SOON THIS SPACE WILL BE TOO SMALL
UFV BFA GRADUATION EXHIBITION 2012
W
e live in a paradoxical time. Our lives are more connected than ever, thanks in part to mass-media, telecommunications and the Internet. The adhesive quality of modern technology, which can bring us together with the rest of the world on a number of levels (cerebral, aesthetic, philosophical, etc) at the click of a key, also has the potential to splinter us into smaller and smaller groups and subdivisions, until only the individual remains. Perhaps the ultimate gift and curse of hyper-connectedness is to confirm that, despite all of the accoutrements we amass around us or have foisted upon us, we are ultimately alone as individuals. It is this contradiction, this edge of thought that this exhibition lives in and resides upon. The works that make up Soon This Space Will Be Too Small comment and elucidate on our connection and interaction with the world around us. The themes in this exhibition are timely and timeless, present and prescient. They include, but are not limited to: technology, identity, mass media, science, death, the cult of celebrity, race, friendship, religion and environmentalism. We, as individuals, live our lives at the centre of a web, and we perceive every disturbance in the web as it corresponds to our existence. Though the techniques, devices and media that are used in this exhibition vary from artist to artist, the common thread of this diverse and eclectic collection is the manner in which each artist takes the twitches and distortions in their personal web and utilizes them to produce new and vital work; each artist seeks to put together the pieces of their individual and our collective experience to make sense of the world around us. Whether picking a piece of soil from the earth or plucking an angel from the sky, these artists display a remarkable level of individual, social, spiritual and environmental consciousness in their work. The artists in this exhibition chew up the various pieces of their world and spit them out as ornate, textured and thoughtful works that deserve us, as the audience, to take notice and pay attention. Paul E. Brammer March, 2012
JAMIE ANUTOOSHKIN WINNIE CHEN MARY-ANNE DADES KAREN DAVIES ANNE FRANKLIN RYAN LAROCQUE AKEEM NERMO MELANIE SCHNIDRIG SAM SELBY MEGAN SJOGREN
1. JAMIE
In the drawings the figures are stretched and constrained experiencing pain but aim to overcome the pain and find peace. The wooden boxes are built from frames I have collected since my first year of the BFA program. The boxes began as collages of photographed memories, decorated like journals. I still use them to create intimacy but with the new materials of my growing world. I take small pieces of large elements and secure them in jars, then nest the jars within a frame, making the relationship between the vast and the small enclosed and intimate. The paintings bring both of these works together with the frame stretching and constraining the canvas. They are placed low on the wall and allude to the body, but also mimic the position of a doorway.
ANUTOOSHKIN Title: Finding Home in Places Overgrown Medium: Oils and Charcoal Size: 40 x 50 in. Year: 2012
THE WORST “FEELING IN THE
WORLD IS THE HOMESICKNESS THAT COMES OVER A MAN OCCASIONALLY WHEN HE IS AT HOME.
�
- EDGAR WATSON HOWE
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F
inding Home in Places Overgrown is a series of paintings, drawings, and framed boxes that explore a longing for a relationship with home. In my series I desire to evoke the secure, nesting feelings associated with home. By projecting the sense of a warm refuge onto my works I hope to create a doorway into the memory of home.
I aim to create a sense of belonging and find a relationship between the body and the environment as an artist and as a person. Through the process of gathering and working with paint and material, I create a body of work that opens a doorway for me to experience the comfort and beauty of home despite the changes and constraints of my outside world.
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2. WINNIE
CHEN Title: Trapped Energy Medium: Wood, Watercolour Paper, Light Bulb, Plexiglass Size: 30 x 30 x 30 in. Year: 2012
T
rapped Energy is a meditative piece on claimed relations between human thoughts and actions. In my project, I suspended a dodecahedral wooden frame box with a light source inside that penetrates through the watercolor paper cut-outs which cast a projection of water crystals on to the surrounding space. Specifically, I refer to an experiment done by Japanese scientist, Emoto Masaru on water crystals and human energies. He conducted experiments of how music,
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words spoken, thoughts and even videos impacted water crystals. According to Masaru, water can act as a recorder. From his study, he claims that water when exposed to positive emotions and loving words creates complex, snowflake patterns in its water crystals. Consequently, when water is exposed to negative thoughts the crystals are distorted and no longer symmetrical. This leads me to ruminate on the effect humans have on their environment, and ultimately, I am concerned with the degradation we cause to our natural
surroundings. Intrigued by Masaru’s concept, I wish to evoke and bring attention to this fragile yet powerful relationship between thoughts and matter. We all have the power to influence others through positive energy.
