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ARYEN HOEKSTRA
Untitled (moving objects)
Artlab Gallery
October 8 - October 21, 2021
Walter Benjamin’s 1929 essay Surrealism: The Last Snapshot of the European Intelligentsia suggests that a central feature of Surrealist work was the perceptual experience he named ‘profane illumination.’ Benjamin describes the process by which, sometimes but not always drug induced, a person might be distracted into perceiving the most ordinary, overlooked objects of everyday reality as uncanny, supernatural, and irrational. According to Benjamin, Surrealism’s ability to disorient and estrange through this ‘profane illumination’ made it a potentially revolutionary operation. A few years later in his Artwork essay Benjamin identifies an analogous trait in the work of Dadaist painters and poets, writing that “their poems are 'word salad’ containing obscenities and every imaginable waste product of language. The same is true of their paintings, on which they mounted buttons and tickets. What they intended and achieved was a relentless destruction of the aura of their creations, which they branded as
reproductions with the very means of production.” While the latter essay suggests that it is the reproducibility of buttons and tickets that destroys this aura I prefer to think that Benjamin was simply too sober in his appraisal of these works, leaving himself perceptually untuned to the profane character immanent to their everyday objectness.
The separation of the sacred from the profane is one art’s most strictly maintained divisions, extending even to the architectural standard now ubiquitous in nearly all contemporary art galleries. This is described in detail in Olav Velthius’ Talking Prices, a comparative analysis of the business practices and pricing logic of art dealers in Amsterdam and New York in the early 2000’s.
In some cases, the back is sealed off hermetically, suggesting that the exhibition space is all there is to the gallery. Other gallery owners allow the public at least a partial view of the back space through open doors or glass windows. In small galleries … the back space may be limited to a single room or even a niche of the gallery space, where a small number of artworks are stored and a desk space is located for the owner and her assistant. In the largest New York Galleries … the back of the gallery consists of several corridors and spaces with unique functions. These spaces may include the following: offices for the directors or dealers and, in some cases, their personal assistants; a private viewing room, furnished with comfortable seats, where potential buyers can look in full comfort at a small number of works they are interested in; a stock room, where (part of) the inventory of the gallery is stored — the everyday territory of the art handler, who is responsible for the shipping and installation of artworks. A general office room may have a large table where staff meetings take place, and where deals may be negotiated and arranged between the dealer and a collector, away from the works of art.
Velthius describes this as a Durkhemian separation that functions to remove any trace of commerce (ie. the profane) from the sacred space of the exhibition. The need for this is made clear by the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben in his essay In Praise of Profanation, in which he recalls the legal definition of the profane in Ancient Rome.
The Roman jurists knew perfectly well what it meant to "profane." Sacred or religious were the things that in some way belonged to the gods. As such, they were removed from the free use and commerce of men; they could be neither sold nor held in lien, neither given for usufruct nor burdened by servitude. Any act that violated or transgressed this special unavailability, which reserved these things exclusively for the celestial gods (in which case they were properly called "sacred") or for the gods of the underworld (in which case they were simply called "religious"), was sacrilegious. And if "to consecrate" (sacrare) was the term that indicated the removal of things from the sphere of human law, "to profane" meant, conversely, to return them to the free use of men.
And it can be an uncanny and irrational experience to enter that profane space which lies just beyond the walls of the gallery. My own research is particularly interested in the ways that contemporary art objects are traded, the logistics of the art business, the storage and shipping of artworks, their care and
circulation. This often finds me considering artworks in those moments that they are removed from their intended site of operation; out of the white-cube exhibition space and in the storage racks of the gallery’s back room. This is also the space that inverts Benjamin’s misunderstanding of Surrealism as it sees artworks transformed into art objects, which is a true profanation.[1] And it is only as objects that these works may then be handled by gloved technicians, wrapped in cushioning, and readied for transport.
