Alexandra Flood, Smadar,
2004, acrylic on canvas, 109.2 x 137 cm
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Alexandra
Flood is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, who lives
and works in New Brunswick. Her paintings address elements of feminine
adornment and decadence, with a deep luminous technique similar to
traditional stained glass, which also suggests contemporary visual
mediums such as cinematic lighting, and television. Flood’s work
appears both representational, surreal, and sometimes abstract. She
flips the channels of subject matter and approach with a non polemic
voice rooted in painterly virtue and a fascination with technology. Her
work in turn, is allowed to float freely between past, present and
futuristic approaches to image making. Over the past seventeen years
Alexandra has exhibited her work in solo and group shows in North
America, and Europe. In 2008, she presented a survey solo show at the
New Brunswick Museum. Flood’s work was also presented last Fall at The
Mare Street Biennial in London (UK), Katharine Mulherin Contemporary,
Paul Petro Projects Space and the MOCCA, in Toronto. Her work has been
reviewed in numerous publications, including
Canadian Art,
Border
Crossings, the
Toronto Star,
Vernissage (Germany) and
Now Magazine.
Alexandra will present a solo exhibition at the Wyer Gallery, London,
England, in Fall 2009.
Joe McKay, Cellphone Piano, 2007, cellphones, keyboard, amplifier, speakers,
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Joe McKay is an
artist who makes work with and about digital culture, and that requires
viewer interactivity. As versatile conceptually as he is materially,
his diverse pieces range from live colour mixing sessions to
approximate a fading sun, to screenings of accidental videos made with
digital cameras, to a website where he reviews movies that haven't yet
come out, to klutzy robotic simulations of the sleek cool computer
trappings that enhance our lives. Computers and other equipment are
used as sculptural components, and video and game imagery are
recontextualized in unexpected ways. McKay grew up near London,
Ontario, and studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in
Halifax. He lived and worked in New York for ten years before moving to
San Francisco in 2004 to earn an MFA from UC Berkeley. In 2001, McKay
participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program and had a
two-person collaborative exhibition with Kristin Lucas titled
The
Electric Donut. In 2004, he had his first solo show at VertexList in
Williamsburg, New York. His work has subsequently been shown in the
Berkshire Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, the ICA in San Jose,
the Pacific Film Archive, and the New Museum, and he has participated
as artist in residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts, which is
internationally recognized for bringing together pioneering artists in
all disciplines.
Graeme Patterson, Hockey Organ, 2007, mixed media, 122 x 245 x 245cm
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Originating from
Saskatoon, now living in Halifax Graeme Patterson’s practice stems from
a self developed approach to creating stop-motion animation. This “do
it yourself” method is consistent in all facets of his production.
Since graduating from NSCAD in 2002 his projects can be described as
sculptural installations consisting of video, robotics, audio, music,
and some interactive components. Generally he works in miniature using
a 1:10 scale which originates from childhood. His installations attempt
to bring the viewer in to the world of play Graeme exists in while
creating his stop-motion animations. From 2004 - 2007 he created a
large body of work entitled
Woodrow. This 10 piece installation
encompasses all aspects of his practice. All of his work is based on
personal memories and life experience with a mix of fantasy and
surrealism. Currently Graeme is working towards another 3 - 4 year
project focusing on finding and renewing his ties with a long lost
friend from his childhood. Much like
Woodrow Graeme will be traveling
and plans to take temporary residence in Japan to create connections
between his memories and reality.
Ilan Sandler, A Left Ear to the Sky, 2008, bronze, 228 x 101 x 38 cm (Permanent Installation: Busan Biennale Apec Naru Sculpture Park, Busan South Korea)
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Ilan
Sandler has received numerous awards including grants from the Canada
Council for the Arts, The Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada and the Nova Scotia Department of Culture. Recent
solo exhibitions of his sculptures, installations and videos were in,
South Korea, the US and Canada. Born in Johannesburg (South Africa) in
1971, Ilan Sandler and his family emigrated to Toronto six years later,
in 1977. Ilan studied at the University of Toronto, where he received a
B.Sc. in Physics, and at the Ontario College of Art and Design, where
he completed an Honours Fine Arts certificate. In 2000 he was awarded
an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
Ilan then went on to teach at the University of the Arts and Moore
College of Art and Design, and most recently at the Nova Scotia College
of Art and Design. He is currently living and running a studio in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is the Executive Director of the Centre For
Art Tapes, and a research Fellow at NSCAD University.
Tara K. Wells, Starlite Drive-in Installation, 2009, mixed-media sculptural installation with projected animation, Installation dimensions: 1.52 x 1.52 x 2.29 m, Sign dimensions: 30.5 x 20.3 x 7.6 cm
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Maritime-born
and raised, Tara K. Wells has spent the last fourteen years quietly
working and living in Sackville, New Brunswick. Wells is a
multidisciplinary artist with wide-ranging interests that are currently
focused on animation, photography, audio art, kinetic and static
sculpture. She brings these elements together in her latest
installation work,
The Starlite Drive-in. Wells finds the bulk of her
art materials in dustbins, ditches and thrift stores. From this vast
and varied collection of detritus, she crafts endearing sculptural
pieces, many with kinetic potential that can often be realized with a
gentle nudge or a camera’s shutter. Her work is a reminder that even
the most dysfunctional and rejected elements of our society can find a
sense of place and purpose in the right hands. Experimentation and play
are also vital aspects of her art practice. A new scrap of discarded
material can inspire a sculptural piece and her willingness to try new
things has led to the development of countless works and is at the root
of her self-taught, non-traditional animation technique. Wells’
award-winning animated work has screened widely across Canada and
internationally in both festivals and galleries.