MISTAKES ARE “ALMOST ALWAYS OF
A SACRED NATURE. NEVER TRY TO CORRECT THEM. ON THE CONTRARY: RATIONALIZE THEM, UNDERSTAND THEM THOROUGHLY. AFTER THAT, IT WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO SUBLIMATE THEM.
”
- SALVADOR DALI
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3. WINNIE
CHEN Title: Commodification of the Underworld Medium: Ink on traditional Rice Paper Size: 28 x 52 in. Year: 2012
I
n Commodification of the Underworld, I express my concern about the overgrowing commodification of all aspects of human life, especially the prevailing impact of advertisement and mass media. For a thousand years, people across Asia have a tradition of burning paper replicas of money or paper mache items for the deceased family members, ancestors or friends to secure their well being in the afterlife. The tradition is now augmented by a variety of new paper objects, which are highly promoted. Not only the original
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purpose of joss money (ghost money) is to burn and offer to the deceased to secure their afterlife, but also believed that in return, the living can then receive good fortune, prosperity and longevity. The idea of burning the newest and trendy paper items has become the standard practice. It appears that the value and the original intent of burning joss paper seems to diminish in proportion to the increased usage of the mass produced goods, mirroring the saturated market of earthly domain.
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4. MARY-ANNE
“
A PRIMARY FUNCTION OF ART AND THOUGHT IS TO LIBERATE THE INDIVIDUAL FROM THE TYRANNY OF HIS CULTURE IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL SENSE AND TO PERMIT HIM TO STAND BEYOND IT IN AN AUTONOMY OF PERCEPTION AND JUDGMENT....
DADES
�
Title: Crystalline Flora Medium: Ice, Plastic, Plant Matter Size: 2 x 1 ft. Year: 2012
- BEVERLY SILLS
T
his interactive time based installation addresses the dilemma we experience as participants in the environmental impact that science has on nature. These fabricated ice sculptures of plant matter are symbolic of the interconnectedness between science, art and human experience. In 1953 scientists began the process of genetically engineering plant DNA. Since then, the genetic makeup of plants such as the daffodil, gerbera daisy and carnation, have had their growth period, shape and color radically altered. The melting ice metaphorically references how the limitation
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of time affects all natural plant species. Changing the colors of these flowers appeals to the consumer taste for products that are considered uniquely modern. Science continues research on plant DNA in the pursuit of financial benefits for corporate interests. Consumers are often unaware of the long-term effects, e.g. new allergens, harm to other organisms, gene transfer to non-target plant species, and most importantly the unknown effects on human health. What are the possible implications of these developments for the future, and will any living organism remain unchanged?
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5. KAREN
DAVIES Title: Portraits of Companions Medium: Digital Prints on Stonehenge Size: 22 x 30 in. Year: 2012
M
y work stems from the great fascination I have for canines: the often intriguing, always loyal companions to humans. Dogs have been domesticated for approximately fifteen thousand years, and despite this length of time, the accumulated knowledge about these animals is only a fraction of what there is to know. I attempt to approach and present dogs in a manner that calls upon the elevation of the sitter to grandeur in the rich tradition of Renaissance and Baroque portraiture.
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A portrait does not merely record a subject’s features, but says something about who he or she is, offering a vivid sense of a real life form from within the canvas. The camera lens in portraiture changes the way that we view these companions. Rather than looking down upon dogs, suddenly the viewer is made to either see the canines as their equal, or to gaze up at them. With the aid of digital photography, studio lighting is implemented to provide the images with the expression and authority found in Dutch style Renaissance paintings. The Dutch painter’s goal was to
flatter their subjects by accounting for the finest of details. They used high, contrasting light in order to give the subjects the same status as the divine. They painted only subjects who were worthy of such reverence and my photographic series is intended to achieve the same goal.
THE AIM OF ART IS TO “REPRESENT NOT THE
OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF THINGS, BUT THEIR INWARD SIGNIFICANCE.
”
- ARISTOTLE
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6. ANNE
FRANKLIN Title: Home: A Longing for the Wild Places Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 48 x 60 in. Year: 2012
T
he idea of home, and the longing for something lost, are recurring themes in my work. Places and sights trigger my memories and energize me to recreate these lost moments I seek. The two paintings in this body of work demonstrate this journey of what I think of as returning home. It is a search for places and sights which I hold
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dear and associate with my childhood. Big trees, starry nights, deep water and vivid colours: the subject matter of so many landscape paintings, and even more so a hallmark of Canadian art. Landscape painting is a very well-established, often respected, but also challenged genre. To be part of this tradition is a thrilling and at times intimidating undertaking.