That which has been ritually separated can be returned from the rite to the profane sphere. Thus one of the simplest forms of profanation occurs through contact (contagione) during the same sacrifice that effects and regulates the passage of the victim from the human to the divine sphere. One part of the victim (the entrails, or ex ta: the liver, heart, gallbladder, lungs) is reserved for the gods, while the rest can be consumed by men. The participants in the rite need only touch these organs for them to become profane and edible. There is a profane contagion, a touch that disenchants and returns to use what the sacred had separated and petrified.
Perhaps what is potentially radical about the buttons and tickets Benjamin wrote about in Dadaist works, and in the Readymade more generally, is that they not only point their own mechanical (re)production, but also possess a haptic indexicality that conjures their handling as objects prior to their consecration as artworks.
Untitled (moving objects) (2021) is an installation of provisional sculptures created from 12 moving blankets and a number of objects found in the gallery that have previously had direct contact with artworks. The blankets, wrap and gloves acknowledge the materially fragile nature of the works that have and will enter this exhibition space, their dual existences as both artwork and object, and their always potential profanation.
[1] Everyday objects already exist within profane sphere, so don’t require further intoxication to be perceived as such.
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Join us in the Artlab Gallery this Thursday, June 20 from 5-7pm for the opening reception of MFA candidate Johnathan Onyschuk's thesis show, "Bone Meal."
The exhibition runs from June 20 - July 4, and consists of monumental avatars, WWI junk and wooden sculpture.
In 75 A.C.E Greek biographer Plutarch wrote on the aftermath of the defeat of Tuton and Ambrones tribes in Rome, different accounts report the inhabitants of Massilia made fences round their vineyards with the bones, and that the ground, enriched by the moisture of the putrefied bodies yielded at the season a prodigious crop. Bone Meal is a multimedia installation that explores the relationships between escapist fantasy violence and real world conflicts. Virtual avatars become the calloused husk from which we enjoy the exploited violence and heroism of the past; first as tragedy, second as farce and third as larp. The exhibited works examine the entertainment value of historical trauma and it’s hyper-mobility in the virtual space.
Warrior culture is the insufferable masculine hangover everyone else has to nurse and entertain. Every year a new video game or Netflix show comes out based on the “true events” of war and conflict and every year we lazily consume it like a dog eating the same food for it’s whole life. I find myself trapped in this reoccurring pattern of violent consumption, this work is generated from the bits of flesh consumed while trying to gnaw myself free.
Artlab Gallery
John Labatt Visual Arts Centre
Department of Visual Arts
Western University
London, ON
© 2019; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Annual Juried Exhibition: March 2 – 16, 2023
Opening: Thursday, March 2 from 6–8PM
People’s Choice voting: 6:00-6:45pm
AJE Award Announcements: 7:00pm
Celebrating twenty-one years the "Annual Juried Exhibition" continues to be one of the Department of Visual Arts most highly anticipated undergraduate exhibitions. This diverse show supports the production of new work made in a variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, print, video, and photography. Exhibited works were selected by a professional jury who consider creativity, concept, materiality and technique. This year’s show is indicative of the resilience and dedication our students continue to demonstrate.
Featuring work by: Tammy Abela, Bridget Beardwood, Laila Bloomstone, John Cocker, Giulia Commisso, Stefania Dragalin, Kate Dunn, Sebastian Evans, Cheyne Ferguson, Megan Goddard, Morea Haloftis, Katelyn Halter, Emma Hardy, Emily Kings, Bridget Koza, Victoria Kyriakides, Myles Lynch, Darcy McVicar, Grace Maier, Amy Murray, Venus Nwaokoro, Dhra Patel, Olivia Pattison, Bridget Puhacz, Michaela Purcell, Hilary Rutherford, Chloe Serenko, Abbygale Shelley, Marissa Slack, Maggie Shook, Madison Teeter, Timothy Wiebe, Sophie Zhang
Jury Members: Anna Madelska (Faculty), Jessica Karuhanga (Faculty), Dickson Bou (Artlab Gallery Preparator) Liza Eurich (Artlab Gallery Manager), by proxy Teresa Carlesimo (FCG Director)
artLAB Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2023; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
The workshop presenters/organisers.
