Friday, March 4, 2016 to Saturday, April 9, 2016
Forest City Gallery is pleased to present That’s all Folks!, an exhibition by Christine Negus (London, ON).
Duration: Friday, March 4 – Saturday, April 9 2016
Opening Reception: Friday, March 4th from 7 - 10 PM
Adults Read Their Childhood Writing/ Facilitated by Christine Negus: Friday, April 8th from 7 - 9 PM (Licensed Event)
About the exhibition:
That’s all Folks! pisses on history’s heroes while chipping away at the foundation that holds them up. With referents ranging from the legacy of the Roman Empire to the malleable places of childhood memory, time is nihilistically obliterated and the spaces between Stonehenge, Pompeii and the Wild West are brought onto equal, but unsteady, ground. The playful humour and incendiary tones that permeate Negus’ work continue to taunt as objects are reconstructed and laughably re-imagined, transforming the gallery with absurdist props. Through the emptying of totems, historical revisionism takes a decidedly aggressive feminist turn as boundaries are broken and the linearity and definiteness of structures begin to crumble. Self-solace, resting in peace, the hope that “it all gets better” and “the past is behind us” come under siege in Negus’ practice that happily breaks down futile comforts. The fallacy of resilience, and the redemptive potential of violence and humor culminate in an exhibition filled with works that reflect on memory, alienation, loneliness and death.
This publication features the essay "The Carnage is Implied," written by Daniella Sanader, in relation to Christine Negus' exhibition, That's all Folks! at Forest City Gallery.
About the artist:
Christine Negus (London, Canada) is a multidisciplinary artist and writer whose works range from ephemeral objects (including glittery party banners, neon signs and artificially-flowered memorial wreaths) to animations and videos that are steeped in an amusingly sweet sadness. She received the National Film Board of Canada’s Best Emerging Canadian Video/Filmmaker award through Images Festival in 2008. Negus received her MFA in 2010 from Northwestern University in Chicago IL and her BFA in 2008 from Western University in London ON. Some of her notable exhibitions and screenings include: CROSSROADS, Queer City Cinema, Artists’ Television Access, Galleri CC, Dunlop Gallery, AKA artist-run, Milwaukee Underground Film Festival, Winnipeg Underground Film Festival, Media City Film Festival, Art Gallery of York University, Xpace Cultural Centre, Montreal Underground Film Festival, Microscope Gallery, MIX NYC, Dalhousie Art Gallery and Kasseler Dokfest. She has had solo exhibitions at Gallery TPW, gallerywest and Julius Caesar. Her work has been reviewed in numerous publications, including Broken Pencil, The Globe and Mail and Modern Painters.
About the writer:
Daniella Sanader is a writer and researcher currently working as the Acting Assistant Curator at Oakville Galleries. She received an MA in Art History from McGill University, and previously worked at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery/University of Toronto Art Centre. She has written essays and reviews for numerous local and national arts publications and galleries. Her exhibition The Green of Her, which explores Oakville Galleries' permanent collection via the myth of the Loch Ness Monster, runs from January 18th to March 6th, 2016.