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Grow Apart Jude Griebel January 10 - February 15, 2013 york corridor vitrines |
Events Vernissage: Thursday January 10, 5-7 PM |
Jude Griebel, Planting and Weeding, 2012, 52 x 41 x 32 cm, papier-mâché, foam, polymer, human hair, oil paint.
About
My artistic practice explores the relationship between figurative sculpture and oil painting and is motivated by themes of psychology, fantasy and the supernatural. Depicting bodies in states of transformation, my work examines how our imagination negotiates abstract notions such as growth, change and mortality though metaphorical and experiential avenues. The wooden relief, papier-mâché and epoxy bodies that I construct become sites of conversion, in which physical anatomy is merged with symbolic prostheses and counterparts. These altered bodies are then painted in a subdued oil palette. Their highly representational nature is reminiscent of museum dioramas, taxidermy and didactic science models, lending them a sense of the uncanny and impressing their themes of biological change. Their display in dramatic lighting further impresses elements of theatricality as well as their sense of presence. When exhibited together, the works produce a complex narrative of transition and longing.
The images and forms that appear in my work belong to a visual vocabulary developed from research into cultural and mythological understandings of supernatural phenomena, art historical references (including the detail and palette of Pre-Raphaelite painting) and autobiographical experience. References are made to low-budget supernatural films from the 1970’s and 80’s, capitalizing on their ability to incorporate foundational cultural mythologies and fears into contemporary encounters with the unknown. One of my ongoing projects involves the collection of internationally-written texts describing personal notions of the afterlife. These writings have become a strong source of imagery in my work.
Through the cross-referencing of art history, mythology and contemporary existential experience, my work reflects on identity in relation to both physical and metaphorical beginnings and endings. Like the transient and enigmatic themes it examines, the work remains open to evolving meaning through shifting contexts and modes of understanding. In this way, it suggests dynamic possibilities from an intersection of collective imagination, autobiographical and speculative experience.
Biography
Jude Griebel received a BFA from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design and is a current MFA candidate at Concordia University. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally, including recent solo projects at the University of Lapland (Finland), Islensk Grafik (Iceland) and Cella Gallery (Los Angeles). He has worked as an artist in residence at institutions including the Banff Centre for the Arts, Workshop OM, (Japan) and the Frans Masereel Centrum (Belgium). Griebel is the recent recipient of grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. His work has recently been added to the permanent collections of the Sakima Art Museum (Japan), the Burnaby Art Gallery, The Yukon Arts Centre Public Art Gallery and the Colart Canadian Art Collection.
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