YOUNG CANADA PRESENTS: BAROMETRIC READING SERIES 1
- KATIE PRETTI
- KRISTI MALAKOFF
- SARAH CLIFFORD-RASHOTTE
- AMANDA NEDHAM
- MELANIE AUTHIER
FROM JULY 8TH TO AUGUST 2ND
OPENING JULY 10TH, 2009 FROM 7-10PM
Young Canada is committed to bringing forward survey shows that distill contemporary Canadian practice into a series of exhibitions that offer access to Canada’s most confident and ambitious young contemporary artists. A new generation of artists are forging a path of innovation, creativity and technical proficiency which not only contribute to international dialogues within the visual arts but are also beginning to write their own. Filtering their acquired knowledge of art history, but also drawing from their experience of maintaining a practice in an today’s accelerated culture, the five artists included in our inaugural exhibition, Melanie Authier Sarah Clifford-Rashotte, Kristi Malakoff, Amanda Nedham, and Katie Pretti, all display an aggressive approach in their production and a conscious grapple with their positioning in a hyper charged art world. These artists are awesome, google them. Authier is represented by Michael Gibson Gallery with work available through Georgia Scherman Projects.
MELANIE AUTHIER
With their highly charged palates and densely constructed plane, Authier’s paintings evoke a sense of unrest, a negotiation of dichotomies that challenge any painter willing to tackle the issues surrounding the contemporary landscape. In her own words, “the artificial and the organic, the technological and the natural, flatness and deep space, synthetic and natural colour, chaos and control, the sublime and the everyday,” all become challenges to acknowledge and balance, a highly charged palate and images so densely constructed. Autier is represented by Michael Gibson Gallery with work available through Georgia Scherman Projects.
SARAH CLIFFORD-RASHOTTE
A Toronto based Graduate from the prestigious Central Saint Martins MFA program in England, Clifford-Rashotte’s ability to filter the experience of her generation in highly confessional and reflexive drawings on paper situates her practice within a movement of young, aggressive and culturally astute image makers. Exploring the accelerated culture in which she and other young artists must adjust to, reveals a fluid identity which simultaneously adapts to the shift in art, fashion, and music.
KRISTI MALAKOFF
The incredibly intricate sculptural works of Kristi Malakoff exist in a uniquely alchemical arena, shifting scales from miniature to gigantic through an impressive act of repositioning everyday objects. Her tiny objects become powerful sculptures, using unconventional materials such as international stamps and currency, in unconventional ways, Malakoff repositions the loaded histories of preexisting objects into an exploration of intricacy and revelry. Malakoff has exhibited nationally and internationally with a major museum exhibition, Kristi Malakoff: The Circus and the Wishing Well opening at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery and running June 27, 2009 through to September 13, 2009.
AMANDA NEDHAM
Primarily concerned with the various taxonomic functions of history, Nedham’s works on paper exhibit a technical proficiency and enamoured exploration of natural history’s complex and overlapping structures. Through a process of abstraction based on the collaging of drawings, largely from television, internet sources, and personal documentation, she attempts to focus on those moments that create tension as they challenge the governing voice of history. Nedham is the winner of the Ontario College of Art and Design’s Printmaking Medal. Her work has been exhibited in Toronto, Florence, and New York.
KATIE PRETTI
Pretti’s ability to harness the visceral impact of emotions is reflected in her frenetic style of markmaking on both paper and canvas. Informed by a rich history of predecessors in the field of abstract expressionism, Pretti adds her distinct exploration of human experience and emotions through her studio practice. Pretti’s work has shown across the country with reviews and features in major national and international publications. Her work was recently featured in Remains to Be Seen, curated by Rhonda Corvese.