MAIN SPACE EXHIBITION
OCTOBER 8 – OCTOBER 29, 1988
RECEPTION: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1988 AT 8PM

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

ARTIST BIO

ARLENE STAMP trained initially in mathematics, teaching high school math in London, Ontario for four years. She pursued art studies at the Alberta College of Art and Design from 1974-76, later receiving her BFA in painting from the University of Calgary in 1979. She pursued post-graduate studies in painting at the University of Calgary between 1979-80. Stamp works in a variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, photography, installation and computer technology. Interested in systems, media, and order, her work is often based on complex mathematical formulas and recursive pattern theories.

EXHIBITION TEXT

The red work of the past two years continues to expand and deepen. I have found that by continuing to think about the nearly 200 red paintings which I made in 1987, some interesting insights are developing about the nature of this work.

For one thing there is a distinct shift away from the importance of these paintings at the level of surface. I think of them more and more as sculptural planes to be handled in space. Considerations of balance, weight and position within the specific architectural context are becoming important to their presentaion.

Another interesting development is the growing link brtween the verbal and visual aspects of this work – the link between “red” and “read”. The word “read” has come to seem like the acive form of the work “red” and there are etymological evidence to back this up. This expansion of reference in the red work has repercussions not only for the installation of these paintings but also for the role of the viewer.

Because I am only the first read/viewer of these paintings, it has become increasingly important to make the process of “forming” as fransparent and open-ended as possible. To this end, the same paintings are used and re-used in different installations, building up a history/memory of possibilities. I am hoping also to be involved with other artists of curators in collaborative situations making use of this work in entirely different ways.

The red paintings, which use only the ready-made colours from Lafranc and Bourgeois artist’s paint chart, are a physical couther-part to a computer memory of red-set choices. Rather than making a specific, personalized choice to represent red, this work accommodates a full range of possibility for red. Each presentation of the red work is “programmed” differently, leading to different readings each time.

The most recent contribution to the red work are in black and white; two bookworks (“How Red Works” and “Re Red”) and a 16-panel painting (which makes use of a black and white computer printer translation for the colour red). By moving into black and white paint in the “red” work, the integration of text and image (“read” and “red”) becomes more complete.