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Opening Friday, May 25, 2007 at 8 pm at Access.
Ever thought that contemporary art exhibition theorized? Guest curator, Rachelle Sawatsky will be addressing this question directly in her first stint as a curator of her practice as a visual artist.
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Sawatsky has asseembled an exhibition opening on May 25, 2007 that broaches the relationship between philosophy and contemporary art by presenting the work of four emerging artists influenced by philosophical ideas. The selected artists, Julie Beugin, Jessica Eaton, Jillian Pritchard and Dan Starling use video, painting, and poet, Clint Burnham and Sawatsky will feature new poems and mock interpretations of the exhibition's work by relating each work to w popular philosopher's theories. Contributors to the publication also include Patrik Andersson, Eli Bornowsky, Dana Claxton, Randy Lee Cutler, Michele Faguet, Maria Fusco, Jonah Gray, David MacWilliam, Mark Soo and Jordan Storm.
Both Beugin and Starling begin by creating new compositions from medicated sources. Beugin's oil paintings on paper are derived from descriptions in literature. She traces moments of recognition as she paints sections of her paintings from her imagination and others from photographs that relate to the text. Starling's photographs adhere to the social conventions of widely disseminated amateur photography such as the impromptu sports team photo, or the flag-burning photo while examining the relationship between certain "types" of images from the news media, from advertising, and amateur photographers.
Eaton is interested in creating highly technical compositions using traditional photographic techniques in order to examine conceptual and visual relationships to digital photography. Pritchard similarly questions the notion of medium-specify. Pritchard's digital video, White on Black Polka-dot #1 (With Boil), depicts a white dot on black fabric that replicates the "boil" - the process in classical animation where the figure seems to shake due to the process of the changinf frames.