Artist's Projects

Authors

  • Patrick Mahon
  • David Scott Armstrong
  • Blair Brennan
  • Barbara Balfour
  • Joscelyn Gardner
  • Micah Lexier
  • David Merritt
  • Jeannie Thib

Abstract

This section is a comprised of a grouping of writings, art works, or a combination of both, in a series of artist project pages. The eight artists included here present a broad range of interests and approaches, yet can be seen as related in their address to ideas concerning the challenge to link language and materiality in the contemporary moment. Seen here is a collection of artist's works that take up a concern for the physical act of marking, by way of the machine or hand, whether for writing or recording. Other aspects of the works display an interest in the pertinent relationsihps between present and past, and between pre-existing cultural forms or conventions concerning cultural expression and language - and in their subsequent "reframing" as contemporary art, as critique and as dialogue.

Author Biographies

  • Patrick Mahon
    Patrick Mahon is a Canadian artist and writer, and is current Chair of the Department ofVisual Arts at the University of Western Ontario, in London. Patrick Mahon's work focuses on issues related to print culture, historical and contemporary aesthetics and on post-colonialism. Recently, Mahon was part of a collective of artists working in the Canadian Arctic on a research/creation project entitled Art and Cold Cash. Mahon has exhibited widely in Canada and internationally and has worked as an independent curator on several national touring group exhibitions. In Toronto, he is represented by the Leo Kamen Gallery.
  • David Scott Armstrong
    David Scott Armstrong grew up in both Saskatchewan and Alberta, and is currently based in Toronto. His studio practice involves the exploration of reproducibility, time and entropy through an ongoing interest in print media. His work, which has been exhibited nationally and internationally, explores broader questions regarding perception and threshold through print, bookwork, moving image projection and installation. He previously taught at the University of Western Ontario and in 2003 joined the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University, where he is an Assistant Professor and currently Head of the Print Media Area.
  • Blair Brennan
    Blair Brennan combines his art and writing practice from his home in Edmonton, Alberta. He contributes writing to various Canadian arts and cultural publications and his sculpture, installation work, collaborative performance art, book works and works on paper have been exhibited nationally in numerous group and solo exhibitions.
  • Barbara Balfour
    Barbara Balfour is an Associate Professor in the Print Media Area, Department of Visual Arts, York University, Toronto. In addition to solo and group exhibitions, her artwork is included in the international print survey Printmaking on the Edge. Her writing appears in Technologies of Intuition and in Pro Forma: language/text/visual art.
  • Joscelyn Gardner
    Joscelyn Gardner was born in Barbados to a family that lived on the island since the 17th century. She explores her (white) Creole identity through multi-media installations and printmaking. Since 1994, she has exhibited internationally (including the Sao Paulo Biennial) and currently works as an artist between Canada and the Caribbean.
  • Micah Lexier
    Micah Lexier is a Canadian artist presently living in New York who has a deep interest in counting and numbers. He has had 85 solo exhibitions, participated in over 150 group exhibitions and produced a dozen public commissions. In addition, he co-edited the anthology Sound By Artists, is the visual arts editor of Bloom magazine and is an active curator.
  • David Merritt
    David Merritt works in the areas of drawing and installation. His work has been exhibited in venues across Canada as well as abroad, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Textile Museum of Canada and TENT CBK, Rotterdam. In Toronto, his work is represented by Jessica Bradley Art and Projects.
  • Jeannie Thib
    Jeannie Thib was born in North Bay, Ontario, studied at York University and has exhibited internationally. Her sculptures and paper works investigate contemporary issues through the vehicle of historical ornament. She has created several permanent public artworks and is included in the National Gallery of Canada and The Washington DC Convention Center collections.

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Published

2008-04-01

Issue

Vol. 42 No. 1 (2008): After the Grave: Language and Materiality in Contemporary Art

Section

Journal Article