Vancouver-based duo and recent Sobey Art Award nominees Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky attempt to create a sculptural installation in reverse for their new work Sun in an Empty Room. Constructed mostly with papier-mâché, their sprawling sculptural intervention into Montreal’s Darling Foundry, created over the course of an artist residency, has been continuously transformed and deformed throughout the exhibition. Amorphous newsprint boulders rise out of the floor and become covered with incongruously shiny scraps of wrapping paper. A haphazard picnic appears in forms of pitchers, a picnic basket, beer bottles (painted to resemble those made by local brewery St. Ambroise), mason jars and an electric kettle. Figures rarely settle; a fallen artificial tree continues to bloom and grow, with lurid leaves and fruit accruing on its branches. This messy, labour-intensive artmaking marathon looks nothing like the spare Edward Hopper painting that inspired its title. Yet its playful investigation into the malleability of space and light could be the product of a similar engagement with everyday life. (745 rue Ottawa, Montreal QC)

Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky Sun in an Empty Room 2009 Installation view

Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky Sun in an Empty Room 2009 Installation view