Using broad, gestural strokes and rich colours on large canvases, I evoke the places I know and long for; I recreate the vast, wild spaces that nonetheless are very intimate and private. This is my home.
LURE… “IS THE SOMETIMES
THE ILLUSION OF HOME, AS A MEMORY.
”
- LUCY LIPPARD
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7. RYAN
LAROCQUE Title: Blu Ray High Definition Painting Series Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 36 x 30 in. Year: 2012
T
he speed at which technology is progressing means that the Blu Ray high definition format will soon be replaced in the same manner that celebrities fade and are easily replaced by new faces. Unlike these two ephemeral experiences, the tradition of painting has stood the test of time. This historical practice seems a fitting medium to give measure to the fleeting status of ideas and products that are regarded in such high esteem that perhaps a re-evaluation of their true worthiness needs to be examined.
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Abstracting the celebrity image begins with revealing gestures that are unconventional to the celebrity persona further removing itself from its high definition profile, and by doing so, this visual breakdown parallels the constructed image of what makes a celebrity. When Blu Ray is replaced by a newer technology there will still be paintings. When a celebrity’s status has come and gone, paintings will persist. Perhaps it is not the clarity of the image but the tradition that serves a truer high definition.
WHAT A STRANGE “VANITY PAINTING IS; IT
ATTRACTS ADMIRATION BY RESEMBLING THE ORIGINAL, WE DO NOT ADMIRE.
”
- BLAISE PASCAL
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8. AKEEM
NERMO Title: Of Endurance & Forgetting Medium: Wood Mounted Digital C-Prints Year: 2012
P
hotography is a memory medium based on perceptions and experiences that have been stored in the unconscious. My work is a commentary on photography itself. Photography is a manifestation of individual and collective deceit, in that photographs impose themselves and replace themselves for the real, finite memories we store in our minds. The invention of photography has demonstrably altered our remembrance of our lives - our photographs and documents become a palimpsest of our lives, imposing, erasing and distorting that which we experienced first-hand.
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What I am interested in is the memory of memory; that is, how we remember that which we remember. My work aims to reflect on the nature of our human propensity to literally document what we experience. Our lives are a constant attempt to solidify and monolithise the fundamentally human experience, which is transient and ephemeral. Whether we are taking photographs of our loved ones, leaving memorials for the deceased or hoarding parting shots from jilted lovers, we are always amassing a personal shrine to the fact that we have existed. Paradoxically, the more photographs we take, the less that we remember
each moment. Our lifelong obsession with documenting our lives becomes lost in an ever-increasing sea of self-justification and self-validation. My work is a comment on these paradoxes and contradictions, and aims to make some sense of our lives as experienced through personal documents. Aided by technology, we are surrounded by edifices of memory and remembrance that amass around us; as much as we live in the present, we live in the past.
BECAUSE “ PRECISELY IT IS RECORDED,
REMEMBERING CHANGES INTO FORGETTING AND BECOMES TRANSIENT.
”
- HANS ULRICH RECK 17
9. MELANIE
SCHNIDRIG Title: Multicultural Delusion Medium: Digital Print Mounted on Gatorboard Size: 48 x 76 in. Year: 2012
C
anada self—promotes its cultural image as one which is defined and distinguished by its mosaic society. This acceptance of diversity is a quality Canada is noted for by countries abroad. Being a member of an immigrant family, I also accepted and identified with this view. Visiting my ancestral homeland of Switzerland, I was recently struck by the political
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landscape created by the conservative Swiss People’s Party (SVP). Their posters aim to instil a strong anti—immigration attitude among the Swiss people with demeaning and offensive imagery. The SVP claims that its country should intensify regulations relating to the number of immigrants it accepts. An increase in acts against racial minorities has been a consequence of the SVP’s fear mongering messages and imagery.
The images shown are a product of my strong disagreement to the SVP posters, which in turn caused me to reflect on Canada’s diversity policy. In this series I appropriate the tone and visual language of the SVP posters to criticize the pseudoinclusivity of the mosaic model. Additionally, my works are designed to incite contemplation and dialogue on the part of the viewer regarding issues of Canadian immigration and multiculturalism.
LOOK, WE’RE ALL “SADDLED WITH THINGS
THAT MAKE US BETTER OR WORSE. THIS WORLD IS A CRAZY PLACE, AND I’VE CHOSEN TO MAKE MY WORK ABOUT THAT INSANITY.
