OPENING: Sat. April 30 2011 – 5-8pm
ARTIST TALK: Sunday May 1st 2-3:30pm
EXHIBITION presented until May 28 2011
OPENING HOURS: Tue-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 2-6pm

Between the House and the Field

An ecology of symbols arises in the photographs of Julie Forgues. Dirt, detritus, used-up nature, piles of anything and everything, trees whose shapes are worn by the wind, tracks of heavy trucks, gravel, stones. These clear black and white shots appear to hover liminally over what we know is a changing landscape. We know this is already gone. We know in fact, that this landscape has shifted so rapidly without the caring eyes of a human to look upon it, that it was never really there. Her photos capture pure blight, the grey areas of life between city and country. Inhabited by insects, rodents, small birds, there is a post apocalyptic depression to the matter she has caught on film.

The series, which has been ongoing documentation of the area around Moncton, BC is called trans form-[n]ation. She installs it out from the wall deliberately breathing texture and life back into that which appears to be living approximately, striving fully, and that which pays attention only to itself. (Not in a selfish way, of course. It is a matter of survival here in these unframed photos.) These are fields of change.

Keung’s images, on the other hand, are secured directly to the wall. She has created two sets of colour photographs. One is printed at life size and another is a smaller set sourced from video.

The life-sized works are digital C-prints with lengthy and self-righteous titles. Victory Belongs to the Most Persevering; The Greater the Discipline, the Greater the Devotion; and Excellence is About Being are quotes from Napoleon Bonaparte, Princeton Basketball Coach Pete Carril and former NFL player, coach and ESPN analyst Mike Ditka. The photos are self-portraits of Keung in moments of deep concentration. Her inner focus distorts her outer expression into a fierce ‘game face.’ In one shot she appears to be practicing a Tae Kwon Do punching drill, while in another she appears to be warming up her arms for skiing.

The smaller set sourced from video, Getting a Leg Up: Mid Way, Leg Down, Leg Up (Triptych), is three shots of one smooth movement, much like a set of animation cells. The movement begins with the artist opening the front of her body with a full wheel backbend – Urdhva Dhanurasana in yoga. From here, she lifts and extends her right leg making up the other two shots. The shot is wider, revealing that she is practicing this position on a rooftop.

In both sets of photos, there is a silent respect paid, whether to the artist’s powerful, yet unwieldy body or to the naked terrain of suburban landscape. These are documents of neither/nor. The strength of her movements and the facial expressions leaking exertion bring to mind the linguistic linking the home and the human body. “Built like a brick chicken house” sticks in my mind, as does the ancient concept that the body is a temple. Perhaps this is because I know of Keung as a builder of houses.

The cool observation of Forgues contrasts with her wild and wooly subject matter such as a pile of warm-looking earth baking in the sun. I’m left with the distinct impression that much of her landscape was found along New Brunswick highways outside of Moncton. They are microsystems, halfway between used and unused. What will happen to this field after it lies fallow?

These artists’ practices each hold their own unique qualities, processes and sensitivities. That of Forgues is reflexive while that of Keung is dynamic. Forgues records a set of dedications to lands easily forgotten. Keung employs the physical endurance of time through the living human body.

Some say that a field cannot be a field without a house, and that a house cannot be a house without a field. A storm cannot beat the panes of glass that aren’t there, just as the grass cannot sing without ears to hear it. I propose that we meet Forgues and Keung between the house and the field, where cause meets effect.

Alissa Firth-Eagland, April 2011.

Le Labo warmly thanks its partners for their generous support:
Ontario Trillium Foundation
Ontario Arts Council
Canada Arts Council
Super8 Downtown Toronto

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