Thursday, May 24, 2007

From Russia With Love


















From
Russia with Love

Drawing/Installation

By Tara Bursey

June 1-30, 2007.
She Said Boom! Window Space
372 College Street
Toronto

Bookwork multiples are available exclusively through the mail for $5 each for the length of the exhibition only. Address orders to From Russia with Love: 301-110 Tyndall Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M6K 2E2.

From Russia with Love is an installation featuring 54 portraits of Russian “mail order brides” drawn from photographs on internet sites. The installation is an extension of the artist’s previous work exploring serial portraiture- yearbook photos, WWII military portraits- and the idea of portraits of this nature serving as “human catalogues.” Using the laborious act of drawing each woman’s likeness by hand, the piece attempts to subvert the idea of these women being catalogued, while alluding to their commodification through their presentation within a storefront installation and bookwork “catalogue” multiple.

Tara Bursey is a recent graduate of the Toronto School of Art’s diploma program, and a former student at Ontario College of Art and Design. An artist whose practice encompasses sculpture and installation as well as drawing, printmaking and craft, Tara’s work is characterized by its ethereal quality, and an often obsessive use of repetition, pattern and delicate sculptural materials such as eggshells, garlic skin, found garments and paper. During her studies at the Toronto School of Art, Tara was the recipient of TSA’s Barbara Barrett Scholarship (2004) and Matthew David Stein Scholarship (2005). In the past two years, she has exhibited extensively throughout the city in such diverse venues as Open Studio, MOCCA, Eastern Front Gallery, Fly Gallery, and Propeller Centre for the Arts. In addition to her work as a fine artist, Tara also operates actively within Toronto’s independent music and small-press communities as a DJ, illustrator, designer, writer, and is currently a core member of the Toronto Zine Library collective. She was born and raised in Toronto, Canada.

For more information, contact:
Tara Bursey
She Said Boom! Window Space
ssbwindowspace@hotmail.com


2 comments:

drew said...

tara,

i stumbled across your installation at she said boom this morning and was quite impressed. in the window like that, the portraits reminded me of walker evans "penny picture display, savannah, georgia, 1936," as well as of his later subway portraits.

anyway, i snapped a photo of the display, which i just posted on my photoblog. i hope you don't mind ... for the five or six people who tend to stop by the site, i was sure to explain a little bit about your project.

all the best ... and thanks for sharing.

drew

drew said...

i forgot the link:

http://pause.my-expressions.com/archives/7812_1574963751/235325