Exhibition by Alumni Anna Marie Repstock (BFA, 2007) and Casey Wei (BFA, 2008). April 24 – May 16, 2009. Open Wed-Sat: 12:30 pm -5:30 pm. Opening Reception April 24, 7-11 pm.
Readings is an exhibition of new work by emerging Vancouver artists Anna Marie Repstock and Casey Wei. Romantic ideals associated with painting and writing are examined in works that highlight the artists’ shared interest in the philosophical relationship between painting, poetry and contemporary art.
Collapsing representation and abstraction, Repstock’s paintings draw upon the history of hard edged abstraction and conceptual, procedural painting. While the paintings are recognizable as replicas of lined papers, and are suggestive of reading and writing, the colored rays that breach them are less easily readable. As abstract and poetic forms, these rays address the space where readability yields to poetic abstraction.
Wei plays with the visual and aural qualities of typewriting. She investigates the relationship of words with imagery and, like Repstock, she privileges careful and labor intensive processes. The Past is Better Left a Bone, blogs from 1998-2008 is a papier mache sculpture constructed from printed, shredded blog entries. The addition of a sound recording of typing enhances the romanticism of the writing process.
Readings negotiates the relationship between language and visual language, between the first look and the close reading.
