Author: admin

Back in 1998 I was flipping through a pile of magazines in search of material for collages. It struck me that the layout of a lot of the magazine articles – even the ads – were quite beautiful. I had objections to the subjects and messages a lot of them conveyed, but otherwise I found them really compelling.

In a moment of inspiration, I took a black magic marker to them to remove all the parts I found objectionable or simply didn’t like. I found the process really empowering and also very playful. Who but a child would have the temerity to just take apart these professional pieces of style, design – propaganda – and make them their own.

At the same time, our cultural understanding of redaction in public documents – a form of censorship – plays against this naive, childlike, interaction and creates a wonderful tension I still love to this day.

See more “Redactions” here…

My first experience with silkscreen printing was in high school, printing rude shirts off for my friends to wear on civvies day.  They were a hit in the Catholic high school I attended.

In my twenties, and working on my degree at York University, I discovered that what I really love about serigraphy is the ability to lay down broad areas of flat colour.  Introduced to the notion of monoprinting, (using printmaking techniques to produce unique pictures, but you can read more about that here.) I took to using silkscreens to making pictures through repeated prints – and partial prints – layering them in different colours.  Those early experiments resulted in pictures like the Sputnik series, which I just picked up recently to complete.  Later, I also tried using silk screens as a paint brush, layering thin cats of translucent black paint.

While I was working on the Autumn Matrix pictures, I became frustrated by my inability to scale them up and it occurred to me that perhaps monoprinting with a silkscreen might hold the solution.  So I got to work, and the Occlusion pictures are the result.

Six of my pictures from various grid series are currently on display at GVPL Bruce Hutchison Branch (at Commonwealth Place). Drop by and have a browse!

I’m grateful to Victoria Arts Council, CRD, and British Columbia Arts Council for their commitment to the arts in BC, and for providing such awesome opportunities for us to show people what we do.