Pauline Cockrill, Community History Officer, History SA
Kristin Phillips, Principal Textile Conservator, Artlab Australia
Stuart Fuller, Preventive Conservator, Artlab Australia
Anne Dineen, Senior Preventive Conservator, Artlab Australia
And the Duck!
Photo: courtesy Pat Thompson, Dublin History Group
This morning a fire hydrant was knocked over in Morgan Thomas Lane causing some problems for SA Museum and Library staff.
This morning a fire hydrant was knocked over in Morgan Thomas Lane causing some problems for SA Museum and Library staff.
This morning a fire hydrant was knocked over in Morgan Thomas Lane causing some problems for SA Museum and Library staff.
Exhibition dates: November 23 - December 3, 2020
Installation art is an artistic genre that challenges the boundaries of traditional art. The history of installation art dates back to the 1960’s to early 1970’s, in which it provoked a reversal to the modernist sculpture’s relationship with the pedestal. The pedestal disconnected the sculpture from the space or stated its indifference to it, allowing the work to possess independence from its environment. On the contrary, installation art is directed by the space in which it is constructed. Although installation may involve elements of architecture, sculpture, painting, video, photography and performance, it aspired to challenge the limitations of these art forms as well as their institutional settings. Moreover, installation art was an attempt to resist the trend of circulating art as a commodity, something that is transportable and exchangeable.
In this project, students from SA 2643: Introduction to Sculpture and Installation explore ideas of "where are you coming from?" with a focus on "your culture." Here, "culture" is interpreted both as culture in everyday life, as well as more specific historical and ethnic cultural backgrounds. Students explore cultural connections, exchanges, and crossings by using readymades and found objects to create collaborative installations. They are directed to incorporate ornaments, as ornate artefacts have circulated amongst various cultures and have been adapted/hybridized within new cultural contexts throughout history.
Course Instructor: Soheila K. Esfahani
Teaching Assistant: Rebecca Sutherland
Exhibiting artists: Shannon Boast, Charlotte Cao, Cauchi Rayne, Maggie Charbonneau, Julia Fawcett, Chloe Gatti, Megan Goddard, Emma Hennessy, Chelsea Hitchen, Josette Joseph, Lauryn Kell, Madison Kelly, Wesley Macpherson, Emma McInnes, Darcy McVicar, Linjing Qian, Aly Rana, Lara Stamenkovic, Laryssa Stoetzer, Hailey Watson, JoAnna Weil, Ava Wright
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2020; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Artlab Gallery
November 25 - December 9, 2021
I left parts of myself everywhere* transforms the gallery into a moving image environment. The interconnected installations speak to the experience of dislocation and fractured relationship to body, language, and place. They trace the deep yet precarious connections that emerge between human and nonhuman bodies and ecosystems; connections that are constantly both found and severed. The exhibition maps an experiential space that is both permeated with vitality and haunted by personal and ecological loss.
Eeva Siivonen’s experimental moving image practice engages with strategies of documentary, essay, and found footage film practices. She employs these strategies to construct affective and immersive moving image installations and single-channel works. Her practice describes subjective experience in ways that resist separation between self and other, interior and exterior, human and nonhuman, and living and nonliving. The ethos of her practice is to create space for empathy by embracing the impossibility of gaining knowledge of ourselves and others, and our place in the world.
Eeva Siivonen is originally from Helsinki, Finland. She has received MFA degrees in Video Art from Syracuse University and Documentary Film from Aalto University in Helsinki. She exhibits her work internationally at film festivals and gallery exhibitions. Most recently, her work has been screened at San Francisco Cinematheque’s Crossroads festival, DOBRA International Festival of Experimental Cinema in Rio de Janeiro, and Transient Visions Festival of Moving Image in Johnson City, NY. She has also received multiple international residency fellowships and recently spent two months in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains as an artist-in-residence at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico.
