Gwenessa Lam (BFA 2001)
In the series Windows, Gwenessa Lam explores the notion of absence through paintings of vacant windows and walls. The windowed wall is a liminal space between the interior and exterior. It suggests a potential to see, to visualize the other side without physically entering into the space beyond the shutters or glass pane. This tension – between vision and knowledge, disclosure and concealment – is central to the work. Their opacity inverts the transparent, revelatory function of windows, operating more as empty screens and portals, a means of surveillance or escape. The setting of the interior situates notions of alienation and estrangement within the familiar and banal. Representations of the void, in the guise of the blank window or the shadowed wall, play upon the viewer’s desire to fill the void, whilst never completely satisfying it.
Windows is exhibiting June 12 through July 25 with an opening reception on Thursday, June 11, 7-9 pm. Regular gallery hours are 11 am – 4 pm, Thursday through Saturday, and by appointment.
For more information please contact Pantea Haghighi by phone at 604.632.1590 or by email at pantea@republicgallery.com.
Image: Window no. 6, 2007, oil on canvas, 35 3/4″ x 52″
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