Response to the festival theme "Must Art be Appealing?”

Spectacle draws attention. It is audacious. In a way, this serves a purpose, but in terms of my work, I am not sure if I can make a ‘spectacular’ piece even though I work large scale. I relish the quiet, thoughtful, and intuitive presence and movement: an art that conceals the art. I am drawn to exhibitions like Art Souterrain precisely because they take place in the realm of the every day—in the places and spaces people use—functioning in the world in a free space—in the space between the institution and the everyday. The every day can disarm or lull. Using this unspectacular and unglamorous point as a launch point, I want to erase the every day to leave an illusion of glamour in an unexpected work that will interrupt viewers' visual routines to notice and reflect on the nooks and crannies of the city and beyond. For me, the glamour is that people are drawn to the work, in “the experience evoked...” or created “...in the context of the work”; all that erases the elements of transformation: the hard work, mistakes, flaws, and expense leaving only the illusion.

Art Souterrain/NuitBlanche, Palais Congrés, Montreal, QC, CA