Sentimental Journey: Revising a Rambling Romance
Mike McLean and Laura Trunkey Moraine Lake, Lake Louise (twenty dollar diptych) 2008
The romance of retreating to the great outdoors has not diminished in the information age—nor has the desire for awe-inspiring experiences, however technologically mediated. Offering representations of the natural world with sanguine contemporary circumspection, each of the seven local artists in “Sentimental Journey”—including Gareth Moore and Kevin Schmidt—take the human sojourn as a point of departure. As curator Jenifer Papararo explains in the exhibition text, “The work tends to be about their experiences and how those are exhibited, raising questions about the way the artist’s experience translates materially to the viewer through the objects or information presented.” Invariably, sentimentality, the promise of self-discovery and all the other romantic associations tied to the concept of journey are self-reflexively interrogated. “Sentimental Journey” brings these aspects to the fore through creative documentation, showing us that the trek or a landscape traversed is as much a physical experience as it is a product of human storytelling and representation. (555 Nelson St, Vancouver, BC)
| |
|
Michael Drebert River Ganges Crash Crawly's 2009 Installation view Courtesy of the Contemporary Art Gallery Vancouver / photo Scott Massey |
Subscribe to Canadian Art today and save 30% off the newstand price.
