Subject(ive) Aesthetics

Friday, January 14th | 7:00 - 9:00 pm | A Space Gallery (401 Richmond St. W.)

Curated by: Milena Placentile
Featuring: Miriam Bohemia, Farheen HaQ, Elly Lee, Jennifer Linton, and Fariba Samsami

Subject(ive) Aesthetics explores the work of five artists whose practices are marked by a desire to communicate social concerns through the incorporation of influences derived from their individual life experiences. These artists recognize that they are the products of their own histories and have harnessed this fact through the development of unique aesthetic vocabularies that offer multiple points of entry to prospective audiences. Through their personalized adaptation of ethnographic styles and imagery, and their infusion of autobiographical narrative, these artists create works that present them as individuals seeking to share personal concerns, provoke critical thinking, and encourage discussion.

Based in Vancouver, Miriam Bohemia is a half-Czech, half-Slovak-Canadian artist concerned with the theme of women's sexuality and desires, particularly in relation to women of post-communist Eastern/Central Europe. A graduate of the University of Ottawa's Visual Arts Program, Bohemia's painting positions her awareness of traditional issues and aesthetics through a lens of postmodern art theory. Farheen HaQ is currently living in Toronto while pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at York University. Through photography, video and more recently sculpture, her body is often the site of her artistic explorations pertaining to religion and femininity within the context of her South-Asian heritage. Elly Lee divides her time between Korea and North York. Since her graduation from the Master of Fine Arts Program at the Graduate School of Ewha Women's University, Seoul, Lee's installations have focused on the literal and metaphorical states of the female body. Jennifer Linton, who has recently added printmaking to her list of preferred media, is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Sheridan College's joint art and art history program. Linton is deeply interested in the political nature of personal experience and, through her work, explores issues such as sexuality, child abuse, and, most recently, pregnancy and motherhood. Fariba Samsami's installations are distinguished by a provocative darkness that reflects her disapproving view of the restrictions experienced by women in Iran. A graduate of the fine arts program at Concordia University and the College of Decorative arts in Tehran, Iran, Samsami is amply aware of the extraordinary power materials from every day life can have when transferred to alternate contexts.

Milena Placentile is an independent curator currently pursuing a one-year residency at The Ottawa Art Gallery through funding made possible by the Canada Council's Culturally Diverse Curators for Residencies in Visual Arts Program.

Subject(ive) Aesthetics runs until February 19, 2005.