconde fois, nous organisons une exposition en collaboration exclusive avec ces étudiants afin de rendre visible la contribution internationale en arts à l'Université Concordia.

Comme les étudiants étrangers sont représentés dans tous les départements des beaux-arts. l'exposition offrira au public une grande variété d'œuvres, explorant divers thèmes et médias.

L'exposition attire l'attention sur ces nombreux étudiants de Concordia venus à Montréal, comme visiteurs ou comme étudiants d'échange, leur permettant ainsi d'exprimer visuellement leurs expériences.

Le thème du déplacement, d'un changement d'identité et de perspective dans une autre culture, relie les œuvres exposées. L'exposition se compose de photos, de gravures, de peintures, d'installations diverses et de montages vidéo. Le titre de l'exposition - ailleurs-traduit l'expérience commune à tous les créateurs, vivant « ailleurs », loin de chez eux.

AILLEURS a été commanditée par le Cabinet du Recteur de l'Université Concordia, le bureau du doyen (Beaux-arts), le bureau du doyen etudiants (CCSL), le bureau des affaires étudiantes (Beaux-arts), le Conseil pour la cooperation internationale, le bureau pour les étudiantes et étudiants étrangers, le Département d'enseignement de l'art, le Département d'art du design et de la création numérique en beaux-arts, le Departement d'arts plastiques, le Département d'histoire de l'art, l'embassade de la Norvege et l'embassade de la Finlande, la CISA et la FASA.