MULTIPLES


Emma Bartley, Lucy Chandler, Carolyn Elia, Flynn Eves-Welch, Yoona Ji, Yijun Liu, Saskia Muchalov, Alison Rose, Grace Swanek, Siqi Wei, Mary Williams

Main Space and Project Room
October 13 – November 13, 2021
Exhibition Coordinator: Kathleen Sellars
Curatorial Assistant: deneige nadeau


Image: Carolyn Elia, Student Meal (detail), 2020, clay, plaster casts, acrylic paint, gold leaf, plastic plates and cutlery, video | Photo: Chris Miner







multiples features a series of sculptures that bring the formal qualities of multiples to bear on issues surrounding commercial giants such as the film, health, beauty and pharmaceutical industries. Each second-year Fine Art (Visual Art) student artist has brought their own observations and habitual rhythms of life into their respective works.

Through their constitution as both reproduced objects and unique artworks, multiples occupy a curious space in the art world. Formally, they ask us to consider the simultaneous democratization and commodification of art objects, prompting questions of authenticity and value. Through their processes of (re)production, multiples also bring our attention to the repetitive modes and patterns that we follow in our daily lives. multiples aims to interrupt the seamless reproduction of that which we take for granted, creating a space to negotiate the endless questions of form, function and aesthetics in the (re)production of meaning.



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Carolyn Elia, Student Meal (detail), 2020, clay, plaster casts, acrylic paint, gold leaf, plastic plates and cutlery, video | Photo: Chris Miner
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Carolyn Elia, Student Meal (detail), 2020, clay, plaster casts, acrylic paint, gold leaf, plastic plates and cutlery, video | Photo: Chris Miner
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Yoona Ji, Gone, But Not Forgotten(detail), 2020, plaster casts, acrylic paint, varnish | Photo: Chris Miner
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Lucy Chandler, Left Behind, 2020, plaster casts, VHS tape, wood, galvanized wire, glue, pvc pipe, staples, black bin bags | Photo: Chris Miner
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Mary Williams, Smile, 2020, plaster casts, found objects, acrylic paint | Photo: Chris Miner
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Exhibition view, multiples, 2020 | Photo: Chris Miner
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Exhibition view, multiples, 2020 | Photo: Chris Miner
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Yijun Liu, Untitled, 2020, plaster casts, found objects, acrylic paint | Photo: Chris Miner
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Exhibition view, multiples, 2020 | Photo: Chris Miner
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Exhibition view, multiples, 2020 | Photo: Chris Miner





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Mary Williams
Smile
2020
Plaster casts, found objects, acrylic paint
Photo: Chris Miner


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Saskia Muchalov
Drained
2020
Plaster casts, found object, gesso, wood plinth
Photo: Chris Miner






Emma Bartley


Overbearing consists of claw machine hands reaching down and grabbing three teddy-sized bears. This work is inspired by the artist’s personal experience as a child winning stuffed animal prizes out of claw machines at bowling alleys. As an adult looking back on childhood experiences, memories often illicit a different understanding or appreciation of those events. Dealing with memories often means refusing to let them override one’s current experiences. Emma Bartley is a third year Bachelor of Fine Art student at Queen’s University. She comes from a small town in Kawartha Lakes and is interested in many areas of art, with a main interest in painting and experience in other forms of artmaking, including sculpture.



Lucy Chandler


Left Behind explores both the weight of the film industry and the evolution of the industrial and technological world. VHS tapes stand in for the pressures presented through the media. Focusing mainly on ageing, the viewer is asked to consider obsolescence. In aging, will we become out of date, unwanted, sold for cheap at second hand stores, and unusable as VHS tapes? Might we adapt and become available to the newer generations? Or will we be left behind and placed on a shelf? Lucy Chandler is a second year Bachelor of Fine Art student at Queen’s University, currently living and working in Kingston, Ontario. She explores different mediums including sculpture, printmaking and painting. Chandler is the Vice President for the Fine Arts program under the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS).



Carolyn Elia


Student Meal explores the drinking culture present within post-secondary institutions. As the artist has observed, students carry heavy financial burdens where they barely have enough money to cover groceries, they still find a way to go for a drink during the week. This is partially fuelled by the drinking culture present in universities. Drinking becomes a means of coping with the stresses and pressures of being a student to the extent that meals are substituted for alcohol, feeding into a complex cycle that reinforces a culture of drinking on campuses. Carolyn Elia is a second year Bachelor Fine Art student at Queen’s University from Toronto, Ontario. Her practice is focused in oil painting but she is currently exploring ceramics. Elia is deeply interested in social issues, history, personal experience and the concept of movement which inspires most of her work.