*The exhibition title is borrowed from the poem “St. Thomas Aquinas” by Serbian American poet Charles Simic.
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
This morning a fire hydrant was knocked over in Morgan Thomas Lane causing some problems for SA Museum and Library staff.
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
News and Press
News : Art lab in the Attic
Artlab In the Attic (One Night Only ) Wolstenholme Creative Space
Top Floor part of the Long Night
Artist : Tracey Hill, Julia Swarbrick, David Henckel, Ruth Alice Ramsdale, Anna Mc Dade, ETC
curated by Tony Knox
ArtLab Contemporary Print Studio is a group of artists from across the North West who use the printmaking facilities at The University of Central Lancashire, The artists are from a range of backgrounds and disciplines, for some of them printmaking is the core of their artistic development and for others the print studio enhances their practice in different disciplines. Artlab Contemporary Print Studios creates an environment where members can engage in debate and investigation into contemporary research and strategies. The building now inhabited by W.C.S has been around since the 1700’s, when it was home to Liverpool’s first mayor and has been an artistic space since the 1990’s. Nestled between two night clubs, the once grand architecture’s dark structures rub shoulders with the Square’s garish neon posters. The juxtaposition of grandeur and throwaway enables a space in which DIY culture and artistic practice can flourish.Artlab in the Attic is a one night exhibition
top floor Wolstenholme Creative Space
11 Wolstenholme Square,
Liverpool L1 4JJ
News : "STYGMERGY "5th Nov - 11th Nov 2010
Stygmergy is a mechanism of spontaneous, indirect coordination between agents or actions, where the trace left in the environment by an action stimulates the performance of a subsequent action, by the same or a different agent. Stygmergy is a form of self-organization. In 2010 a group of artists embarked on a Contact Base initiative. As part of an EU commission Pax Liverpool sent 5 British artists to to collaborate and respond to residencies in West Bengal, Northern India. Contact Base have been working with rural and tribal artists for 5 years and through an Intangible Cultural Heritage Program, the lives of both British and Indian artists overlapped and the result of some of the works are on display in Liverpool this month. Two Patachitra scroll painters from Pingla, West Bengal, will also be exhibiting works with the Liverpool artists.
News : Simon Pegg reading the Mothman at his book signing for his new book 'Nerd Do Well' at Waterstone's Liverpool Pegg is best known for his starring roles in films including Star Trek, Shaun of The Dead and Hot Fuzz.
New : Alexei Sayle with presented with new work by Tony knox .
Liverpool author and comedian at WATERSTONE'S LIVERPOOL CENTRAL on 20th October was presented with an original screen print by Tony Knox, this is part of the comedian where Knox has photographed, harry hill, Ken Dodd, Frank Carson, Alexei Sayle etc .
Alexei Sayle was signing his new book 'Stalin Ate My Homework - Most people know Alexei Sayle from the telly, from The Young Ones, or The Comic Strip Presents .
This morning a fire hydrant was knocked over in Morgan Thomas Lane causing some problems for SA Museum and Library staff.
This morning a fire hydrant was knocked over in Morgan Thomas Lane causing some problems for SA Museum and Library staff.
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Artlab Gallery, Western University, London, ON
Over thirty works of art and scholarly publications by Faculty and Staff members from Western’s Department of Visual Arts.