”
- BARBARA KRUGER 19
10. SAM
SELBY Title: Guardians Medium: Graphite Pencil Year: 2012
S
ince I was a child, I have held an attraction to the supernatural: that which is beyond the human. Realizing this longtime fascination, this series of drawings explores my interest in the superhuman through an examination of the relationship between angels and superheroes. Superheroes can be viewed as a modern day parallel to angels: protectors of humanity, with powers and abilities beyond those of humans. This analogy inspired me to
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juxtapose these figures using known iconography of angels and recognizable images of superheroes to illustrate the relationship. These drawings use pencil, not only as my most comfortable medium, but also because of its relation to comics as a medium. The piece is drawn on the wall to make it part of the space, linking the angelic aspect of the subject matter to the tradition of religious frescoes.
SOME EXTENT “TOI HAPPILY DON’T
KNOW WHAT I’M DOING. I FEEL THAT IT’S AN ARTIST’S RESPONSIBILITY TO TRUST THAT....
”
- DAVID BYRNE
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11. MEGAN
SJOGREN Title: The Market of Colour Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 4 x 2 ft Year: 2012
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I
have been creating landscape paintings of the West Coast for the last few years and am examining my instinctive colour choices. I am interested in which hues have a strong appeal for me as well as for my viewer or purchaser, and I have discovered that the bright vivid tones portrayed in the paintings are the most desirable. By researching the symbolic meaning of different colours, I have learned how popular hues seduce buyers due to the way they affect one’s psychology. There exists a marketing strategy for choosing specific shades and contrast for countless products in order to establish an emotional response from the buyer. My landscape paintings follow this strategy. The tones I use in my practice are interpreted as cheerful and have a direct correlation with the visceral appeal and tastes of consumers. The colours alone can sell a painting regardless of content, and although my work addresses the mainstream landscape associated with beautiful British Columbia, my aim is to express a genuine passion for the West Coast environment but with an awareness of the seductiveness of colour.
THE ARTIST IS A “ RECEPTACLE FOR THE
EMOTIONS THAT COME FROM ALL OVER THE PLACE: FROM THE SKY, FROM THE EARTH, FROM A SCRAP OF PAPER, FROM A PASSING SHAPE, FROM A SPIDER’S WEB. - PABLO PICASSO
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Acknowledgments Every year members of the University of the Fraser Valley, and its surrounding community, come together to support a culturally enriching experience in the Visual Arts Department: the BFA Grad Show. This year is no exception. Many individuals and organizations have assisted in the production of the exhibition, and we would like to take this opportunity to first acknowledge the support of UFV Marketing & Communications. Their financial assistance, with support from the Dean of Arts, has given us the confidence and inspiration to produce the best show possible, and we thank you for your commitment. For the last four years, UFV Student Union Society has played an integral role in the success of the Grad Show. We wish to express our heartfelt thanks for their generous sponsorship and for their belief in the importance of celebrating the arts. We also wish to acknowledge the sponsorship of the UFV Alumni Association. Working together in promoting the talents of the graduates and supporting Alumni students is always a pleasure, and we thank you for your invaluable contribution. The production of the grad show is an intense and demanding process which involves countless meetings such as those of the grad jury. We take this opportunity to thank the Grad Jury Committee for their expertise in offering guidance and feedback on the students’ artworks. To the University of the Fraser Valley, and to the faculty and support staff of the Visual Arts Department in particular, your selfless dedication towards the production of this exhibition has been a gift which provides the foundation for the show’s creative spirit; thank you. Lastly, to all the individuals, including family and friends, whose dedication is manifested in all aspects of this exhibition, this show is a result of your unwavering support. We hope that you will enjoy it as much as we enjoyed putting it together. — BFA Committee
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Contributors Kelly Anutooshkin Arthur Babiarz Carolle Berube Vicki Bolan Sarah and Paul Brammer Alex Duff Paul and Gail Franklin Sarah and Liam Larocque Michael Laver Brody Long GUEST CRIT, Eric Metcalfe CIVL RADIO, Dana Liu and Steven Chen Donors for Silent Auction Victoria April Bridgette Atkinson Ryan Cadarette Madalen Claire Brenda Fredrick Tyler Lanz Dean Lewthwaite Haley Smith Gabrielle Vaughan
Arnie and Zachary Nermo Aaron Moran Vicki Manz, Personal Chef Lisa and Kyle Melville Saida Raffiai Janine, Nick and Rita Schnidrig Lorne Selby Shelley and Bob Sjogren Pat Taddy VIDEOGRAPHERS:
Matt Klassen and Sarah Hager Company Donations for Silent Auction Paper Nation Walmart Catalogue Design Vijit Keomisy