Jaime Angelopoulos: Brittle Radiance
Karen Kraven: a Mucker and a Grinder
March 27–April 26, 2014
Opening: Wednesday March 26, 6–9pm, artists in attendance
Parisian Laundry
3550 St-Antoine West
Montreal, QC
Canada, H4C 1A9
Parisian Laundry is delighted to announce the second solo exhibition of represented artist Jaime Angelopoulos, Brittle Radiance. The exhibition features new works on paper and sculptures by the artist.
The works of Jaime Angelopoulos always operate in dialogue with one another. They evoke a system of conversion from one medium to the next that signifies the material transformation at the heart of the artist’s practice. Brittle Radiance presents works that translate immaterial experiences of sensation, emotion and behavior into physical form through sculpture and drawing. The works suggest human gesture in their verticality, scale, and form. Narrative based titles situate the sculptures in the realm of subjective experience, inviting identification with the viewer. Angelopoulos’ process begins as intuitive images in mind, followed by the writing of poems or short stories. This gives rise to personal experiences that underlie and motivate all of the artist’s actions in the studio. Brittle Radiance represents an active and personal practice that is relatable to the viewer for its intuitively human approach to mark-making, gesture and form.
Jaime Angelopoulos received her MFA from York University (2010), and BFA from NSCAD University (2005). She was awarded the Hazelton Sculpture Prize in 2013, as well as artist residencies at Meadows School of the Arts (Dallas) and the Banff Centre for the Arts (Alberta). Angelopoulos has presented solo exhibitions across Canada and in the United States, notably at Parisian Laundry (Montreal), YYZ Artist Outlet (Toronto, ON), Cambridge Galleries (Ontario), Stride Gallery (Calgary, AB), Meadows School of the Arts (Dallas), and The Banff Centre for the Arts (Banff, AL). The artist has shown in group exhibitions in Vancouver (BC), Forth Worth (Texas), Sydney, Australia, and at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (Toronto). Her works are included in the collections of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norton Rose, ALDO Group, York University, Bank of Montreal, Hazelton Hotel, The Claridge Collection as well as numerous private collections in Canada and the United States. In 2015 Angelopoulos will participate in an artist residency at KulttuuriKauppila Art Center in Finland in 2015.
When seized for its distinct architecture, Parisian Laundry’s bunker is an enveloping and experiential locus. Already disposed as an imposing environment, the addition of Karen Kraven’s sixteen-foot balance beam looms ominous within the confines of this concrete block.
a Mucker and a Grinder —the title of Kraven’s first solo exhibition at Parisian Laundry, is culled from common hockey lingo, terms used to identify a boards-crashing, body-checking, hard hitting defenseman- A dirty player, lauded, for his violent disposition: a bully to most, a hero to the likes of the iconic Canadian sports broadcaster Don Cherry. A distorted iteration of one of Cherry’s famous gaudy suits serves as the image to represent Kraven’s exhibition—a sort of critical tribute to professional sports. Kraven evokes both the violence and grace of sports—the scandal and beauty, implicated in the pursuit of perfection. Focused on bodies and the ideals that these bodies represent, Kraven’s work is aestheticized and appealing, Its represents the reduction of the body to a formal quality, a line, a pattern or an appendage of something that seems to have been removed from its contents. a Mucker and a Grinder represents the interchangeability of people with things and commodities for consumption in the world of professional sports.
Karen Kraven received her MFA from Concordia University (2012) where she was the recipient of the Dale & Nick Tedeschi Fellowship, she is currently based in Montreal in residence at the Darling Foundry. Kraven’s work was recently the subject of a solo exhibition at Centre Clark in Montreal and has been included in various group exhibitions at such galleries as Centre Dare-Dare, Montreal; Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Montreal; Blackwood Gallery and University of Toronto Mississauga. She has participated in artist’s residencies at The Banff Centre and Reverse Pedagogy in Venice, Italy.