2005 - 2006 PROGRAMMING — Galerie VAV Gallery

GALERIE VAV GALLERY

2005 - 2006 PROGRAMMING

QUELQUE CHOSE EST ARRIVÉ...

FR
«QUELQUE CHOSE EST ARRIVÉ...»

Une exposition à la galerie VAV de l'université Concordia
Vernissage le 21 juin à 18h00

Mettant sur une ligne commune les peintures de Geneviève White et Marie-Line Leblanc, Quelque chose est arrivé." traite d'abstraction. Peintes pendant l'année scolaire 2004-2005, ces oeuvres chatoyantes furent réalisées dans un cours entièrement consacré à la peinture abstraite, sous le tutorat de l'artiste québécoise Françoise Sullivan.

Sous forme de dialogue picutral, une quinzaine de toiles de grand format serviront à représenter les idées des deux artistes quant à la pratique actuelle de la peinture non figurative, parsemant la galerie de stations, à
travers lesquelles le spectateur se trouve libre de déambuler, de s’approrier ces lieux de contemplation et de réflexion sur la forme et la couleur.

L'exposition « Quelque chose est arrivé » se tiendra à la galerie VAV du 20 juin au 2 juillet 2005. Le vernissage est prévu pour le 21 juin 2005 à 18 h 00. Un discours d'artiste sera donné à 18h30. Pour la durée de l'exposition, la galerie sera ouverte gratuitement, du lundi au vendredi.

EXHIBITION: JUN 20 - JUL 2, 2005
OPENING RECEPTION: JUN 21

DUO
GENEVIÈVE WHITE
MARIE-LINE LEBLANC

Geneviève White and Marie-Line Leblanc, Quelque chose est arrivé..., 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Geneviève White and Marie-Line Leblanc, Quelque chose est arrivé..., 2005.

Geneviève White
2005

"This year I have been doing only abstract painting and the challenge was unexpected. I write about the process of painting and keep a book sketches, random thoughts, interrogations and observations. What I have been primarily concerned about is colors and stories, instinct and expressiveness. To me, abstraction is a modification, it is figuration disguised,and it is the ultimate way of displaying a mystery."

Marie-Line Leblanc
2005

« Chaque peinture est une nouvelle tentative d'évasion des normes, mais se solde toujours par une défaite. Le tableau devient alors la marque de mon échec, mais l'assume pourtant. Je peins pour répondre à une angoisse, mais le fait de peindre m'angoisse tout autant. Même le résultat est troublant. On peut dire que l'œuvre naît dans ce remous puis prend tout en charge, car en bout de ligne, l'artiste en moi se complait dans ce drame factice, y trouve le moyen de recommencer. »

Née aux Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Marie-Line Leblanc a grandit dans cet endroit isolé où l'expression artistique devient d'emblée un refuge certain. Depuis, l'expérience de l'art est une maladie qu'elle n'a jamais réussi à guérir. Ayant complété un double DEC en arts et sciences humaines au cégep de Saint-Laurent, elle en est à sa deuxième année en histoire de l'art et art plastique à Concordia, où elle allie des notions puisées en sciences sociales à sa pratique artistique. Ses disciplines par excellence sont la peinture abstraite, l'estampe, l'art d'installation et la performance artistique. Le concept de temps comme construction sociale est depuis quatre ans sa principale obsession, le cœur de sa recherche et de l'essentiel de ses oeuvres. Les objets, les bâtiments, les véhicules et les relations en destruction, en décomposition ainsi que les histoires de naufrages constituent ses principales sources d'inspiration, mais son processus créatif lui semble encore un mystère.

Geneviève White and Marie-Line Leblanc, Quelque chose est arrivé..., 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Geneviève White and Marie-Line Leblanc, Quelque chose est arrivé..., 2005.

VESTIGIUM: UN MOMENT ARTISTIQUE

FR
Montréal, le mardi 5 juillet 2005 - Toutes deux finissantes en arts visuels à l'Université Concordia, les artistes Catherine Potvin et Amélie Proulx vous invitent au vernissage de l'exposition VESTIGIUM, qui se tiendra le mardi 5 juillet 2005 à 18h30 à la galerie VAV.

VESTIGIUM, c'est la trace, le vestige du passé, l'empreinte, c'est ce qui reste. Après plusieurs années d'études, de recherche et de création, les deux artistes ont monte une exposition où leurs démarches respectives se croisent tout en restant bien singulières.

Catherine Potvin laisse libre cours à son intuition et à un désir viscéral de marquer la surface de ses mains. À travers la proximité entretenue entre elle et son œuvre, se dégagent des pensées, des souvenirs transformés en traces et teintes qui forment le tableau, résultat d'une réflexion artistique aussi sentie que posée. L'empreinte de l'artiste allie spontanéité et sensibilité, dans un esprit toujours guidé par son intérêt pour le vivant, émanant de sa formation première de biologiste.

Amélie Proulx, de son côté, a développé un goût pour la matière et pour les notions qui s'y rattachent. La terre argileuse et la géologie l'inspirent depuis longtemps puisqu'elle détient une formation de céramiste qu'elle conjugue aujourd'hui à d'autres techniques artistiques comme la sculpture, la vidéo et l'installation. À ce volet technique, vient se greffer une symbolique portant sur les notions de frontières, partie inhérente à son travail.

« C'est avec fierté et détermination que nous entamons cette exposition et que nous dévoilons ces œuvres au public de Montréal. Nous avons choisi des œuvres diversifiées, aux genres complémentaires, reflétant l'essence de nos démarches artistiques » ont conclu les deux artistes.

