Remainder | Scott Bowering and Deirdre McAdams
Unity Gallery is pleased to present new work by Vancouver artists Scott Bowering and Deirdre McAdams (BFA, 2008).
Scott Bowering is an instructor at Emily Carr University and The School of Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University and has exhibited work in Canada and internationally. His diverse working methods are informed by an interest in the experience and psychology of perception, organization, and disorder, as both subject matter and working process. Recent exhibitions include Holding Environment (Montreal PQ) and The Constant Gallery (Los Angeles CA). In the summer of 2015 he will participate in the main exhibition of ISEA 2015 at the Audain Gallery at Simon Fraser University. He is a two time recipient of Canada Council Research and Production Grants. The work presented in Remainder is part of a body of two dimensional work based on arbitrary and simplistic workflows. Initiated in 2002, the manufacturing processes for these works are more circular than progressive, deliberately having no starting or stopping point. Many works are identical but in varying scales, whereas others are minor corrections or modifications in design or execution made to previous works. Scale, repeated motifs and arrangements, and intentionally duplicating or correcting mistakes are approached as restrictive yet infinitely generative avenues of production. As Bowering explains: “For myself, this random prioritizing of compositional elements parallels the unfixed or flowing nature of sensory experience in relation to external phenomena: at times something appears to be one way, but it’s changing even as you are trying to make sense of it. One experience does not supersede the other, but instead reveals facets of a given set of circumstances. Remainder is the first public exhibition of this work in Vancouver.
Deirdre McAdams is a visual artist living and working in Vancouver, BC. She is a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art and Design (2008), and the Victoria College of Art (2003), where she studied painting. She was awarded an Honourable Mention in the 2011 RBC Painting Competition, as well as a prize in 2010 from Canadian Art Magazine for her writing on contemporary art. Her recent exhibitions include group shows at Unit/Pitt Projects, Field Contemporary, Wil Aballe Art Projects (Vancouver), Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts in Brooklyn NY, and a solo show at CSA Space in Vancouver. Upcoming exhibitions include a solo exhibition at G Gallery in Toronto. McAdams work explores the mutability of geometric abstraction and a systematic approach to minimal painting. She is interested in how a predetermined conceptual framework can support and even foster inventiveness in painting. Much of my recent work is an attempt to reconcile forethought with the incidental. Many of the works are evidence of a series of reactions to an initial decision which provokes associations. This recent body of work looks at the relationship between painting and language, and as such considers the legibility of symbols in painting, the associative possibilities of abstract form, venues for the presentation of symbolic imagery, and the notion of a painterâs vocabulary.
Unity Gallery is an ongoing collaborative project with no fixed location. It seeks to promote vital contemporary work in Vancouver.
Scott Bowering and Deirdre McAdams
Remainder
Unity Gallery
356 Powell St Vancouver
February 27 + 28
Opening Reception: Friday, February 27, 2015 at 7pm
Gallery hours: Friday Feb 27, 2015 from 7 - 11pm + Saturday Feb 28, 2015 (open by appointment)