Flynn Eves-Welch


Take One speaks to the accessibility of medicine across different demographics. Eves-Welch is interested in addressing the misuse of prescription drugs for recreational and performance purposes in a university setting. The misuse of prescription drugs is dangerous and tragic in a world where inaccessibility to medication is often prevalent in developing countries and in places where healthcare is more accessible for those with a higher socioeconomic status. Improving healthcare involves improving accessibility to medications and preventing the dangerous misuse of prescription drugs. Flynn Eves-Welch is a second year Bachelor of Fine Art student from Kingston, Ontario. They work primarily in drawing, painting, sculpture, as well as digital drawing and painting.



Yoona Ji


Gone, But Not Forgotten evokes the fragility of life and the inevitability of death. This work serves as a token of respect and recognition for lives that have been taken from the world, and stands as a way of remembrance and acknowledgement for the lives that have been lost. With the pattern of death, comes new life. This piece reveals the delicate nature of life, the precious value of being alive, the anguish of death and the imminent cycle of life. Yoona Ji is a second year Bachelor of Fine Art student from Thornhill, Ontario. She is also in the Concurrent Education program and is interested in teaching in the Primary/Junior division in the future. Her main fields of interest are painting, drawing and sculpture.



Yijun Liu


Untitled is a response to a news report of a woman injecting juice into her blood because she believed it would provide vitamins more directly into her system. The artist Google searched “curing cancer,” which yielded related searches such as “curing cancer with carrot,” or “...with diet,” or “...with baking soda.” These searches are situated in movements to “cure” diseases by solely eating fruit or having a “healthy” diet. While these can be useful actions to take regardless of whether we are ill or not, they do not replace treatment from professional medical service. Yijun Liu is a second year Bachelor of Fine Art student. She is from Shanghai, China, and arrived in Canada in 2018 to pursue an undergraduate education at Queen’s University.



Saskia Muchalov


Life is often compared to a bowl of lemons because they are simple, bright, and typically associated with untapped opportunity. A bowl of lemons, at its core, is a subtle symbol of life often incorporated into everyday urban homes to suggest warmth and familiarity. Drained draws on this motif by transforming casts of lemons into a visual representation of what living with depression is like and how its grey, goopy sadness has the potential to bleed into every aspect of your life. Through this literal interpretation of these emotions, the work aims to communicate a sense of emptiness and unease. Saskia Muchalov is a second year Bachelor of Fine Art student at Queen’s University, currently working, living, and commuting between Kingston and Toronto. Her practice aims to explore facets of the human brain by altering the everyday perception of the mundane, and challenging viewers to move outside of their comfort zones.



Alison Rose


Got Milk? explores notions and socially constructed understandings around breastfeeding. There are some women in North America who struggle to obtain breast milk to feed their babies, since not all women are able to produce milk. There is very little governmental support for breast milk donation, leaving women to search for other sources, like going online to ask strangers for milk, which poses many risks. This work responds to the desire and feeling of necessity that these women have for safe breast milk and the related challenges of accessibility. Alison Rose is a second year Bachelor student at Queen’s University, born in Ottawa, Ontario. Rose is working towards a Bachelor Degree in Education concurrently with Fine Art. She is hoping to teach visual art and French language studies to secondary students after graduation.



Grace Swanek


Imperfect Beauty explores ideals and standards of female beauty, drawing on a history of women’s torsos in early sculpture. These sculptures do not contain faces, or limbs, promoting the objectification of women, stripping away their identity and leaving a headless body. In society, women must walk a fine line between idealized pureness and being attractive to those of opposing genders. This piece explores the irony of making domestic objects of beauty for women to strive towards, and the slut shaming that follows for inhabiting such positions. Grace Swanek is a second year Bachelor of Fine Arts student from Toronto, Ontario. She is concurrently pursuing a degree in Education. Her main fields of interest are painting, sculpture and drawing. She is interested in history and art history, and often brings themes from both of those subjects into her work.



Siqi Wei


The Red Ink draws on a communist allegory of a man who moves from East Germany to Siberia. He knows his letters will be censored so he establishes a code with his friends; anything written in blue ink is honest and true while anything written in red ink is false. The letters in red ink exist to get the truth past those who would censor his work. This installation asks audiences to consider the production of truth, and the necessity for critical literacy in our media-centered world. Siqi Wei is a second year Bachelor of Fine Art student at Queen’s University. She is from Chongqing, China. Her work explores the boundaries of fictional expression.



Mary Williams


Smile explores the discomfort associated with going to the dentist, commenting on how our dental hygiene is equated with appearance. In this piece, colour and light are used to play with the idea of cleanliness and the pristine expectations set upon our dental hygiene. Advertisements have become increasingly influential when it comes to setting unrealistic standards for something as simple as our teeth. This work conveys a sense of uncomfortable confrontation, asking the audience to take a closer look. Mary Williams is from Bancroft, Ontario, and is a second year Bachelor of Fine Art student at Queen’s University. She works primarily in paint and illustration but enjoys exploring sculpture as a means of expressing ideas.