La galerie VAV sera ouverte du 4 au 15 juillet 2005, du lundi au samedi, de 10h à 22h.
Elle se situe au 1395, boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest, Montréal.

EXHIBITION: JUL 4 - 15, 2005
OPENING RECEPTION: JUL 5

DUO
CATHERINE POTVIN
AMÉLIE PROULX

Catherine Potvin and Amelié Proulx, Vestigium: un moment artistique, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Catherine Potvin and Amelié Proulx, Vestigium: un moment artistique, 2005.

Catherine Potvin
2005

Allure, manière de marcher. Au sens figuré : manière de penser, de raisonner. Voilà ce que devrait être la définition d'une démarche, selon le dictionnaire. En ce sens, je pourrais dire que ma démarche artistique est une tentative d'évasion du côté gauche du cerveau, le rationnel, pour laisser parler le droit, l'intuitif. Dans mon processus créatif, je mène une constante bataille afin de délivrer toutes les petites pensées saugrenues que j'ai en tête avant qu'elles ne soient digérées, comprises et mises en forme par le raisonnement. Je tiens à ce que mes dessins et mes peintures aient ce caractère brut et parfois inquiétant des marques propres à l'inconscient. J'ai toujours ce désir viscéral de marquer la surface avec mes mains. Comme un enfant, un animal? Peut-être. Mais plutôt comme une adulte qui accepte et souhaite explorer les parties de sa conscience qu'elle ne connaît pas. Est-ce que mes souvenirs peuvent être transformés en une image abstraite? Est-ce qu'on peut laisser couler nos pensées sur un tableau sans les contrôler? Est-ce que notre instinct est différent de celui des autres animaux? Ces questions m'habitent et je tente d'y faire écho par ma peinture. La surprise est parfois forte, lorsqu'un triste souvenir se transforme en une explosion de couleur ou qu'une esquisse douce devient un sombre champs de ratures. Bref, chaque œuvre est un peu comme l'instantané d'une émotion qui m'envahit.

D'un point de vue pictural, mon travail se situe aux limites de l'abstraction et de la figuration. Je ne privilégie pas le mode figuratif ou abstrait, je passe plutôt de l'un à l'autre selon les périodes. Je dessine et je peins de façon très gestuelle, intuitive et impulsive. Souvent, j'explore des formes qui évoquent le monde vivant microscopique et l'infini du monde cosmique, deux sphères de la science reliées aux recherches sur l'origine de la vie. Ma formation de biologiste est aussi révélatrice de cet intérêt pour le vivant et est indéniablement reliée à ma production artistique, bien qu'elle n'en soit pas la source immédiate. Par ailleurs, mes œuvres se retrouvent à mi-chemin entre le dessin et la peinture, alliant même certains éléments sculpturaux. Je travaille beaucoup sur papier, mylar, vellum et toile brute. La flexibilité de ces supports m'apporte un sentiment de liberté totale. J'aime le graphite, les crayons de couleur, les barres d'huile et l'huile liquide. J'applique, j'étends et je superpose les médiums avec mes mains. Les lignes acérées, l'empreinte digitale, la rature, le cercle, les taches, les gouttes et les petits symboles calligraphiques sont les marques que j'utilise le plus souvent. Cette esthétique s'impose par elle-même au propos évoquant l'instinct, le sauvage et la mystique que je désire exprimer.

Amélie Proulx
2005

I am not only here
but there also
scattered somehow
between these poles

In spite of the great diversity of shapes that my artistic productions take, the source of each is the same: the fact that my relationship with matter is called into question. Working with ceramics for several years has provided me with the opportunity to develop a physical and intuitive bond with clays, oxides and glazes. My desire is to create similar bonds with other materials, this directs my current visual inventions.

The field of biology, geology and chemistry fascinate and feed my imagination, however I always proceed, with my work, in an empirical way. That doesn't mean that rationality is evacuated from my creations though, a technical concern stimulates my search for unexpected harmonies, and it's often by locating my images with reality or by placing natural elements in a foreign environment that I find the balance I'm looking for.

A reflection on the notion of borders can be found in my most recent work. After noticing that we usually define an object by establishing its limits, I developed the idea that the expression of the fragility of the line - as part of the structure of a shape, but above all as a division of space - should enable us to rethink our own limits - physical, spiritual, philosophical. Our understanding of the world grows by dissecting it for the purpose of analysis, however we often forget that we change the nature of things in doing so. To think of here in relationship to there without considering the porosity of boundaries prevents us from seeing the mysterious network that organizes chaos. What I try to show are some of the outward signs of this essential interaction. The eye falls on a line which slowly disappears. Light, ink, paper, porcelain and other materials start murmuring and suggest the end of a limit.

Along with the fragility of the line, I also work with the fragility of matter. Fragmentation, deterioration and transparency all contribute to the expression of the subtle connections between beings and things. The porosity between interiority and exteriority is essential to the meaning of the work. We perceive the vulnerability of the object, only to get a glimpse of our own instability.

Body and mind are a part of nature; my art is an expression of this relationship. Nature changes us, of course, and in trying to understand it, we are inevitably transforming our environment. This perpetual metamorphosis is what I want to communicate. Words and ideas carry so much weight... I always try to dissolve them with the simplest of means. My work is aspiring to lightness, to a feeling which can't take root in language.

Catherine Potvin and Amelié Proulx, Vestigium: un moment artistique, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Catherine Potvin and Amelié Proulx, Vestigium: un moment artistique, 2005.

