On one side of
the sad old Eaton’s building, still a giant waste of space where the
telemarketers operate in order to disturb the peace of thousands of Canadians
every day, there is a medium sized gallery space in its basement on its Park
St. side that is its saving grace, maybe where the building’s last bit of soul
exists.
Here, the Definitely
Superior Art Gallery is back in action this fall with three artist’s shows before
its mega blockbusting Halloween hit for the city, The Hunger.
All three shows
represent an incredible amount of work done over a number of years with
artistic imagery that is identifiably unique to each artist.
Mavourneen
Trainer’s show titled Chambers employs the use of Photoshop, but for those
unfamiliar with the computer program, creating an image as detailed and using
as many references as Trainer does is a lengthy process. Photoshop’s use of
layers allows image after image to be place over top of one another other, and for
each layer to be individually altered in hundreds of ways, allowing a creative
person to shape entirely new worlds from combined images.
First the images
have to found, gathered, assembled and applied. It’s painstaking work, filling
up dozens and dozens of computer files. The results of four years worth of work
are stunning. “People don’t realize the amount of work you put into an image.
It’s the equivalent of a hand drawing,” says Trainer. Trainer spent four years
creating the imagery making making it her own. “I wanted to parody an etching
to avoid the garishness you get with most Photoshop images. I put filters on
many of the images to get rid of the poster look and to make them look more
like etchings.”
What got Trainer
started on this series was “an image I did called Unforseen, of two caribous
butting heads. I placed them in a cement room and I really liked the idea of a
closed space for content, a chamber.”
And with the
death a few years ago of a close friend, Trainer ran with all encompassing
themes of youth, aging and death. Fairy tales are referenced and nearly every
image contains imagery from famous historical artists.
Paula Thiessen’s
black and white photography, taken over a 25-year period is featured in Gallery
2 and called Peeps Show.
On three of the
walls are images of a few strangers, but mostly people in her life, a few that some
viewers will recognize. The images make for a sensitive and endearing display
of human faces, revealing all sorts of subtleties like hope, love,
apprehension, joy, thought, etc. Thiessen writes, “I admit that I am one of
those people like many others, who feels compelled to document the people and
scenery around me through photographs.”
Thiessen does
this in a way in opposition to our “selfie” culture. “I’m interested in
spontaneity and trying to capture something about a person you wouldn’t see
otherwise in a still photograph, that might reveal a hidden aspect of a
person.” This is a consistent element in Thiessen’s work.
The subject
matter featured on the specially painted red wall is different in tone. “The
way they’ve been framed, with a camera, ads to it grittiness,” says Thiessen.
I am
attracted to photographing people, mostly because they offer me a greater
margin for chance. A picturesque mountain lake is not going anywhere, but the
person being photographed is often moving, occupying various environments,
emanating different moods, may evade the camera, may become someone else in
front of the camera, or may be completely oblivious to it.”
In Gallery three is my own work,
illustrations painting in alkyds and oils for an upcoming children’s picture
book, Lara Wood. Special thanks go to the Ontario Arts Council for funding a
good portion of its creation.
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