Architypes

Charles H. Scott Gallery presents Architypes, an exhibition exploring architecture and interior design in the work of six artists; two Canadian, two Japanese and two Australian. Each of the artists in the exhibition produce work that makes reference to architecture and interior design. The exhibition looks at how these artists from different areas and cultural histories of the Pacific Rim reflect on, and question architecture and interior design and its influence on our domestic and social spaces. This project is a collaboration between three curators, Greg Bellerby from the Charles H. Scott Gallery, Felicity Fenner, Curator at the Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and Makiko Hara, and independent curator working in Japan and Canada.

Renée Van Halm uses two and three-dimensional works to critique modernist design and architecture. Her most recent work examines how houses have undergone modification by renovations conducted by various owners. Elspeth Pratt has created two new works that reference the sociological spaces of airports and pedestrian overpasses. These works examine the way these types architecture influence our fantasies of escape and fear. Yuichi Higashionna uses domestic interior decoration materials including printed fabrics and florescent lights, as motifs for his site-specific installations. Kyoco Taniyama makes sculpture and installations using the shapes of architectural elements, including furniture, windows shades and staircases. Each element comes from her memories of everyday life, however the artist tries to erase and reduce the familiarity of these objects. Callum Morton’s sculptural and photographic works refer to the banal public spaces of everyday life, such as retail architecture and domestic vernacular. Sally Smart uses architecture and domestic interiors as a source for her large-scale collage wall installations.

After the presentation at Charles H. Scott Gallery, the exhibition will be presented at the Ivan Dougherty Gallery in Sydney, Australia opening April 15, 2004.

This exhibition was made possible by the generous support of the Audain Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Japan/Canada Fund, a gift to the Canada Council for the Arts from the Government of Japan.

Catalogue with contributions by Greg Bellerby, Felicity Fenner, and Makiko Hara.