EMPIRICAL MYTHS

Drawings in Empirical Myths

This proiect. which started in the fall of 2002 and lasted until the summer of 2004 takes as its starting point a small sketchbook which is composed of still life drawings, notes and personal observations and in some cases just marks made. These were then photocopied or reproduced using tracing paper and pencil and then transferred to sheets of paper 22x30 inches in size to produce twenty-seven drawings.

The subject of the drawings vary, from detailed studies of objects found in nature to industrially produced items, along with drawings taken from magazines, journals and medical textbooks. Yet the unifying thread in them all is the carnet or sketchbook, a Hard Back Windsor & Newton Sketch Book (5.5" x8.5"). From this common point of departure, the basic elements of the quick sketches, doodles and idle marks, along with the very detailed drawings of the human body from live models and from images of dissected human corpses, become distorted, modified and fundamentally changed as they were transposed from the more intimate setting of the sketchbook to the larger and more spatially open surface of the sheets of paper. As the images were manually copied or photocopied, enlarged and transferred to the paper using acetone, the reading and the significance of the original became altered and often dramatically changed due to physical distortion of the image, of it being superimposed with or over other images or marks from the sketchbooks, or even with words, phrases and scientific notation.

The original reality of the 'sketchbook', a somewhat stereotypical concept of the artist and of artistic production, becomes a point of departure to create an alternate reality to that contained within the covers of the carnet by using the physical distortion of the transfer process along with materials such as vegetable oil, gesso, sumi and coloured ink, graphite and food. Thus, the language of the new images changes as the original drawings are altered both physically and aesthetically. A small, more intimate reality creates a related but totally different world reflected in the larger drawings.

EXHIBITION: AUG 29 - SEPT 10, 2005
OPENING RECEPTION: SEPT 6

GROUP
LYNDL HALL
COLIN THOMSON
SIMONE ROCHON

Lyndl Hall
Ordering Chaos
2005

In my art I am concerned with the relation of Art to Science, or more specifically, looking at science from an artistic perspective; viewing the language of diagrams, numbers and equations as linear drawings, as a common language that we all share. A language employed to interpret and represent the world. This idea of language is one central to the drawings I have been doing. We are surrounded by many different types of languages that we learn how to read and interpret. All of these languages are representational: maps, mathematical equations, diagrams, letters, words; they are read in the same way that we would read a drawing. They each, at their core, are line that creates form. By raveling or unraveling the line we create drawing, we create language and we create a representation. Through this idea one can see an interrelation of all languages, and the barriers that were between disciplines and subjects disappear. am interested in placing these different systems together, creating a dichotomy between the images, because visually they connect, but they seem to have no logical relation or reason. As if there is a subtle text beneath them all, that ties them together; an underlying order.

There is a tension created as one places seemingly contradictory images together: scientific diagrams in relation to pop culture, nature and deliberately random imagery. A connection is drawn both visually through the medium and means used, as well as being seen in the underlying formal similarities. Once these similarities are seen, a larger philosophical context can be read; an underlying order to the seemingly chaotic universe can be found. An invisible narrative is implied, one has to learn how to trust in a reason and purpose, even if the words are no longer there to be read. My point of departure is taken from Mathematical Chaos Theory and its ideas of sense within the senselessness and connections between the random. Everything begins to be seen in everything else, the microcosm and the macrocosm mirror each other and interrelate. By deconstructing natural forms one begins to draw the simplest connections. By deconstructing human language one begins to question how we communicate and represent the natural world. The images I use are varied and numerous, but it is the relation of one image to the other that I find most important. Formally I explore the relation of the stark linear line to the hazy nostalgic feel of the photo transfer. The tracing paper I use is very important too, it seems mortal, breathing and moving; it creates an abstract space that can recede or come forward, one can move beneath the picture plane and amidst the layers.

I map with languages, and I construct out of the deconstructed form a world that perhaps only makes sense to me as the creator, much like the world we live in today. I am trying to find a means of general communication, (transcendental even) within a world of languages that tends to separate us; as l attempt to understand communication itself, which is, at the simplest level, all that art is.

Lyndl Hall, Colin Thomson, and Simone Rochon, Empirical Myths, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Lyndl Hall, Colin Thomson, and Simone Rochon, Empirical Myths, 2005.

Simone Rochon
2005

What fascinates me about landscape is how they grow and change. The power we have to affect and transform them is immense, whether they are natural or urban. What interests me is the pre-conceived ideas we have as what makes a landscape natural or artificial. I have come to think of landscapes as structures, a type of organic or non-organic architecture that we change and build according to our values and aesthetic ideals.

With my art I try not to draw a line between these categories (artificial and natural). What if both kinds of structures shared the same properties and could be constructed in the same ways? Or what if they could both be overcome by an incontrollable growth? Obviously, answers to these questions stay hypothetical and highly subjective when they get translated on paper using a language, a markmaing that is mine. I explore these ideas by creating an imagery that often references objects as well as landscapes, but without being either one. I combine elements of architecture, man-made structures as well as organic elements and structures. These sometime compete, clash or integrate themselves to one another more harmoniously, depending on the thoughts I want to communicate.

Lyndl Hall, Colin Thomson, and Simone Rochon, Empirical Myths, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Lyndl Hall, Colin Thomson, and Simone Rochon, Empirical Myths, 2005.

UNRAVELINGS

EXHIBITION: SEPT 12 - 24, 2005
OPENING RECEPTION: N/A

GROUP
N/A

Unravelings, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Unravelings, 2005.

Unravelings, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Unravelings, 2005.

