Rewind: Alison Rossiter
Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto
Art history is awash in images of horses; they've stood proudly as embodiments of imperialism, science, nostalgia and beauty. Alison Rossiter, as artist and rider, is clearly familiar with them all. In this exhibition, Rossiter showcases images that convey the essence of the horse in art, as a sturdy, noble, violent, complex, threatening animal.
The works are given context and character through Rossiter's technique. Neither drawing nor strictly photography (though certainly borrowing principles from both), the photogram-like approach Rossiter utilizes was first developed by Fox Talbot, then later by Muybridge, Man Ray, Hajek-Halke and Moholy-Nagy. Rossiter contours the horses with a penlight in the darkroom, leaving patterns of exposed light on the silver photographic paper. Free of negative, camera or optical apparatus, the image is solely dependent on exposure time to light. For a wider, less focused line, she uses a small flashlight. At first glance they look like X-rays: ethereal, ghostlike studies of form and movement. The works on white backgrounds are the result of exposure solely from a flashlight. Those that experiment with quick, all-over light exposure—solarization—have dark backgrounds that lend a haunting, ominous feel.
The images are odes to the painterly styles of artists such as Degas and Géricault and their obsessive analysis of animal energy. Rossiter cites without parody. The titles put each work into context: Edgar Degas, Rearing Horse; San Marco Horse, Venice; Marcus Aurelius Horse, Rome. The pieces create unavoidable recollections of historical artworks amid the dreamlike aura of their silhouettes. Camera-less images often result in more abstract shapes, but Rossiter exercises a control that opens the gates of drawing and art history.
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