September 2 – November 8, 2014
relay
Works by Lois AndisonCurated by Ann MacDonald
relay surveys fifteen years of Lois Andison’s artistic production. The exhibition is comprised of three distinct exhibitions undertaken by curators at the Doris McCarthy Gallery, Rodman Hall Art Centre/Brock University, and the University of Waterloo Art Gallery. Each exhibition focuses on a particular aspect of Andison’s oeuvre and taken together, they reveal the depth of her practice.
The presentation at the DMG oscillates between playfulness and moments of quiet contemplation of the ways we live out our temporal co-existence. Most noteworthy is reference to the role of orbiting, and the changes that motion can cause, be they minute or grand, archetypal or intensely personal. We are bound to the forward movement of time—in time and again, one can gaze through a residential window and peacefully consider the accelerated effects of the earth’s orbit around the sun, whereas in 1,000 catastrophes, a quiet storm of conceivably paralyzing anxieties is set swirling in a bell jar as the viewer approaches.
It is through wordplay that the artist provides a sense of freedom and a myriad of alternatives, creating complexly layered, imaginative spaces. In what’s in a name, the self-possessed protagonist cycles through a Toronto neighbourhood and responds to uninvited comments from onlookers. Her motion and wit buffer the cyclist from the innuendos that are lobbed in her direction, and demobilize the sources. candle, lamp, moon employs wordplay to create new spaces for subject and object to engage, and to consider the passage of time as experienced through nature and developing technologies.
Andison’s work considers notions of temporality and the persistence of language; she focuses on mundane moments, refining and adding layers of meaning to the ever-pressing forces of growth and decay.
About the Artist
Lois Andison is a Canadian-born sculpture and installation artist who lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. Her art practice ranges from kinetic sculpture, in which she uses movement to initiate an experience / exchange between the viewer and the work, to video and photography that documents and interprets both motion and time. Andison’s sculptural works address the mediated body and the performative, often involving an element of humour. More recently, her conceptual interests – in language as a medium, and kinetic type as movement – have led to the incorporation of text into her sculptures. Andison has exhibited nationally and internationally, in such cities as Mexico City, Boston, New York, Montréal, Lethbridge and Buffalo. Her work can be found in both private and corporate collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Bank of Montreal and Donovan Collection. Andison is currently an Associate Professor in the Fine Arts Department of the University of Waterloo. She is represented by Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, and Art Mûr, Montréal.