Oct. 27- November 10, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 3rd, 5-7PM
Remarks:6pm
Performance by Christof Migone 6:15pm
The Faculty & Staff exhibition, a line has two sides borrows its name from the Oblique Strategies project (subtitled Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas) created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt in 1975. The project produced a boxed set of 100 playing cards each containing a one-line phrase intended to assist artists and musicians break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking. 1
Framed within the context of this exhibition, a line has two sides provides audiences with a glimpse into the research, writing and artworks of over 30 individuals who embody the teaching and technical practices fostered within the Department of Visual Arts, Western
Participating Faculty & Staff
Cody Barteet
Sarah Bassnett
Ron Benner
Dickson Bou
Parker Branch
Kathy Brush
Colin Carney
Jessica Desparois
Micheal Farnan
Wyn Gelenyse
Sky Glabush
John Hatch
Patrick Howlett
Kelly Jazvac
Tricia Johnson
Neil Klassen
Madeline Lennon
Patrick Mahon
David Merritt
Christof Migone
Kim Moodie
Kim Neudorf
Kirsty Robertson
Judith Rodger
Andrew Silk
Geordie Shepherd
Daniela Sneppova
Christine Sprengler
Gabriella Solti
Kelly Wood
Curated by Susan Edelstein
1. Taylor, Gregory. “Introduction.” A Primer On Oblique Strategizing.1997. Accessed August 20, 2016. www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/OSintro.html
By installing your artwork in the John Labatt Visual Arts Centre, you agree to have it photographed and release all rights in and consent to the use of this photo for all legal purposes. Would you like to see your work properly captioned? vrlibrary@uwo.ca
© 2016; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
The Artlab Gallery is pleased to reopen with MFA candidate George Kubresliís thesis exhibition, The Hell of a Boiling Red.
Artist George Kubresli addresses the tragedy of war - specifically the ongoing Syrian war - as his subject. Through painting, George expresses the calamity that Syrians experience, and he explores the depths of the soul to understand the enormous traumas that humans suffer in their various encounters with war. For George, the act of war shows its true form through facial expressions, which mix the inner imperfections of humans with the distortions that have formed on and in their bodies. In the view of the artist, we cannot fully see tragedy through physical form alone. To be able to witness tragedy at all, and to access a true experience of horror, we must understand what humans suffer so deeply, and link those personal sufferings with what is externalized.
The role of nature in the magnitude of this human tragedy is an underexplored aspect of the shadow of war. For George, nature plays a major role in augmenting the tragic effects that war has on those beings who live in the swamps of disaster. Outside of a war scenario, nature is perceived to interact with humans in a role that is supportive of beautifying life. In times of war, nature takes on a completely different character of extremes, so the winter and summer seasons increase the suffering of war-torn human beings. Winter does not take into account the impact on persons who have lost shelter or who are trying to seek refuge across the sea or in neighbouring countries to save their lives. Winter does not perceive those who are swallowed by marine storms and buried on beaches or at the bottom of the sea. When summer hits, high temperatures inflict sunstroke, skin diseases, meningitis and many more afflictions on refugees who are stripped of the most basic needs for living. In an encounter with war, nature often becomes the enemy as well. George has worked to reveal these aspects through colour - through divergences between cool and warm colours, through alterations and variances between hot and cold colours - and through the reactive qualities of condensed and rapid brushstrokes. His portraiture and landscape works attempt to reveal what is typically hidden.
This exhibition runs from August 13 - August 27, by appointment only. Contact artlab@uwo.ca to schedule your visit. Please note non-medical face coverings are required and you will be asked to complete a questionnaire before entering the gallery.
Artlab Gallery
Department of Visual Arts
Western University
John Labatt Visual Arts Centre
London, ON, Canada
Twitter: @westernuVisArts
Instagram: @westernuVisArts
artlab@uwo.ca
© 2020; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Anne Dineen, from Artlab Australia, the workshop leader (3rd from left) with the workshop participants, members of Naracoorte National Trust
Artlab Australia conservators Jodie Scott and Liz Mayfield in their lab with the daguerreotypes, post treatment
April 17th – 28th, 2017
The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present the MFA thesis exhibition, Gardening at Arm's Length by Paul Chartrand.
Chartrand’s solo exhibit includes a variety of work based on his research into hydroponic growing systems, and the mediated relationship humans have with the environment. His assemblage based sculptures represent a hybrid amalgam of repurposed objects, embedded hydroponic systems, and the plants they support. His projects are akin to models of systems that exist outside the confines of the gallery. Included in the exhibit are drawings based on Chartrand’s direct research into industrial hydroponic operations in the Leamington Ontario area, and abandoned greenhouses found in Haldimand County.
