Memory Projections

Review: "Passages" as Prefix Gallery

Willie Doherty
Passages
Prefix Gallery
September 24 – November 28 2009

This collection of works by Willie Doherty present us with an ambiguous sensation of place. His photographs, while containing eye-catching details that offer some knowledge about the places he works in, are effective at creating insecurities in regards to the meanings and narratives that can be derived from these images. In fact, Doherty’s focus on the relationships between known and unknown aspects of images is one of the greatest strengths of this exhibition.

The photographs within Passages act as a preface to Doherty’s film. These consist of works produced within the last fifteen years, which refer to a dialogue that draws from his relationship with his homeland – Derry, North Ireland. This dialogue has its genesis in the social and political conflicts of the country. For three decades from the late 1960s, a climate of violence and an underlying sense of fear were a part of everyday life for the citizens of this country. Doherty situates his work in this climate of uncertainty. Although the work reflects his experience in North Ireland, it does not exclude the universal concern of photography as a select representation of ‘truth’. Thus is not limited to a parochial, historical discourse.

Instead, images within the exhibition focus on the subtle remnants of human intervention that exist within a place. Titles such as Beneath the Surface II (1999), Small Acts of Deception (1997), and Unreported Incident (1995) alert the viewer to the notion of the image as a representation of a specific and limited viewpoint. The artist limits the photographic subject to the detritus of human activity, controls the mise-en scene of his images, and captures dark areas in his photographs to veil parts of the scene. With this, one can view Doherty’s effective use of light and dark as metaphors for possibilities of known and unknown within an image. Thus, the viewer of these images becomes aware of his or her restricted viewpoint concerning the information revealed about these photographed places.

Doherty’s film, Buried (2009) extends this tension of known and unknown into the fluid sensation of time. The eight-minute film is highly sensory and incorporates the same sense of ambiguity regarding the place that is represented in his photographs. Initially some images appear to be stills until one becomes aware of the flow of time indicated through a twig blowing in the wind, water dripping over bark, or insects moving in the earth. In contrast to these detailed, closed-in shots, Doherty also incorporates wide-angled pans of the surrounding trees. Despite being perceptually ambiguous, the viewer is allowed a total sensation of the place as captured through Doherty’s lens. The imagery within the film exhibits the same sensitivity to light and dark as the photographs, with the darks being more effectively mysterious due to the darkness of the viewing room. The film is devoid of a narrator, refraining from using vocal language to create a sense of continuity amongst images. Consequently, the viewer is forced to piece together meaning and narrative from the partial information of the place presented in the film.

Questions regarding truth, memory and history of the place are at the core of this exhibition. An interview for the Journal of Contemporary Art reveals that concerning his earlier work, “it certainly was important [for Doherty] that the work engaged the viewer in some kind of dialogue, some kind of process, that it was also very related to geography of the place and trying to get a look at the way that was implicated, so it wasn't simplistic, there was always more than one possibility.” With oscillations between the known and unknown, Passages confronts the viewer with problems surrounding the notion of images as ‘true’ representations of reality.


Selena L. Lee

Back to School

I've been back for a solid 2 week and boy is it going to be a busy year. As for projects this year, I'm playing with the idea of Uniform (or uni-forms) for my advanced photographic explorations class and i'll be looking at the illusion of space and time via videos in video art production.

I'm also doing a lot of hot and heavy ready (Ie. The Critique of Judgment by Immanuel Kant), doing 3 solid gallery reviews for the semester, and doing numerous sculpture field trips downtown.

My goal for the year: score an interview with Edward Burtynsky. Wish me luck!

I'm back with more art

http://www.hubbardbirchler.net/works/photography.html

Film stills from artists Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler. This reminds me of a photograph by a classmate of mine, Justin Lawrence:

Ai Weiwei; influential, controversial Chinese Artist whose blog was shutdown by the Chinese Government

This is a photograph of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in front of Tiananmen Square, although I don't exactly know when the photograph was taken. Ai Weiwei's blog was shut down days before the Tiananmen Square anniversary. This was due to him drawing attention to the lives lost in the Sichuan Earthquake in May 2008. 9,000 students and teachers were killed when a school collapsed during the earthquake due to poor construction ("China Earthquake: 200,000 flee from growing Sichuan Lake". )

As an artist, Ai Weiwei is highly critical of Chinese government policies and acts to promote individual freedom of thought in China. From the article "Our Duty is the Remember Sichuan" on The Guardian website:

"I call on people to be "obsessed ­citizens", forever questioning and ­asking for accountability. That's the only chance we have today of a healthy and happy life." - Ai Weiwei

Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/25/china-earthquake-cover-up

He is a fascinating figure who is definitely worth checking out. I really wish I could read Chinese and understand his blog, but I guess learning Chinese will have to be a new goal of mine.

Phoebe Lo

http://www.phoebelo.com/Phoebe/Home.html

check her out...

why?

Her sculptures successfully defy the solid nature of her materials.
She has a thoughtful portfolio of photographs; the fine art works show a sensitivity to the surface and subject of her photographs and the commercial works show that she does actual work in the industry.

Gallery Hopping: 401 Richmond and 80 Spadina

To celebrate the start of summer, I decided to do some art gazing today downtown. Works of note:

Yam Lau's "Hutong 3" project at Leo Kamen Gallery (80 Spadina), as well as a photograph of one of his projects at the YYZ Gallery at 401 Richmond.

His work appears to be super-visual as "Hutongs 3" was a digitally composed video with no sound to accompany it. I enjoyed his exploration of space - i suppose digital space as a representation of space and culture? Also, his work with the Hutong was really interesting because it preserves an aspect of traditional Chinese culture through a new media artwork.
http://www.leokamengallery.com/artists/lauYam/lauYam.html



Marianne Fowler's paintings at Moore Gallery (80 Spadina)

A series of really lovely paintings that are representational, yet ambiguous enough for me to relate them to my personal experiences with the city and motion. These paintings are oils on canvas, built up to a great level of texture and thickness. The image bank procedure comes to mind - the paintings consists of a neutral ground with geometric shapes as the figure. These shapes are painted in varied forms and sizes with horizontal darker stripes across each one. They remind me of highway soundboards, or a cityscape due to the layering of the forms. These paintings are meditative with the neutral colours and repeated forms and shapes. However there is a sense of dynamism coming from the movement of horizontal lines as well as the contrast of values within the paintings. I really enjoyed seeing this show.
http://www.mooregallery.com/artists/Marianne_Fowler/index.php




Thats all I'm going to write about for now. There was another photograph at YYZ, by artists Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge, but i will write about that tomorrow.
http://www.marissaneave.com/timewarp/ --> YYZ auction site.

Cheers for now!