exhibit at Kit And Ace, Gastown, Vancouver, B.C, Canada August- Nov 2015
Last photo was the result of a collaborative project for the opening event. The premise was an exercise on discipline. Participants were asked to try and draw a straight line across without the pen leaving the canvas. Of course, there’s always someone to break the rules ( smiley face in bottom right corner.) It’s an interesting result- without the conformist presence, the rebel does not have anything to rebel against. Does the rebel ruin the collective team effort? Or does the rebel add to beauty and make us think about individualism?
Water theme for three pieces on wall:
We all need water. Some of us have more access to it than others. I’ve spent most of my life living close to the ocean, and all my life living with clean drinking water. I have gratitude for water and think about it’s connection to melting glaciers, droughts, floods, tsunamis, storms, forest fires, natural creation and destruction. When drawing I like to consider the movement of water, and apply it to the organized chaos theme in my work. In “Puddle” – water appears still and contained, but water is always moving- even when getting dried up by the sun. The other day my aqua culture friends showed me a water sample from the ocean. We looked at it with a microscope and it blew my mind wide open. It was so weird and wonderful. So much life! This piece with a puddle character represents movement because it has legs. it is standing still with movement within. In “River” the line bends and turns through abstract lines- shapes that form like lakes and mountains. I consider this when drawing- where does the line go? Where does it come from, how does it create form? Is this line dried up? Has it given itself up, or given itself to connecting water systems? “Glacier” is playing with simplicity and challenging the densely detailed approach in my work. When huge chunks of glacier break off, they form a line, and from this I ask- where does this line go- how does it shape life? These are big questions about the state of humanity’s fragility for water dependence, but these images are not coming from a place of fear. They pay respect to water for it’s importance and preservation of life.
LR