MAIN SPACE EXHIBITION
MARCH 13 – APRIL 4, 1998
RECEPTION: FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1998 AT 8 PM

LOCATION – STRIDE GALLERY
722, 11 AVE S.W, CALGARY, ALBERTA

EXHIBITION INFORMATION

DRENCHED is an installation by Calgary artist Gordon Ferguson. The installation is about the misuse of the colour orange. Colour makes most sense when it is used in a rational manner, in order with suitable complements. Because orange is usually employed to be distinct – to warn, to be brash, loud and cheap – is seems appropriate to explore the possibilities of this most unsuitable colour. The logic behind Drenched lies in the notion that id one does the wrong thing to a high enough degree, it results in an absurd level of wrong and consequently appears right. However, the degree of comfort here is low. The orange objects in the installation are not allowed to be distinctive as they are simultaneously absorbed by their environment. Shapes are difficult to determine as their edges fuse. The intention here is to bathe in a sea of colour that both projects itself upon the audience and is nullified by its context. Nothing exceeds the excess.

Investigating excess is a cornerstone of Ferguson’s practice. His work often examines how commercial products and historical objects reflect the culture in which they were produced. Common themes found in Ferguson’s work are: stylistic appropriation; retroactive images and styles; the use of facsimiles; and the effect of elapsed time on commercially produced objects/images. Ferguson continues to explore the possibility that production and consumption comprise a meaningful belief system. His installations cleverly combined discarded cultural icons culled from many nearby junk and collectible shops. Obvious references to recycling and reusable culture are evident in his material choices and product recombinations or reinventions.

ARTIST BIO

GORDON FERGUSON lives in Calgary and Teaches sculpture at the Alberta College of Art and Design. Educated at the Alberta College of Art (Calgary) and the University of Montana (Missoula, Montana), Ferguson has exhibited nationally and internationally since 1977. His work belongs to a number of public and corporate collections and he has completed public commissions for Vancouver, British Columbia, and Grande Prairie, Alberta. Ferguson’s practice has been written about extensively, situating him as an important Canadian artist.