An instructor from Camosun’s visual arts program will be opening his latest art installation downtown at Open Space gallery on November 10.
The exhibition, entitled Thirty-Five Thousand Forty,will demonstrate a new way of reading digital photography and exhibit over 35,000 photos displayed on the 14-foot walls of Open Space gallery.
The installation is courtesy of Mike McLean, a new instructor at the Lansdowne campus who plays a big role in helping visual arts students understand the technical aspects of art.
The photographs in McLean’s installation were taken on a daily basis; his goal was to take 100 photos each day for an entire year. This method of digital photography was inspired by the amount of space photographers are now capable of occupying.
“It’s about something that we all do,” says McLean. “It’s about quantity, nowadays. Digital photography, now, for a lot of people, is the computer; it’s your phone. The photos go into a hard drive and, for a lot of them, they never come out. I wanted to bring them all out.”
Traditional wet-print photography and digital photography are both important mediums in McLean’s art practices. He believes Thirty-Five Thousand Forty can bridge the gap between the two mediums and create a relationship between different generations.
“For a lot of us there is a removal that happens when we’re just looking at images on a screen. There’s no tangible component to it,” he says. “I’ve talked to young people who have never made a photographic print before. I think that making prints will help to bridge that gap. When you hold a photograph, even if it’s just for a moment, you kind of have a different relationship with it, and I like that.”
Joseph Hoh, fellow instructor and former chair of the visual arts department, has some advice for students about getting involved with art outside of their current studies.
“In Canada, art changes peoples’ perception,” he says. “Art is all about connecting; maybe taking a break from what you’re doing will bring fresh ideas and fresh connections.”
Thirty-Five Thousand Forty
7pm, November 10 (runs until December 10)
Open Space
mikeandrewmclean.com