Graeme Patterson and Karilee Fuglem: The Rest is History
Graeme Patterson Grudge Match 2009 Detail / photo Danny Custodio
This summer, Rodman Hall plays host to two artists who intertwine real and imagined histories and spaces. Saskatchewan-born, Halifax-based artist Graeme Patterson garnered acclaim in recent years with his sculptural construction and stop-motion animation Woodrow, a replica of the eponymous prairie hamlet where the artist once lived with his grandparents. (Extremely detailed, his rendering of the village included a church, a bowling alley and a hockey rink, among other elements.) For his new work on view at Rodman, the video and installation Grudge Match, Patterson once again returns to his youth. The filmic component imagines a wrestling match in a high-school gymnasium between the artist and a long-lost childhood friend, Yuki, who he was separated from at the age of 9. Using stop-motion techniques, Patterson reanimates his friend, filling a gap in the pair’s relationship and dealing with questions of friendship, identity, memory and nostalgia. The installation, riffing on similar themes, offers miniature replicas of a high-school gymnasium and weight room, all housed in a container with a bunk-bed motif. As in his other works, the installation acts in part as a film set, and Patterson’s personal experience finds lurid expression in miniatures writ large.
Graeme Patterson Grudge Match 2009 Installation view / photo Danny Custodio
On view simultaneously is steady streams, living rooms, an installation by Montreal-based artist Karilee Fuglem, who is best known for ethereal, barely visible works constructed from such materials as nylon monofilament and clear plastic. Responding to the architecture of Rodman Hall and the surrounding space, Fuglem’s seemingly weightless weaves and other works allude to the natural world, like the nearby Twelve Mile Creek, as well as to the paths of some of the mansion’s historical visitors, like Laura Secord and Harriet Tubman. In this way, Fuglem gives form to the intangibilities of space and highlights the permeable imaginative boundaries of the gallery. (109 St. Paul Cr, St. Catharines ON)
Karilee Fuglem steady streams, living rooms 2010 Installation view / photo Danny Custodio
Karilee Fuglem steady streams, living rooms 2010 Installation view / photo Danny Custodio
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