refractions: Gallery Opening Review

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Malka Greene:curator du jour

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uploaded by Jordan Yerman

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  uploaded by Jordan Yerman | add comment

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  uploaded by Jordan Yerman | add comment

Refractions opened last night at the Ryerson Gallery here in Toronto, and I had the opportunity to check it out. The exhibition featured the work of third-year art students and one grad:

Daniel Garcia contributes four architecturally-oriented photographs, arranged into gorgeously challenging panels. (cITY OF iNFORMATION)

Bryan Adare,Nathan Garvie, and Ella Myers create a digital mirror using a projector and mini-DV cam, allowing participants to leave lingering shadows as they approach the wall-sized screen. (Befriend) 

Jeanette Kennedy, James Lee and Priscilla Vogl bring a series of hanging fabrics, driven by reclaimed PC fans, linked to a microphone, whose audio input directs the various fans to activate. (Breathe) 

Says Malka Greene, the intrepid and interview-shy curator, "If you don't know anything about the science of visiion, refraction is almost magical- light enters our bodies and bends, creating an impression of the world that belongs exclusively to the person seeing it. This bending of light is the starting point for the slice of reality that is a person's unique point of view."

The exhibition runs from January ninth through the sixteenth, down at 80 Spadina Ave. 

And, yes, there was free beer (not just little cups-- those huge Grolsch bottles), but that's not why I went: I like art, I like downtown-warehousey stuff, and Malka is my second cousin. Beyond the art itself, I got a kick out of how they did it: the photos were shot on film, and the build-out of the space was done using stuff you find at the local computer-parts shop. I like it when art isn't all precious, and is fun to look at.

Don't take my word for it, though- check it out for yourselves. Here are the details for Ryerson Gallery.