Space Invaders
Amanda Wood, Dean Povinksy
November 10 - 30, 2004

Space Invaders questions ownership of space and how it is compromised both socially through media infiltration, and personally in the form of physical intrusion.  Povinsky's paintings, drawings and prints use images and ideas from contemporary pop culture to portray notions of "coolness" and the inherent humour involved in such concepts. Povinsky enjoys the quirkiness and simplicity of creating and assigning one's own visual iconography to expose public notions toward art, daily life and the absurdity that is mass mind and culture.  Wood's installations and paintings create situations for the viewer that simultaneously characterize them as victim, witness, and intruder.  These encounters are meant to elevate the sacredness of privacy and personal space while at the same time mourn the vulnerability when these privileges are violated.

Amanda Wood, Mirror, 2004

Amanda Wood

As individuals within society we demand a certain amount of personal space and privacy.  Within this space we conceal our most personal thoughts, behaviours and memories.  When the boundaries of this space are threatened or breached, the victim becomes powerless and exposed.

My work draws on a personal experience of finding an intruder in my home.  While the physical damage of an invasion is repairable and the stolen items replaceable, it is the emotional experience which leaves the greatest impact.  The work places the audience in the position of intruder, witness and victim simultaneously while still maintaining an element of anonymity.  Those involved are nameless but are present in the memory or the ugly aftermath of the act.  The works attempt to evoke the sensation of discomfort and guilt similar to that felt when one stumbles upon a diary or steals a glance in their neighbour’s window, perhaps.  Whether intentional or not, the remnants of the unwelcome visitor taint this space, uncovering the vulnerability of the victim.

Dean Povinsky, Ghetto Blasters, 2004

Dean Povinsky

The canon of visual art is one that is bursting at the seams, overloaded not only in material volume, but in conceptual mass as well. My work encompasses painting, drawing and printmaking, as well as aspects of installation. I use these different media to convey different ideas of contemporary popular culture, notions of "coolness" and the inherent humour involved in many such cultural concepts. I believe one of the most important things an artist can do is remain vague. This applies to many other types of artistic endeavours, such as writing or music. To have too much of a clear idea leads to transparency, and despite what many believe, this is not honesty. No one wants to be abbreviated, summed up.  As well, there is nothing more exhausting than a half-informed, construed or arbitrarily placed political agenda or concept tacked on to a seemingly indifferent piece of art. Simple ideas can be just as entertaining as heady, philosophically charged concepts that can breed heavy-handed symbolical debate, contradictions or, worst of all, sentences that go on for far too long. I enjoy the quirkiness and simplicity of creating and assigning one's own visual iconography to expose or reduce public notions toward art, daily life and the absurdity / accomplishment / grand experiment that is mass mind and culture.