JEANNIE THIB
Expanded Fields
October 20 to November 17
Opening Saturday October 20, 3-6pm
Expanded Fields
October 20 to November 17
Opening Saturday October 20, 3-6pm
The sculptures, wall works and drawings in Expanded Fields disrupt relationships between architecture and ornament, between the modern and the decorative. In these works, decorative motifs become building blocks and ornament is reconstructed through cutting, stacking and printing, and the use of industrial materials like neoprene, aluminum, plywood and polystyrene. Three-dimensional form is "extruded up" in layers from two-dimensional design, suggesting 3D computer renderings and other forms of architectural modelling. The cube is referenced in several works, as is the sectional architectural drawing. Modular and grid-based, the works engage with repetition and reproduction. These features—of both minimalist constructions and historic ornament—are key, as is the introduction of rogue elements, gaps and alternate strategies into those ordered systems. As Tila Kellman puts it "Jeannie Thib pursues the idea that ornament is world-making to its logical conclusion. If ornament can generate meaningful space, then what if ornament rises into architecture?" from a text published in conjunction with the solo exhibition "Compound: Ornament and Seduction," St. Francis Xavier University Gallery, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, 2009      | |||