SKINNED

M. MARTIN

WE ARE TRYING TO BUILD VISIONS THAT PEOPLE CAN EXPERIENCE WITH THEIR WHOLE BODIES, BECAUSE VIRTUAL WORLDS CANNOT REPLACE THE NEED FOR SENSUAL PERCEPTION. (PIPILOTTI RIST) I ENJOY THE ASPECT OF 'LOSING CONTROL'. I'M INTERESTED IN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MY INTENTION AND WHAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS DONE WITH IT. (TOBIAS REHBERGER) EACH MATERIAL ALLOWS YOU A DIFFERENT RANGE OF FEELINGS... ( LOUISE BOURGEOIS) DESPITE OBVIOUS ORGANIZATION, NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE CONTROLLED. (MALACHI FARRELL) ON NE FAIT RIEN DE BON SI ON NE SE MET PAS DANS UNE POSITION DE VULNERABILITE QUI PUT PARFOIS MEER A L'ÉCHEC (PJ HARVEY) ART IS RESTORATION: THE IDEA IS TO REPAIR THE DAMAGES THAT ARE INFLICTED IN LIFE, TO MAKE SOMETHING
THAT IS FRAGMENTED-WHICH IS WHAT FEAR AND ANXIETY DO TO A
PERSON- INTO SOMETHING WHOLE (LOUISE BOURGEOIS).

EXHIBITION: OCT 3 - 14, 2005
OPENING RECEPTION: OCT 4

DUO
COLE ALEXANDRA
M. MARTIN

Cole Alexandra and M. Martin, Skinned, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Cole Alexandra and M. Martin, Skinned, 2005.

cole

once a puking pink party princess, vulnerable fawn in one big fucked up forest. deflated, shiny, messy and disillusioned, working in an intuitive way with found objects, remaking, altering, subconscious and emotion.

In memory of my late grandfather Frank

"You've been up an ass seen shit and know shit"- Frank Pronick Pollard 1915-2003

Cole Alexandra and M. Martin, Skinned, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Cole Alexandra and M. Martin, Skinned, 2005.

PINWHEELS

A Phantasmagoric Pop-Up Art Extravaganza

October 1, 2005.

Montreal- The winners of this year's VAV Production Grant proudly present
"Pinwheels", a mixed-media 3-D installation at Concordia's student run gallery located at 1395 Rene-Levesque Ouest.

The Pop-Up Art creators are second year Print Media Majors Treva Petch and Marc-Alexandre Dumoulin of the widely acclaimed Concordia's Studio Arts program. The artists are proud to be the first in their department to ever be given this opportunity.

"Pinwheels" is an installation that pushes the boundaries of traditional flat surface print seen on gallery wall by transforming the space into a 3-D mixed media show. One of the main components displayed are 15 giant mechanical pinwheels that contour a rainbow road leading up to giant digital cutouts.

Their show attempts to examine the emotional attachment humans possess with inanimate objects. In effort to better understand this relationship, they are creating a surreal setting that will allow viewers to enter a hyper-reality that brings art to life.

You are cordially invited to the opening vernissage for "Pinwheels" on Tuesday, October 18, commencing at 7:00 p.m.

The Pinwheels will be turning from Monday, October 17h through to Friday, October 29th. The gallery is open weekdays from 10 am to 11 pm and weekends from 10am to 10 pm.

EXHIBITION: OCT 17 - 28, 2005
OPENING RECEPTION: OCT 18

DUO
TREVA
MARC-ALEXANDRE

Treva and Marc-Alexandre, Pinwheels, poster, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Treva and Marc-Alexandre, Pinwheels, 2005.

Treva and Marc-Alexandre, Pinwheels, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Treva and Marc-Alexandre, Pinwheels, 2005.

SNAIL PROJECT

The Snail Project (November 2003 - September 2005)
A collaborative mail art project by Misha Gingerich and Emily Robertson

The Snail Project was born in November 2003, when Misha Gingerich and Emily Robertson began actively researching the 1970's fashion of mail art. All works created within the context of this collaborative were carried out solely through snail mail.' Throughout its two year existence, The Snail became an extensive collection of miniature artworks.

The Snail is a collection of souvenirs from our day-to-day life, which would normally be seen as ephemeral. Examples include polaroids, journal entries, vestiges from a trip or outing. we find interest in these everyday objects and internalize them as works of art; relics that become artistic physicalities. Sent back and forth, the majority of the Snails were sent by artists Gingerich and Robertson. However, twice the Snail Project was opened to the public (most recently at Café X, Concordia University). These donations became inherent elements of the work.

Enlarging the circle of Snailers has meant that we have no control over what is sent and therefore of what may become a part of our project. No media, format nor subject is rejected: The Snail can be comprised of anything that is sent through the postal service. Testing the limitations of the post has been one.

It is important to mention that nothing included within this project can be sent via electronic devices. Although the Snail Project has taken a life of it's own, it was created as a homage to past mail art. Throughout the collaboration, it remained essential to stay true to snail mail. All Snails are thus tangible object which have been marked up and altered by their journey through the post.

EXHIBITION: OCT 31 - NOV 5, 2005
OPENING RECEPTION: N/A

DUO
MISHA GINGERICH
EMILY ROBERTSON

Misha Gingerich and Emily Robertson, Snail Project, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Misha Gingerich and Emily Robertson, Snail Project, 2005.

Misha Gingerich and Emily Robertson, Snail Project, 2005. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Misha Gingerich and Emily Robertson, Snail Project, 2005.

THE HIDE ROOM

For The Hide Room project we propose to show a variety of works and an installation. Our work will explore ideas concerning the passage of time and memory. Selected collages and drawings will depict ornamentation and costume from different historical periods. In so doing, the works will comment on the excessive nature of human consumption and wealth.

