The latest exhibit at Deluge Contemporary Art is a collaborative labour of love.
Artists Alex Tedlie-Stursberg and Callum Monteith approached Andrea Valentine-Lewis to curate the exhibit, UTOPOS, and together they designed a show that feels completely relevant for our times.
Both Tedlie-Stursberg and Monteith “grapple with ecological themes” in their work, says Valentine-Lewis; she says that this fit in well with her own research.
“I think all of my curatorial approaches in general are collaborative but this one particularly, the three of us definitely came together almost in an equal way,” says Valentine-Lewis.
The name of the exhibit is a reference to the Greek word outopos, which simultaneously describes “the good place” and “the place that cannot be.” This impossibility is the central notion of the exhibition.
“When we first approached the notion of utopia, we really had the environmental crises—plural—in our mind,” says Valentine-Lewis. “We were kind of thinking about the version of utopia that contains nature into manicured forms, like lawns and gardens… The unattainability of containing nature in that way.”
In researching her curation of this show, Valentine-Lewis read Thomas More’s political satire Utopia, which was written during the tumultuous reign of Henry VII (Utopia was first published in 1516 and was published in English in 1551).
“This utopia that [More] envisioned in the book was this very radical political system that… Parts of it almost sound appealing today,” she says, “but I think that the whole thing with the concept of utopia is that it’s future-oriented, as in it’s not present.”
Contrast this with the pervasive nostalgia for a past that we collectively imagine, particularly as we are all confined to our homes in order to stay safe, and it’s safe to say that UTOPOS attendees will experience interesting moments of contemplation.
“I think it’s interesting that in this moment we are actually desiring something from the past… We’re desiring a lifestyle that was because the future is completely uncertain, but the funny thing is that the future is always uncertain,” says Valentine-Lewis.
The uncertainty of the future and the desire for anything other than our present creates a perfect background for a show that encourages us to think about our relation to the space we occupy. With the show containing both paintings and sculptures, the attendees are forced to interact with the gallery space. The works featured are varied—Monteith’s paintings use a vibrant and unusual colour palette, surprising the eye, while Tedlie-Stursberg’s sculptures invite spectator involvement.
“One of our sculptures—called ‘Tower,’ by Alex Tedlie-Stursberg—is very much mirroring the human form,” says Valentine-Lewis. “It definitely has this confrontational dynamic, but it’s also playful, [with] this interesting frosted glass panelling around the place where a face would be. You want to look through the glass panels to the other side of the gallery. And that way it encourages this forward-oriented viewpoint looking across the face and around the space.”
Valentine-Lewis arranged the pieces around the gallery in such a way that each piece has what she describes as “breathing room.”
“It’s not a crowded show,” she says. “It gives each work its own moments. But it also sort of ties them together in space because your eye kind of moves across, and it allowed the work to have potency.”
As a complement to the show, Valentine-Lewis wrote an essay on the history and inspiration of the artists, the research that went into the exhibit, and the concept of utopia; the essay is up now on Deluge’s website.
“I really am proud of this show and I think it’s beautiful and thought provoking… I think we’re, all three of us, very proud.”
UTOPOS
Until Saturday, October 10
Deluge Art Gallery
deluge.ca