The title of this show is in reference to informal private conversations and the role they play in shaping the work of artists. The learning that happens in a casual setting like a shared studio space is sometimes the most valuable part of any educational experience. By learning from the safety of the informal and private, we gain the creative skills to express ourselves in the formal and public. This idea breaks the myth of the successful isolated artist and we hope this is evident in the work of these four graduate students from UBCO learning from each other through collaboration and conversation.
When the word confab is broken down into syllables it hints to the unifying thematic words of construction and fabrication that each artist addresses, from their own perspectives and mediums. The artists in this exhibition are responding to the material culture through material practices, using objects to explain objects, and objects to explain people. With each artist coming to strikingly different conclusions, we hope to present an exhibition that demonstrates the strength in a difference of opinions along with the learning and growth that comes from private and public communication.
- Jorden Doody
- Joe Fowler
- Lindsay Kirker
- Rylan Broadbent
i feel u
Artist Statement
Jorden Doody
As an interdisciplinary artist I wade between image and materiality, the concrete and the mercurial by investigating the tactile qualities of sculpture and three-dimensional space in the virtual light of screen culture. By remixing and re-contextualizing the realms of historical sculpture with the dematerialization and fragmentation of the self in the digital era, my sculptural installations evoke and hold space for new and alternate perspectives of connectivity.
My recent work has focussed on blurring the boundaries between ceremony, the theatrical stage and the gallery. ‘I feel u’ is a site-oriented artwork created as part of the MFA exhibition at the UBC-O FINA Gallery. Here, I am investigating how our contemporary culture responds to notions of presence and absence of the body in the digital age where illusion, escape and distraction are at the forefront of the collective consciousness.
With ‘I feel u’, I am researching the field of contemporary soft sculpture and the ephemeral image using text within a gallery setting as a temporal installation. The scale, texture and material presence of this piece has been created as an offering to be activated by the viewers’ encounter. Please feel free to touch, document and share in this artwork.
Artist Statement – The Killick
Joe Fowler
The Dictionary of Newfoundland English defines a killick as “An anchor made up of an elongated stone encased in pliable sticks bound at the top and fixed in two curved cross-pieces, used in mooring nets and small boats.” This object embodies creativity and resourcefulness but also represent a way of life and a way of making. While still used in Newfoundland today, the killick is more often seen in front of craft stores, people’s lawns, and public spaces, purely for display and operating as a cultural symbol. This object denotes an era, an industry, and a place in a form that changes through time. With theses sculptures I hope to demonstrate the design and creativity of objects made within my home island, and a resourceful way of making that I believe is culturally engrained in the people who live there.
Artist Statement
Lindsay Kirker
Researching the construction site within a landscape has become a meditation, a moment to reflect on the present and collective consciousness. The basis of my research is the ethical and emotional disconnect in living within the Anthropocene. Recognizing this time period encourages a dialogue to better understand the human connection with nature. This relationship has transformed the earth system, and the evidence of this is species extinction and ocean acidification. Understanding the human impact takes time. The Anthropocene becomes a moment to acknowledge a period of transition. Where previous philosophy contributed to a better understanding of the present, we now enter a new period of observation. For the first time, our own extinction is something that can be imagined. This calls for a further investigation of how we might comprehend this time period. The built environment will stand as a visual timeline beyond human understanding. The representation of urban development explores our values and contemplates the history we leave behind.
Artist Statement
Rylan Broadbent is a multi-disciplinary artist that is currently exploring how the notion of power can be investigated, harnessed, and ultimately transmitted through visual art. This current exhibition examines the perceptual shift when a decorative object is seen for its individual parts rather than its whole, the role of weaponized language in the online gaming space, and how art is approached by the viewer in regards to the artist’s intent.
Follow