MAIN SPACE EXHIBITION
OCTOBER 16 – NOVEMBER 8, 1997
RECEPTION: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1997 AT 8 PM
ARTIST TALK: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1997, AT NOON

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

EXHIBITION INFORMATION

Produced over the past three years, Philippe Raphanel’s most recent body of work evolved from a series of drawings into a series of ten large oil-on-canvas floral panels each of which incorporates a laminated photographic enlargement. In this case the photographic elements represent the human body, while the painting that surrounds them represents the body of nature. Based on nine years of research and documentation, Raphanel’s drawings and paintings of British Columbia’s indigenous flora are botanically accurate and precise. At the same time, they suggest that nature is not inherently benign; with its references to the AIDS pandemic, Poisons/Phobia both celebrates the beauty of the natural world and an expression of hope for a more inclusive human world.

Organized and circulated by the Kamloops Art Gallery with support from the Canada Council.

ARTIST BIO

PHILLIPE RAPHANEL resides in Vancouver where he is an instructor at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, and an art community representative member of the Vancouver Art Gallery Board of Directors. Trained in Paris, Raphanel came to Canada in the mid 1970s, initially making his home on Hornby Island. By the end of that decade he had moved to Vancouver. Since then, he has gained a reputation as a serious artist whose work as developed continuously in terms of both form and content.