Art gets industrial at the Mad & Noisy
Industrimental, the August show at the Mad & Noisy Gallery, focuses on the impact industrialization has had on industry and innovation. The six participation artists are painters Mark Hope, Peter Adams and David Scott, photographer MK Lynde and sculptors Kyle Thornley and Al Matchett.
Working with a special camera rig, MK Lynde’s equirectangular panorama photographs capture local industry – including many from the Creemore area. “They reflect our connection to the past, a time when people earned their keep with their hands,” says Lynde. “Yet they are modern representations of scenes that could have been taken years ago.”
After taking multiple shots in a panoramic sweep, Lynde seams together the images on her computer. “Once the images are stitched I must further edit them to remove errors of parallax or misalignment,” she explains. “It’s a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating process, but I do enjoy the satisfaction of completing a difficult stitch.”
Mark Hope describes himself as an oil painter of landscapes of all kinds, from rugged backcountry to junkyards. For Industrimental, his paintings will focus on what we leave behind after we’ve used the environment. One of the paintings is based on a photo he took in his twenties of a hydro pole. “I’ve always loved the photo and now have the skills to paint it. What excites me are the interesting shapes and colours that come from something most people wouldn’t give a second thought to,” explains Hope.
In response to the proposed Melancthon quarry controversy, Peter Adams has created a new series Earth Scars. “Open pit mines and quarries are perhaps the most visibly graphic reference to humankind’s ongoing hunger for resources. I have focused on painting some the largest open-pit mines in the world, including the Eraki and Diavik diamond mines in northern Canada,” says Adams. “There is a strange beauty to these aerial views, and it’s been a great series for me to further experiment with mixed-media techniques.
“I don’t see this series as specifically anti-quarry or anti-mining,” he continues. “We are all responsible for fueling the aggressive extraction of a multitude of resources all over this planet. This series is largely an opportunity to contemplate what our most important “resources” are. What are they used for? Which of them do we really need and at what cost?”
Kyle Thornley is a metal artist who combines ancient forging techniques with modern processes to create distinct works of art.
“The pieces I’ve made for this exhibition show a contrasting relationship between formal materials and the natural curvilinear shapes that can be creatively composed with the metal,” explains Thornley. “Many raw industrial materials are metal as it is the foundation of past and present from the most basic of tools to innovative machinery and everyday necessities. But art allows me to extend the use of metal beyond implements of industry to the celebration of beauty in sculpture and jewellery.”
There will be an opening reception for Industrimental on Saturday, August 4 between 2 and 5 pm. For more information go to www.madandnoisy.com or call 705-466-5555.
