This weekend I attended The Urban Collective Presents “Disconnected”, an art show at Box Studios, in Strathcona, Vancouver. It was a group show comprising of ten or so artists; Matthew Mitchell, Alicia Rebman, Tiffany May, S.P. Williams, Nathan Gowsell, Justin Tyler Close and David Morin to name a few. The work presented was photography, 2D mixed media work, paintings, t-shirt designs and a live DJ. The exhibition was casual and relaxed, and the atmosphere is friendly and inviting at Box Studios. The space has tall ceilings and is kept in good condition. The speckled walls in the studio are not the most complimentary to the art works, which I felt takes away from the art presented.
Unlike some of the art shows I’ve attended in Vancouver, this show had a chill feel and the people were willing to chat and enjoy the space. I struck up many conversations with other viewers and the space is unpretentious and supportive. The works shown were trendy, and drew upon urban themes of architecture, nature, urban environment, and recycled materials. The show was very fitting for the collective and the strength of the show was the artist’s connection to the city represented in the work. My criticism is that the show could have used a curator. Instead of showing the work of the artist in a salon style with each artist having their limited wall space and bunching all their individual work together. They should have mixed all the works together and hung them with other artist complementary pieces. I found it distracting to see pieces which were not intended to be shown with other series, in order for the artist to have more work shown. I believe this would create a group dynamic (which is the best part of a collective) with each work in conversation with one another.
Here is a close up of some of the work;
Nathan Gowsell's Mix Media paintings/drawings
Gowsell’s work was a combination of illustrations, found collage materials, layers of medium and paint. He has an impulse for detail and contour line and what I found most interesting about his work is the line quality of the figures . I wish there were titles for the works. I don’t know if these are portraits or gestures.
S.P. Williams' Paintings
I believe these paintings are created with acrylic. What I enjoyed the most about Williams work was that he leaves his supports raw to share the process of building the surface with the viewer. My favourite ine here, unfortunately didn’t make it into the photo was a hastily painted white streaks of paint with a small, very detailed image of a sail boat riding the streak of paint. This work again, shared the support of the painting, and exposes the Masonite it is painted on. I wished it wasn’t hung like this although.
Alicia Rebman
These pieces were very impressive because of their texture and layers of varnish. Rebman left a very generous artist statement with these pieces which I was thankful for. She stated that her these works were inspire by viral emails she had been receiving from her grandmother which were of cute cross specie interactions. She wanted to explore human assumptions of how animals interact, and if they have emotions. These viral photos defy our assumptions that animals are incapable of developing emotional relationships. Her concept is an interesting one, with tons of potential. I think the layers she builds on her surface reflect the depth of our misunderstand and the fibres in the layers, a representation of the connectivity of the natural world. I don’t know about her palate although. They are psychedelic and create an alternate reality, where these animals are at peace with on another possibly. Anyway, I really enjoyed this work.
Does Anyone know who this photographer is???
These were wonderful, but I don't know who the artist is...
These photographs were great. Theatrical, poetic, and a bit cheeky. The problem was there was no title card, so I don’t know who is the photographer. These works truly stole the show for me. Big prints well shot with great costumes, and I loved that she is snorting candy sprinkles. This work is so sweet that it is ugly. It makes fun of fashion photography but upholds it’s material integrity.
David Morin
These are the paintings of David Morin. The vacant eyes are what got me and he handles his material very nicely. I wished these pieces came with titles so I could have more to think about.
Anyway, I had a good time. The crowd was fun and the work was unpretentious. It was refreshing actually.