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Canadian Artists
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Gallery Director, John Ryerson, explains, “the challenge of finding the artists, learning from their experiences in Canada, and seeing the breadth of work moves us ahead in our quest to better engage and be more accessible to newly arrived artists and citizens. The selection demonstrates that the talent of new arrivals is as strong in the visual arts as it is in other professions." |
The exhibition was organized vis à vis a juried call across Canada. Jurors for the exhibition were Dr. Anna Hudson: York University, Farouk Kaspaules: Artist, and Dr. Astri Wright: University of Victoria.
Farouk Kaspaules, an artist and juror for Without Borders said "Traditions and customs play a major role in any creative process. This is regardless of the place where artists produce their works. Yet the geographic local were the work is created influences the work. Artists cannot detach themselves from the creative process, nor from their cultural history, which leads to the question of identity. Displacement and marginality become an issue for artists, especially when they reside in another country, by choice or imposition."
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Adding, "It is important to work outside the box. To challenge and address the social and aesthetic issues, to refuse the main stream. It is important to depend on absolute imagination in a free space, in a free society, to achieve the dream" |
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Fellow juror Dr. Anna Hudson said, “when David Goa, a Canadian curator and museologist, recommends that museums build lasting relationships with communities he is referring to ethical issues of “depth of knowledge,” “friendship,” and “commitment.” We want museums to be part of their community argues Goa, “To play their singular role as public institutions in the new society of pluralism and to find their larger sense of purpose.” If I understand correctly there is a kind of spirituality at play here where museum and art gallery employees work as missionaries of kinship. Thus our institutions might be cultural bridges. We should argue for exhibitions which reflect “a complex community life in a pluralistic society." |
Sculptor Candice Raquel Lee spoke of her sculpture saying, "Emergent is the first sculpture I completed after immigrating to Canada and deciding to go public with my work after many years of sculpting for myself. Thus, on a personal level, the piece represents my own status as an “emerging artist” breaking free of the weighty mass of self-doubt that held me down, As a new Canadian, I felt liberated from the constraints and limitations, both external and self-imposed, that hindered me artistically in the US, and Emergent celebrates this change."
Candice concludes, "More philosophically, and there is always a philosophical dimension to my work, I see this sculpture as an emblem of my views on the oneness of all things: sacred and profane, male and female. The turbulent muscularity of the torso embodies maleness and human physicality, while the serene female face emerging from this form stands for the spiritual. I am reminded of the quintessential symbol of yin and yang which represents active and passive principles, male and female. Just as the black half of the symbol contains a white dot, and the white half a black dot, male containing female, female containing male, so my sculpted masculine torso contains its feminine counterpart."
Title: Emergent
Artist: Candice Raquel Lee (Rockwood, Ontario)
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: 5" x 10" x 16"
Artist's Web Site: www.candiceraquel.com
Image Courtesy: The Varley Art Gallery
Inspired by the Group of Seven member from which the gallery takes its name, The Frederick Horsman Varley Art Gallery, has one of the largest permanent collections of Varley's work. In the 10 years that it has been open to the public it has established itself both for its excellent collection including Varley, fellow Group of Seven member J. E. H. MacDonald and David Milne. At the same time it is known as a beacon shining on contemporary artists by giving them a place to show their talent.
Without Borders
Varley Art Gallery:
January 28 - May 13, 2007