Collectively, these projects represent the artist’s interest in questioning the nature/culture divide in both critical and unavoidably absurd ways. Whether addressing popular Canadian consumption of “wilderness” in outdoor recreation or the waste stream generated by coffee production, Chartrand initiates meaningful conversations with his practice.
Through this exhibition, Chartrand aims to undermine false dichotomies in a playful but critical manner in order to establish a more nuanced respect for the interconnectedness of ecology.
John Labatt Visual Arts Centre (VAC)
Artlab Gallery
© 2017; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
featured: Sky Glabush
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Amanda James, Senior Community History Officer introduces Anne Dineen, Senior Preventive Conservator Artlab Australia to the workshop participants at the beginning of the day. The morning session was theory and learning how to write a Disaster Plan.
featured: Dickson Bou
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
The ArtLab Gallery is pleased to present Inward Outward, an exhibition of work by graduate students from the Department of Visual Arts at Western University: Claire Bartleman, Tyler Durbano, Sharmistha Kar, Graham Macaulay, Johnathan Onyschuk, Lydia Santia, Kate Carder-Thompson, Matthew Trueman, Zhizi Wang, Michelle Wilson, and Joy Wong.
Guest curated by MA students Regan Benner and Madelaine Tripp
Dates: February 8-15, 2017
© 2018; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
April 19-May 7, 2021, 2021
This series of paintings began as an effort to locate myself during a period of profound grief over the loss of my son, Ellis. Up until that time, I had been making drawings on the wall, but then loss tore through my life and suddenly the floor became my new workspace. I no longer stood erect to work on a vertical plane, but instead from my knees working horizontally. I folded paper into trays to contain coloured water and would wait for days to see what kind of patterns the evaporating water would leave behind on the paper’s surface. I would often spend time watching the suspended pigments mix in the water or sit and stare at tinted reflections of myself and my surroundings in the chromatic pools. I was becoming more of an observer as I distanced myself from the work. I allowed the materials I was using to act more autonomously under the laws of nature.
As the application of paint to paper was now mediated by evaporation over time, I realized that my hand was no longer directly involved in manipulating paint strokes but was rather most present in the folds I pressed into the papers’ surface.
A fold is a weakness, a wound running along the entire length of the substrate. A fold is a doubling over, a bend that leaves a scar. A fold is a condition that forces one thing to become something else. A fold is an awakening, showing an object in the second dimension that there is perhaps a third.
Through evaporation, these paintings are what remains of an imminent departure, something akin to empty containers, wrappers or envelopes. The water responsible for the markings left behind on the paper surface is removed, its invisible presence as vapour now called to mind through trace.
While these paintings were unquestionably born out of the numbness of grief after loss, they are also manifestations of a long-standing interest in process-based actions and outcomes. These paintings are a way of poking and prodding the environment around me in order to locate myself in a world in flux.
About the Artist
London artist Matt W. Brown explores incidence, colour, and implications of transition through works on paper. He has exhibited in Halifax at the Nova Scotia Archives, Anna Leonowens Gallery, RBC Waterside Centre, Eyelevel Gallery, and the Visual Arts Nova Scotia Corridor Gallery. In London, his work has been featured at Fringe Gallery, Forest City Gallery, Artlab Gallery, and McIntosh Gallery.
Brown received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design with a major in painting. He is now completing a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Department of Visual Art, Western University.
---Following Ontario's provincewide lockdown (beginning on April 3), the Artlab will be closed to in-person appointments. For ongoing coverage of COVID-19 protocol and operations at Western University, visit www.uwo.ca/coronavirus/
Artlab Gallery & Cohen Commons
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
Crowdsourcing
Sherry Czekus
August 13 – 27, 2015
Closing Reception: Thursday August 27th > 7-9PM
The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present the MFA thesis exhibition, Crowdsourcing, by painter Sherry Czekus.
