18 Illuminations: Contemporary Artists and Light

Bill Jones: Sign of Angels (diptych), 1989; unique photographs 2 X 48"x76"

18 Illuminations Contemporary Artists and Light

Friday, November 25, 2005 - Sunday, January 22, 2006

Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery 840 First Avenue West, Owen Sound Ontario N4K 4K4

OWEN SOUND, ONTARIO: 18 Illuminations: Contemporary Art and Light opens on Friday November 25 at 8 p.m. at the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery in Owen Sound. Join the curators for a walking tour of the show at 7p.m. The exhibition continues on view through January 22, 2006.

18 Illuminations is an exhibition of eighteen artists conceived around the organizing principle of light. The show has been co-curated by Carla Garnet and Corinna Ghaznavi and will tour to seven other public gallery partners across Canada from Halifax to Winnipeg.

There will be a forthcoming publication to accompany the touring show available in 2006 through ABC Art Books Canada.

18 Illuminations coincides with the annual Festival of Northern Lights display of holiday lights held in Owen Sound each winter. In dialogue with the Festival, a special installation of work by Toronto-based artist Lisa Neighbour will be mounted on the façade of the Gallery for the run of the exhibition.

1 Tom Dean: The Floating Staircase, 1983; still from video, 21:30 min.; Courtesy Edward Day Gallery, Toronto

Artists of all disciplines are able to interpret and re-present our cultural moments in a unique and specific way. They excel in conceiving and executing ideas into tangible objects, projections, images, so that we are able to grasp ideas and see in new ways. Included in this exhibition are some of Canada's most luminary artists - Stephen Andrews, Kenn Bass, Janet Bellotto, Dana Claxton, Tom Dean, Stan Denniston, Sarindar Dhaliwal, Reuel Dechene, Luis Jacob, Bill Jones, Micah Lexier, Bernie Miller, Sheila Moss, Lisa Neighbour, Ed Pien, Chrysanne Stathacos, Sharon Switzer, and Tim Whiten.

Light has many connotations: warding off darkness, embodying wisdom, offering insight, and keeping memory alive. Light is literal and joyful as well as metaphorical and illuminative. The idea of light is counterbalanced by darkness; the complexities of shadows are investigated in relation to light. Light is inherent in the rhythm of our days, and the seasons. Light is associated with clarity, the ability to see, the illumination of dark spaces. Light is connected with the sun, the day, the lamp, and the candle. The concept of light is filled with a multitude of interpretations, ideas, and possibilities. It is a literal source of insight and a metaphorical image of revelation. The poetic, scientific, philosophical and conceptual ideas surrounding light are represented by work that ranges from Tom Dean's single channel video of a burning staircase, to Reuel Dechene's miniature lights decorating hubcaps, to Sheila Moss's suspended lantern, to Chrysanne Stathacos' photographs of auras.

For info, interviews or photographs, please contact: Stuart Reid, Director/Curator Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery 840 First Avenue West, Owen Sound Ontario N4K 4K4 (519) 376-1932