When the paths of Eryn Foster, Janine Hopkinson, Gwenal Rattke and Stefan St-Laurent converged, these artists all realized that they “didn’t want to be here.” Their happen-chance meeting revealed common experiences and anxieties felt from transient and migratory lifestyles. In I don’t want to be here, mixed media and time-based works by these four artists document human nature as it evolves, becomes magnified, and is scrutinized. These artists search for their place in the “bigger scheme of things,” that is, the ideal “here” – resting among notions of coincidence, existentialism, and somewhere, anywhere but here.
Foster’s Study in Humanology is an investigative overview of human idiosyncrasies conceived in three-dimensional miniature dioramas and captured in pin-hole photographs. Hopkinson asserts photography as a means of fabricating desire and supporting fiction in Sodade. Portuguese for “longing” or “to miss,” Sodade creates want without repressing the wanted. Rattke’s documentary colour photography describes and prescribes personal realities and dilemmas as encountered in one person’s journey – the coup de grace in plausible self-reinvention. And St-Laurent reflects on the role of public funding agencies using photographs and a single-channel video that function as advertisements for the Canada Council for the Arts Quest Program.
Also as part of this exhibition, St-Laurent has curated a video program, co-sponsored buy the Images Festival of Independent Film and Video, featuring Anna Adahl, Sadie Benning, Sonia Cabrera, Line Goguen, Pascal Grandmaison and Sari Tervaniemi. This program provides a further dialogue to I don’t want to be here and will be launched at YYZ on Wednesday 12 April 2000, 8:00pm – 10:00pm.
Artist Bios
Eryn Foster
Eryn Foster is a photographer, diorama maker, installation artist and Super-8 film-maker. She received a BFA degree in Photography and Women in the Fine Arts from Concordia University, and is presently living in Halifax.
Janine Hopkinson
Janine Hopkinson was born in Guelph, Ontario in 1971 and graduated from Concordia University in 1997 with a BFA in Studio Arts. She lives and works in Montreal.
Gwenal Rattke
Gwenal Rattke was born in Mainz, Germany in 1972. He graduated from the University of Minnesota and Concordia University in 1997 with a degree in Film and Photography. He now lives in Montreal; this is his first show in Toronto.
Stefan St-Laurent
Stefan St-Laurent was born in Moncton, New Brunswick in 1974 and completed his degree in Media Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University in 1996. He is currently Director of Galerie Les Modernes, Montreal. He lives and works in Moncton and Montreal.