Artlab Gallery
Department of Visual Arts
John Labatt Visual Arts Centre
Perth Drive, London, Ontario, Canada
By installing your artwork in the John Labatt Visual Arts Centre, you agree to have it photographed and release all rights in and consent to the use of this photo for all legal purposes. Would you like to see your work properly captioned? vrlibrary@uwo.ca
© 2015; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
featured: Tricia Johnson
Exhibition Dates: January 15 – 28, 2021 in the Artlab Gallery and virtually
Every few years, the Artlab Gallery at Western University hosts a Faculty and Staff exhibition. These exhibitions are important opportunities for fostering a sense of community in the Visual Arts Department: students are able to see their instructors and mentors at work, and colleagues have a chance to share in each other's research. 2020 was a year like no other, and so the Artlab is leaning into the present with a collective address to this moment of separate togetherness. "Distance makes the heart grow weak" invites faculty, staff and graduate students to speak to how they've been experiencing the last year. It prompts participants to explore and express how isolation has shifted our focus, our research and art practices, as well as our forms of connecting with one another. The exhibition is also an opportunity for participating artists and researchers to show flexibility (and inherently, optimism) despite the high strangeness we’re all currently experiencing. In this time of shared solitude—unable to walk down halls, knock on studio or office doors, and enjoy quick hellos and impromptu conversations—we'll quote Chris Kraus (quoting Søren Kierkegaard): "art involves reaching through some distance."
Organized by Dickson Bou and Ruth Skinner.
Participants: Cody Barteet; Sarah Bassnett; Dickson Bou with Charlie Egleston & Peter Lebel; Matt W. Brown; Andreas Buchwaldt; Brianne Casey; Jérôme Conquy with Kevin Heslop, Sachiko Murakami, Sile Englert & Ruth Douthwright; Ioana Dragomir; Meghan Edmiston; Soheila Esfahani; Sky Glabush; Anahí González; Philip Gurrey; John Hatch; Tricia Johnson; Iraboty Kazi; Shelley Kopp; Anna Madelska; Patrick Mahon; Jennifer Martin; Linda Meloche; David Merritt; Ana Moyer; Dong-Kyoon Nam; Kim Neudorf; Katie Oates; Sasha Opeiko with Martin Stevens; Michelle Paterok; Kirsty Robertson; Geordie Shepherd; Andrew Silk; Ashley Snook; Christine Sprengler; Michelle Wilson with Bridget Koza,Sophie Wu, & Azadeh Odlins; Jessica Woodward
The promotional graphic for "Distance makes the heart grow weak" cites the short film, "Extraordinary Measures," by Sasha Opeiko and Martin Stevens, featured in the exhibition.
Given Ontario's recent stay-at-home order, the exhibition will be released in a virtual format on Friday, January 15th. Throughout the course of the exhibition, Artlab will publish short video features from participating artists and researchers.
Visit the Artlab Gallery: www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/
Due to COVID-19 safety measures, the Artlab Gallery and Cohen Commons will be operating virtually. In-person visits are not permitted at this time. We will be posting exhibition documentation, videos, and virtual walk-throughs on the Artlab’s website.
www.uwo.ca/visarts/artlab/exhibition_archive/20202021.htm...
Artlab Gallery
JL Visual Arts Centre
Western University
London, Ontario, Canada
© 2021; Department of Visual Arts; Western University
May 3-18, 2017
The Artlab Gallery is pleased to present the MFA thesis exhibition, Greater than Lesser than Equal to by Charles Lee Franklin Harris. The studio-based research of Charles Harris involves the use of non-traditional woodblock print-structures to explore the borderland where art and design commingle and cross-pollinate. Through his work, Harris explores and cultivates the permeability that exists in society between art and design, to both research and create in that fluid context. Charles’s interest in cultivating this overlap in his work is meant to help place art in the everyday life of the individual who experiences a distance from art.
John Labatt Visual Arts Centre (VAC)
Artlab Gallery, London, ON
© 2017; Department of Visual Arts; Western University