The installation of arranged objects will also touch upon the theme of consumption. Most of the rusted objects come from the garbage, construction sites and thrift shops. In other words, they have already been consumed and discarded. To arrange these objects in a work of art is to show the transience of material pleasures or the disposability of material things. Through these works, we invite the viewer to consider how decadence and consumption has changed over time.

The viewer can also think about how these past times have been reconstructed in the paintings, photographs, and objects we show. By investigating fashion from the Baroque period and displaying old photographs, we demonstrate nostalgia for a time gone by. This nostalgia, however, is for a world that we never really knew. The art works thus speak about how our collective memory imposes itself upon history. They question how objects and bodies are used, abandoned, contained and released. They aim to expose decay but also to preserve memory.

Allison Freeman and Katie Lyle

EXHIBITION: JAN 4 - 13, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION: JAN 10

DUO
ALLISON FREEMAN
KATIE LYLE

Allison Freeman and Katie Lyle, The Hide Room, 2006. Click to expand the image

Allison Freeman and Katie Lyle, The Hide Room, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Allison Freeman and Katie Lyle, The Hide Room, 2006.

THE FRENCH KISS

EXHIBITION: FEB 27 - MAR 10, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION: FEB 28

GROUP
FIONNA ANNIS
SYLVAIN BEAUMAN
MATHIEU BLANCHETTE
LEE BRUNET
JUSTYNA DOWIDOWICZ
CHRISTINA FROCHAUER
AMÉLIE GUÉRIN-SIMARD
SANDRA LACHANCE
JUSTIN LAPERRIÈRE
SÉBASTIEN LAPOINTE
MARTIN LORD
ISABELLE MAINVILLE
SHAUMA MCLEOD
YANN POCREAU
JENNIFER SCHULER
THIERRY MARCEAU

N/A

THE ONLY WAY OUT IS IN

EXHIBITION: MAR 23 - APR 15, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION: N/A

GROUP
N/A

PERSONAL SPACE

EXHIBITION: MAR 20 - APR 1, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION: MAR 21
ARTIST TALK: MAR 21

DUO
MAEGHAN BANKS
SUSAN WESTBROOK

Susan Westbrook
2006

My work draws on images and objects of 19th century North American culture, particularly those related to rituals of memorial. I have found that the "Momento Mori" or post-mortem photograph of this era, in which the deceased subject is often posed to disguise death, or surrounded by props, is an embodiment of the tendency to construct memory artificially. I am deeply interested in the way in which images have been used to stand in for an absent person or context, and the way in which they can become charged objects which assume and even supercede the importance of authentic memories and histories.

Using 19th century post-mortem and funerary photographs as source imagery, I place these memorial images in front of a contemporary backdrop in reference to the "Sears Portrait Studio." The works are intended would conflate historical memorial rites with present-day rituals of memory-making. These could include the graduation, the prom, the family reunion and other commemorative ceremonies which may result in contrived or artificial images and objects.

While the paintings are references to photography, the way in which the respective spaces of antique and contemporary imagery are fragmented and rearranged creates a sense of disjunction and ambiguity. This ultimately allows the formal motifs to draw the content into a continuous space.

My approach is designed not only to focus the viewer's attention to inconsistencies in the personal narratives constructed by memorial objects, but also to create, through the medium of paint, objects that speak to a broader sense of cultural narrative, and address the construction of collective histories.

Maeghan Banks and Susan Westbrook, Personal Space, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Maeghan Banks and Susan Westbrook, Personal Space, 2006.

Maeghan Banks
2006

My work centres on the investigation of perception, identity and interiority. These concerns are mediated through drawing and installation, the latter of which allows me to explore complex spatial relationships while operating within the tradition of two-dimensional media. Frames are used not as incidental supports but as a means of consciously recalling the capture and containment of an image, meanwhile transforming a drawing into an object to be manipulated within an installation.

I am interested in the relationship of an individual to his or her surroundings or, more specifically, in the perception of an individual in moments and spaces of privacy. Introverted figures are used to demonstrate the quiet and unknowing communications of an individual through gesture, expression and demeanor. This focus on interiority is reinforced by the use of domestic objects and images that function as artifacts of personal histories and spaces of retreat.

Maeghan Banks and Susan Westbrook, Personal Space, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Maeghan Banks and Susan Westbrook, Personal Space, 2006.

BAD ART: DESIRE, SEX AND AIDS

Bad art for AIDS
MONTREAL MIRROR | MARCH 30 - APRIL 5, 2006
46
CHRISTINE REDFERN

If the type of celebrity activism like Paul and Heather McCartney's recent seal-hunt protest on the St. Lawrence ice floes makes you sick, come join some grassroots activists who actually know something about their topic. The upcoming HIV/AIDS BaD_aRt exhibition at the VAV Gallery (1395 René-Lévesque W). BaD_aRt is a project initiated by professors and students of the HIV/AIDS course offered jointly by Concordia's Fine Arts and Social Sciences departments.

Starting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4, Dont Rhine and Isabelle Noel from the L.A.-based audio activist group Ultra-Red will be in town to perform with three guests from local AIDS organizations. There will also be performances by students Emma Howes, Alessandra Naccarato and Sarah Febbraro. Starting at 7:30 p.m. is a silent auction, featuring great artwork by Evergon, Nelson French and others, to raise funds for Concordia's AIDS Project. To hear more, check out the artist talks by Rhine on April 5 and French on April 6.

