We invite you to join us for the opening of, “Marking the Void” recent painting by Victoria Johnson, Camrose Ducote & Jennifer Seymour. This exhibition opens September 3rd and runs through September 29th, 2009.
There is an undeniable continuity in the vocabulary of Camrose Ducote's work regardless of the year it was created. Ducote's mixed media artworks have notions of symbolism and sign systems that make her work easily identified; through unique markings, gestural scoring and expert use of collage. She utilizes this visual language to demonstrate a record of "history to present time". Each painting seems almost map-like, with various bits of paper, cut or torn, then defined with blueprint-type markings, and coded spaces. These carefully detailed areas are contrasted with quiet, pared down passages, not unlike history with its highs & lows. Rather than being purely a personal expression, Ducote's voice hints of an older language, perhaps a primal code of sorts, meant to document visual artifacts, archaic records or even routes of travel. The works in Marking the Void, having an effective tablet-like presence will easily draw in viewers with intimate details; wanting to discover their secrets.
Camrose Ducote received her BFA from the University of Northern Colorado and currently teaches at Emily Carr in Vancouver, BC. Her work has been widely exhibited in Canada and is included in a number of corporate art collections.
For Victoria Johnson, to have fun and to find amusement developing this show was the focus of her new work. Setting aside the methodology of her current paintings to date, she purchased materials to fabricate wood panels and set aside, “the old way of doing things mindset”. What transpired was a feedback loop from her recent paintings inspired by the, "West Coast Birth of Cool", where she incorporated timed movement of circulation patterns with her interest in the ethos of the natural world; wind, water, earth, land formations and celestial spaces. Johnson might stick to a focus of one or the other, however, in these paintings she, splices iconographical edges, defined by pure design, with, depiction of space that may reference terrain or horizon, or other natural vistas. Johnson's near term paintings; having explored form to form, then assimilated, have become a cross over measure to more obscure parables of nature. When looking at her work, it isn't necessary to make any earthly associations; they feel just groovy enough to make you forget all reference anyway.
Victoria Johnson is a native of Portland, Oregon. She received her Bachelor of Science from University of Oregon and studied at the Santa Fe Institute of the Arts. Johnson has exhibited regularly since 1978, and her work is found in numerous private and corporate collections, including the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, the Venetian Macau in China, the Mactan Shangri-La Hotel in the Phillipines, Deliotte & Touche, and others in New York, Vancouver, and Seattle.
Sechelt artist, Jennifer Seymour continues to explore her interest in architectural form while expanding on modifying the reflective visual. Her iconic cityscapes seem more intimate and narrative with enhanced implications of where each scene originates. Again, paying close attention to "atmospheric perspective and vanishing imagery", Seymour removes more obvious depiction, using contrast and shadow to suggest the essence of a composition, thus allowing the viewer to fill in any voids. Seymour has truly honed her labor intensive, multi-media technique on natural birch panel to perfection. She shows us, in her refined, graceful style, exactly what she wants to.
Jennifer Seymour studied fine art at the University of British Columbia before completing her training at the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design. This young artist's work is already widely collected, and is considered by many to be an artist to watch out for in the future.
For additional information and images, please contact the gallery.
T: +1 250 763 5088 F: +1 250 763 5088 www.sopafinearts.com
info@sopafinearts.com
