O'Born Contemporary

Exhibition

The Knight's Move

Group Exhibition curated by Parker Kay

January 9 – January 24, 2015

Opening Reception: Friday, January 9, 6 – 9 PM

artists

Michael Abel
Connor Crawford
Julien Fournier
Laura McCoy
Brian Rideout

statement

The appearance of windows, doorways, and bridges are evidence of what scholar Svetlana Boym describes as the architecture of adventure. These architectural features act as thresholds between known and unknown. Adventure is neither an external incident nor an internal system; it is like "a stranger's body that foregrounds that which is most intimate." Windows, doorways, and bridges provide a glimpse into a time or place that is both familiar and foreign. In today's networked culture, the Internet – a window full of windows – is the newest site of adventure. The Internet compresses time, space, geography, and history into a single flat plane, thus presenting images and forms that appear familiar but have been dislodged from their original context. This shift in culture, and consciousness, is now a vital part of an artist's production. In the game of Chess, "the Knight's move is not a choice to go sideways but rather he moves sideways because the straight road is not available to him".

The selected work in The Knight's Move deals with subject matter, materials, and imagery referencing that which is familiar while simultaneously subverting its audience's understanding. Through the production of each piece, these featured artists create a threshold that effectively shifts the work into a space of new and unsuspected meaning.

about the curator

Parker Kay is a multi-disciplinary artist and curator currently working in Toronto, Canada. Kay's practice investigates the systems and structures that operate within art, architecture, and media theory. Much of Kay's work responds to an Internet-aware culture, while also exploring notions of embodiment, and archival practices.

about the artists

Michael Abel is an artist born in Didsbury Alberta and based out of Toronto, Ontario. Abel's most recent pursuit of completing his masters in architecture at the university of Toronto and editing a publication under the idea of art and architecture production in the age of network culture has created a discourse and framework for his personal artist practice to exist.

Connor Crawford is a multi-disciplinary artist practicing in Toronto, Ontario. He received his BFA in New Media from Ryerson University in 2014. Crawford's work explores the ways in which value becomes tied to objects and how value, aura, ideas, and objects are able to move through a network. Crawford has shown work in Toronto, Miami, and The Netherlands.

Julien Fournier is a Calgary born painter interested in the many ways one can look at people and their practices. He graduated from The Alberta College of Art and Design in January 2014 with a major in painting, and is currently based in Calgary where he is engaged in studio practice.

Laura McCoy lives and works in Toronto. Her work spans a variety of media including drawing, sculpture, installation, and performance and has been included in various group shows, including showing work with Soi Fischer (Toronto), The Power Plant (Toronto), Mercer Union (Toronto), The Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) and as part of the monthly performance show, Doored, organized by Life of a Craphead. She has performed at the AGO (Toronto) and enjoyed solo shows at Xpace (Toronto) and ESP (Toronto.) She holds a BFA in Sculpture and Installation from OCADU. She is the Art Director for the upcoming feature film Bugs, by Life of a Craphead.

Brian Rideout is a Toronto-based artist, working primarily in painting and drawing. Rideout's work repurposes contemporary imagery (sourced from the internet and photography), positioning it within the realm of art history and continuing the narrative that originated with traditional European history painting. Born in Peterborough, Rideout studied Visual Art at Georgian College before moving to Toronto. Rideout has exhibited across Canada including exhibitions at Mercer Union, PFOAC211, Coatcheck Gallery, Butcher Gallery and ARTSPACE.