EXHIBITION: APR 4 - 15, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION: APR 4

GROUP
ROMY CEPPETELLI
SARAH FEBBRARO
SHEENA HOSZKO
EMMA WALTRAUD HOWES
AYDIN MATLABI
ROBIN MCNAUGHTON
SIMON VIGER
VANESSA MEYER
ALESSANDRA NACCARATO
RENEE NADEAU
MIKE RUDOLPH
SHELLY SKINNER
BLAKE STUART
KARIM TALAAT
KEVIN THOMPSON
DAVID ZEGLEN

Bad Art: Desire, Sex and Aids, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Bad Art: Desire, Sex and Aids, 2006.

PRESS

AIDS course finds its way into VAV Art Gallery
KAREN HERLAND

Students who register for the interdisciplinary course on HIV/ AIDS may be prepared to discuss issues like sexuality and death in the classroom. They may even anticipate the emotional investment of the required internship in an AIDS organization.

However, social science students might not imagine participating in a show curated by their instructors.

Shown in the VAV Gallery from April 4 to 15, BaD_aRt: Desire, Sex and AIDS featured the work of over a dozen students registered for either the classroom or online version of HIV/AIDS: Cultural, Social and Scientific Aspects of the Pandemic. Some students performed their projects at the vernissage, which attracted over 200 people.

Co-instructor Tagny Duff, an interdisciplinary PhD candidate in Humanities, also has an MFA in studio arts. She said that over half of the students registered in the six-credit course opted to produce art as their final project, though not all of them chose to exhibit it.

Although the course is open to Fine Arts and Arts and Science students, not only art students chose a project over a paper. "Some of the Fine Arts students wrote the paper. They know how challenging it can be to produce a piece, as opposed to a 12-page paper"" Duff said.

The project alone requires three separate formal proposals, and subsequent meetings with Duff or co-instructor Christian Dare, who is finishing his third year with the course.

"Some of the Arts and Science students who participated in the show last year decided to become artists" said Duff. "For students, the course can be life-altering"

The course combines practical internship experience with guests who research, work and practice in the community. Three of them are invited under the auspices of the community lecture series on HIV/AIDS, which, like the course, is part of the Concordia HIV/AIDS Project.

The regular guests cover a range of topics and approaches. For many students, this may be their first exposure to pure science, or to community activism, depending on their background. Having access to such a diverse group of resource people opens up new possibilities for the students, the opportunity to be part of a juried art show being just one.

The vernissage also featured the work of Dont Rhine, a member of the California-based Ultra-red Collective. At an artist talk on April 5, Rhine discussed his early experiences with a needle exchange in Hollywood in the early 1990s.

As a sound artist, he was interested in how to combine art with his activism and looked for ways to document the impact of AIDS.

Over time, he grew dissatisfied with the activist model: "You define a point of conflict, develop an action and then move on." He's more interested in an "organizer" approach, one that works within a community towards long-term solutions.

Silent/Listen is the project he performed with Isabelle Noel on April 4 in the VAV Gallery. Four representatives of local AIDS groups briefly spoke about their organizations. Rhine immediately remixed their words.

Audience members were invited to join them at a table of microphones where they could share their feelings about the epidemic. The ensuing conversations were recorded and spliced together "as a document of where we are now, in Rhine's words.

Similar recordings have been made elsewherre, and Ultra-red will be at the world AIDS conference in Toronto this summer. Rhine hopes documenting the current situation will help to develop a plan of action.

Bad Art: Desire, Sex and Aids, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Bad Art: Desire, Sex and Aids, 2006.

ROYAL RUMBLE: THE DIVINE COMEDY

EN
Royal Rumble: The Divine Comedy

Montréal, the 4th of April 2006 - You are invited to an exhibition presented at the VAV Gallery of Concordia University (1395 René-Levesque). The exhibition will take place from the 18th to the 28th of April 2006 and will feature works by Russell Tyler And David Laquerre. The vernissage / artist talk will be held on the 18th of April at 7:00 pm in the gallery.

Both of the artists are third year BFA students at Concordia University. Through this exhibition, they explore the themes surrounding contemporary social realities and invite us into a world where our vices, habits and beliefs are magnified. Royal Rumble presents a selection of their respective recent work as well as a collaborative installation.

Through a process of installation, David Laquerre explores the relationship between mankind and its gods or divinities, as well as their role in the quest for male sexual and cultural identity in contemporary society.

Russell Tyler is attracted by urban interactions; the wanted or unwanted human contacts that one is forced to experience when living within a society. His work melds painterly techniques and graffiti-influenced characters to reveal a glimpse of the human consciousness.

This exhibition explores the possibility of a cohesive collaboration between two distinct practices, each maintaining its individual identity, while at the same time establishing a logical and intimate dialog. The works will be shown within the context of an installation, in which the setting itself will be used as a tool of mediation.

FR
Royal Rumble : La divine comédie

Montréal, le 4 avril 2006 - Vous êtes conviés à une exposition présentée à la Galerie VAV de l'Université Concordia (1395 boulevard René-Lévesque). L'exposition aura lieu du 18 au 28 avril 2006 et le vernissage se tiendra le 18 avril à 19 h 00. Il s'agit du travail de deux artistes : David Laquerre et Russel Tyler. Royal Rumble vous propose une sélection de leurs plus récents travaux respectifs ainsi qu'une installation collaborative fusionnant les deux perspectives.

Tous deux étudiants à leur troisième année du programme de beaux-arts de l'Université Concordia, ces deux artistes abordent, à travers cette exposition, des thèmes entourant les réalités sociales contemporaines. Ils nous transportent dans un monde où nos croyances, nos habitudes de vies et nos vices sont mis en relief.

