1. CLUTTER BIRDS | New drawings by Ernest Harris Jr.
2. The Burden of Memory | New Work by Richard Purcell
1. CLUTTER BIRDS | New drawings by Ernest Harris Jr.
Friday 30 April - Friday 7 May 2010
Dennis Tourbin Members Gallery
Niagara Artists Centre
Opening Reception: Friday 30 April 7pm
These ink and watercolour drawings are of origami game birds made using clutter from my own apartment. Origami, the japanese practice of paper folding, also functions as a metaphor for my manicured view of nature, and how far removed I am from the food chain, from where eating what you kill is a way of life.
--Ernest Harris Jr.
2. The Burden of Memory | New Work by Richard Purcell
Friday 30 April - Tuesday 18 May 2010
CRAM Gallery
24 James Street 2nd floor
Downtown St. Catharines
Opening Reception: Friday 30 April 8pm
This series of photos began with a pile of shoes. During a recent purge of belongings, Richard came across a box of his daughter's old shoes. Although she is only 6, the collection of hand me downs, Sally Ann finds, flashy sneakers and boots, filled an entire Rubbermaid container. Few will be useful for her younger brother, yet still they sit in a box in the cupboard, ever hopeful. Richard feels he is drowning in stuff.
Experiments with lighting and photographing the pile were not satisfying.
Richard moved on to a small colletion of things he found he did not want, but yet could not get rid of: A grandfather's ring (Why do we take jewelery from the hand of a dead man? To avoid grave robbery, we suppose.); another grandfather's cufflinks (worn during his death, or simply forgotten in a drawer?); a toy sold in his overworked father's pharmacy; tooth impressions of his 3 year old made after 4 surgical extractions; a belt from a blissful summer job –worn for 25 years and finally beyond repair; a photo viewfinder from his spouse's childhood vacation; his anti-depressants; a replacement butter dish, not as good as the original.
These eight objects hold enough emotion for a person's whole lifetime. A person should not have to deal with more than this.
Attempting to exorcise the various demons that were holding him hostage, he documented them in as bland a format as possible. Richard was inspired by both the portraiture and product photography of Walker Evans as well as the early advertising photos done by Diane and Allan Arbus. He attempted an approach in counterpoint to the way in which William Eggleston seems to imbue found situations with implied narrative.
Richard wondered if the emotional connections he felt to the objects would be sensed by the viewer, or if the photos would be screens for the projection of the viewer's own sentiments. He has now parted with several of the objects, and still feels he is drowning in stuff.
Richard Purcell began his connection to St. Catharines in 1992 while courting his future spouse with rides home to the Garden City from Waterloo. He first met Tobey the same year - sleeping standing up in a slick hat at the old NAC gallery on St. Paul Street. Richard grew up in Smiths Falls, Ontario; the same small town that his father, grand father and great grandfather did. He left there after high school to pursue a Theater Sound internship at the Banff Centre for Fine Arts. In 1990 he left the theater for the architecture program at the University of Waterloo. After completing his architecture degree in 1996, Purcell worked in Toronto, developing an expertise in computer rendering and architectural animation, which led him to a program in computer animation at Centennial College. He is now the Director of Photography for Halifax Film Children's Studio. He lives in Halifax with his wife, Cassie and their two children.
-- Cassie Kent