Par des installations, David Laquerre aborde la relation que l'homme entretient avec les dieux et les divinités et leur rôle dans la quête d'identité culturelle et sexuelle vécue par l'homme contemporain.

Russel Tyler est attiré par les interactions urbaines; les contacts humains, désirés ou non qui façonnent la réalité sociale du milieu citadin. La fusion de techniques propres à la peinture et aux systèmes pictographiques émanant de la culture du graffiti lui permet de sonder les méandres de la conscience humaine.

Le but de cette exposition est d'explorer la possibilité d'une collaboration entre deux pratiques aux identités propres, ayant un dialogue conséquent et intime. Les travaux seront présentés au sein d'une exposition installative dans laquelle la théâtralité sera utilisée comme médiateur de la rencontre.

EXHIBITION: APR 18 - 28, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION: APR 18
ARTIST TALK: APR 18

DUO
RUSSELL TYLER
DAVID LAQUERRE

Russell Tyler and David Laquerre, Royal Rumble: The Divine Comedy, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Russell Tyler and David Laquerre, Royal Rumble: The Divine Comedy, 2006.

Russell Tyler
2006

In this series I am conducting a detailed painterly exploration of urban relationships and interactions. Life in the big city lends itself to a wide array of human interaction; wanted or unwanted. From the homeless schizophrenic to the speed walking businessman. I'm interpreting the oddities, eccentricities, and subtleties of the urban human reality. Through the melding of painterly techniques and graffiti influenced characters I'm able to capture a candid glimpse into human consciousness. The character interaction in my paintings evokes the emotion, ego, and awkwardness, which define the urban reality in which we live.

David Laquerre
2006

My work explores the relationship between mankind and its invented deities; the ensemble of the cult phenomenon. Through a variety of different processes, often linked to Duchamp ready-mades, I'm trying to create a pastiche of the mystic man's imaginary. Like all religions, I combine, transform, disguise, familiar objects in order to assign them a new purpose: a religious purpose. I thereby build, piece by piece, my own personal mythology based on my perception of reality. With this approach, I intend to define my sexual and cultural identity, as I investigate masculinity in the post-feminist era.

Russell Tyler and David Laquerre, Royal Rumble: The Divine Comedy, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Russell Tyler and David Laquerre, Royal Rumble: The Divine Comedy, 2006.

RAW: COWBOYS AND INDIANS MEET THE ORIGINALS

Rachel Rachna Dhawan
2006

Growing up in an Indian feminist household taught me to be critical of the roles that status, colour, and gender demand. It was also the beginning of a lengthy process of examining the multiplicity of identity.

A large aspect of my body of work has focused on self- portraiture via the act of role-playing; taking on identities I am uncomfortable with or acting out a fantasy role that I would not "normally" have access to. The images are augmented by a vocabulary of symbols, translating the discomfort or exhilaration of the role-play. I am currently expanding on these portraits through embroidery and textile that is reminiscent of narrative East Asian tapestry work.

I strive to question and deconstruct the normative ideals of identity, race, sexuality and gender with humour. I aim to allow a space for the viewer to access the work casually while maintaining
a critical stance.

EXHIBITION: MAY 15 - 26, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION: MAY 16

DUO
RACHEL DHAWAN
KARINE COSSETTE BARBEAU

Rachel Dhawan and Karine Cossette Barbeau, Raw: Cowboys & Indians Meet the Originals, 2006. Documentation unavailable.

KARINE COSSETTE BARBEAU
2006

Human beings have always defined themselves by fabricatina numerous obiects with which tr complement themselves. Objects that compensate for our insufficiencies. and thereby helo us adapt to our environment, and, as well, symbolic objects that are material extensions of our identity.

But what about those objects that, through the matrix of circumstances. have lost the purpose they previously had? In my work, I am particularly interested in those. and try to make them visible through color photography. As opposed to what one might anticipate, when these objects escape the control of ownership and leave the context of their original and intended use, they acquire new meaning and develop their own presence.

I first formulated this idea with The Originals, a series of pictures exploring public space and objects that are found within it, often unnoticed and forgotten--objects which, though mundane, have been accidentally placed in an unusual situation. With their bright colors solicit us. reminding us how alive they can be. Like archaeological artifacts, they call for investigation and evoke hidden stories. But here the meaning is not scientifically deduced, but rather subiectively, at the individual level.

I continued on the same path with The Unforgettables. For that project. | spent one afternoon exploring a huge parking lot between two downtown apartment buildings. With a vast crime scene in mind. one spawning multiple clues, I photographed without inhibition every object or garbage piece to be round These items, regurgitated at a fast pace through our frantic consumption, expressed in this new existence a meaning they might never have had before. Indeed, they carry a life experience nostalgically manifested in their wear and tear. Defying forgetfulness, they glitter with panache their last flamboyancy, allowing for glimpses of a neglected but captivating beauty.

Anonymous accidents but significant, the subjects of my photographs interpret public space as a space of creation wherein the work of art can proceed without intentionalit. Even though the authors are unknown and their motives remain ambiguous, the result does carry meaning and esthetics. The medium of photography allows me to give access to these objects without decontextualizing them physically. In a way, these relics of contemporary life could be seen as a primal material. 'readymades" in a natural state, indeed in their original environment.

THE LIFE OF RELICS

EXHIBITION: JUL 10 - 22, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION: JUL 11

DUO
MATTHEW THOMSON
JULIE GLADSTONE

(Slide 1-11)

Julie Gladstone, 2006.

(Slide 12-14)

Matthew Thomson, 2006.

(Slide 15-18)
Installation views

Julie Gladstone, The Life of Relics, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Julie Gladstone (L) and Matthew Thomson (R), The Life of Relics, 2006.

The Life of Relics, 2006.

Julie Gladstone (M) and Matthew Thomson (L,R), The Life of Relics, 2006.

Julie Gladstone, The Life of Relics, 2006.

Julie Gladstone (L) and Matthew Thomson (R), The Life of Relics, 2006.

Matthew Thomson, The Life of Relics, 2006.

The Life of Relics, 2006.

THE LIFE OF RELICS
VAV Gallery July 10th-22nd

Julie Gladstone and Matthew Thomson

Matthew Thomson and Julie Gladstone are visual artists who are influenced by the urban environment and are drawn to the aesthetic of the deteriorating city. They are interested in the materiality of decay, for it's symbolism of impermanence and its suggestion of potential transformation. They use painting and assemblage techniques referencing alchemy: through various chemical and physical processes they try to extract the essence of their materials. The result of this process is work that is concerned with the arrangement of form, space and colour and the achievement of an aesthetic impact on the viewer.

For Matthew, the process of collecting materials is a crucial element in the construction of his paintings. Through the act of truancy, he intuitively gathers elements that are the remnants of construction, or the remnants of tools that have been used either in construction or in artistic production. The combining of these elements once back in the studio occurs through a process of association in which the artist and the fragments of the painting interact. This results in abstract based, mixed media collages that reflect the transformation not only of the materials but also of the artist.

Each work is unique in terms of the relationships that are formed between the materials. relationships that determine the process by which the elements are assembled. Matt uses inlay techniques to fit found objects together, and he also manipulates some of the material by painting, but mostly through processes of removal that include chiseling, scraping, gouging and sanding. This act of removal is crucial in revealing qualities of the materials that were not immediately apparent.

Julie's paintings are mixed media, acrylic, oil and collage. They are concerned with demonstrating the effects of time upon physical structures and expressing the idea of impermanence through the forms of architecture. A series of six feet tall panels depicting apartment buildings that are in various states of decline and decay, incite the viewer to create connections with their physical body and to consider their own mortality.

Other works contain the building blocks of architectural forms, yet through a process of adding and removing that includes layering, and creating texture through scratching, have become abstracted. The perspective becomes confused, alternating between a frontal, aerial and internal perspective, suggesting a topology that is in constant motion and that references the layering of history.

Both Matthew and Julie are interested in the patterns of deterioration that are observable in the urban environment as markers that indicate our connection to the cycles of transformation that occur in nature. Matthew's approach involves extracting qualities from found materials mostly through a process of removal, whereas Julie actively creates the textures and surfaces of decay through painting and layering. In both cases, the creative process of transforming something that is old and decaying into something new, facilitates a process of change in the artists, and is also meant to incite a sense of potential in the viewer. By creating contemporary relics, the artists invoke a sense of the continuity of history, in terms of memory of the past and future development.

Julie Gladstone
Matthew Thomson

Matthew Thomson, The Life of Relics, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Matthew Thomson, The Life of Relics, 2006.

Matthew Thomson (L) and Julie Gladstone (R), The Life of Relics, 2006.

BEFORE THE WINTER AFTER THE FALL

EXHIBITION: JUL 25 - AUG 5, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION: JUL 28

DUO
SARA A. TREMBLAY
JIM VERBURG

N/A

THE 4TH ANNUAL GRADUATING SHOW

EXHIBITION: JUL 25 - AUG 5, 2006
OPENING RECEPTION: N/A

GROUP
SUSAN WESTBROOK
TREVOR KIERNANDER
DAVID KING
SUPER COWGIRL
EDUARDO MENZ
AARON REAUME
RACHEL DHAMAN
DOMINIQUE FERRATON
SHAWN KURUNERU
DESSA HARHAY
ALEXIS WILLIAMS
ALEXANDER ORTIZ
SARAH FEBBRASO
MATHIEU BLANCHETTE
COLIN THOMPSON
JAIME ALLEN
CHANTAL MUSGROVE

(Slide 1-3)

Eduardo Menz

(Slide 4-5)

Aaron Reaume

(Slide 6-8)

Trevor Kiernander

(Slide 9-11)

Shawn Kuruneru

(Slide 12-13)
N/A

(Slide 14-15)

Dessa Harhay

(Slide 16-18)

David King

(Slide 19-21)

Chantal Musgrove

(Slide 22)

Mathieu Blanchette

(Slide 23)

Colin Thomson

(Slide 24)

Rachel Dhaman

(Slide 25-27)

Alexis Williams

(Slide 28-37)
N/A

Eduardo Menz, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

Eduardo Menz, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Aaron Reaume, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Trevor Kiernander, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Shawn Kuruneru, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Dessa Harhay, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

David King, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Chantal Musgrove, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Mathieu Blanchette, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Colin Thomson, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Rachel Dhaman, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Alexis Williams, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

(Slide 1-5)
N/A

(Slide 6)
Dessa Harhay

(Slide 7-8)
Dominique Ferraton

(Slide 9-10)

Mathieu Blanchette

(Slide 11)

Aaron Reaume

(Slide 12-13)

Rachel Dhaman

The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006. Click to expand the image and swipe for additional views

The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Dessa Harhay, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Dominique Ferraton, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Mathieu Blanchette, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Aaron Reaume, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.

Rachel Dhaman, The 4th Annual Graduating Show, 2006.