MOST LIKELY
11/05/17
Laura Blondeau
Viola Chen
Bee Daniel
Tess Griebel
Marigold Santos
Press Release:
“Most Likely”
“How to Be Shocked and Dismayed but Not Lie Down and Die”
-Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens 1983
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For our November exhibition Most Likely, we wanted to show artists that we have admired from afar and whose work deals with the deconstruction of socially imposed identities through the remaking of personal myths. Using different mediums and approaches, Laura Blondeau, Viola Chen, Bee Daniel, Tess Griebel and Marigold Santos all wrestle with resignation/ apathy versus a prefigurative politic of resistance.
...Futures that are yet to be imagined, let alone formed, cannot be crafted at the expense of the lived present moment and those with whom we share this time. Instead, they call for something new: perhaps a sort of "kind pessimism" where the future is neither desired nor dreaded, but teased out, coaxed, and unfolding before us, no longer wielded as bludgeon to rob us of the present.
-Micki McGeen, Cruel Optimism for the Neurologically Queer 2013
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Most likely to what?
Most likely to succeed?
As curators we would like to ask,
What does it mean to be successful in a fucked up world?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Friends and Neighbours Gallery is an artist-run space Located in the Little Italy neighbourhood of Montreal. We are dedicated to providing an alternative exhibition space for artists who identify as, or ally with, BIPOC, LGBTQ2+, genderqueer, non-binary and/or cis women.
Friends and Neighbours Gallery acknowledges that all of our efforts take place on stolen land; The traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka, the keepers of the Eastern Door of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
Laura Blondeau (born in Saskatchewan) is a multidisciplinary artist presenting work in colour film photography, but works across all film formats. Learning to compose a photograph properly without the need for corrective processing is her primary objective when taking photographs. She practices multiple exposures of many subjects, joining them together through the layering of images in camera: flowers, skylines, sunsets, and street photography shot through kaleidoscopes. Laura enjoys the anticipation and the excitement of waiting to see the results of multiple exposure images. She works with all aspects of the photograph, hand developing black and white work at home here in Montreal.
@ imalaurablondeau
Viola Chen 陈宜晴 is an artist and cultural connector born in 天津, raised in Kwikwetlem, and currently based in Tio'tia:ke (Montréal). Her practice revolves around affective excess, (un)fulfilled desire, and self authorship within frameworks of contemporary queer and racialized subjectivity. She is interested in exploring the tension between lived experiences of trauma and performative identity politics through feminized forms of media.
@ horoscope.hope
Bee Daniel Hello! I'm Bee :^), I am a non binary person and maker of things. The two pieces that I am presenting at Friends and Neighbours Gallery are about self care and the processes behind this goal. The breaking down of internalized expectations of yourself and others all the while going through seemingly endless combinations of obstacles (both physical and mental) to reach an ideal point of comfort and stability. They are about reaching that moment of calm where you are able to give yourself the love and care you need and deserve.
@ lilbeebasedgoth
Tess Griebel Prairie-born and raised, Tess Griebel’s art focuses on sculptures and site-specific installations that are inspired by the ways people relate to nature and food. Her art reflects modern cultures increasing disconnection with the land and food that sustains human existence. By making public site-specific installations, Tess looks to promote dialogue and questioning around this disconnection. She graduated from NSCAD University in 2013 with an Interdisciplinary BFA. Since then, she has cultivated an artisanal cheese making practice, looking for ways to integrate these skills into her visual art work.
@tessgriebel
Marigold Santos was born in Manila, Philippines, in 1981.
She pursues an interdisciplinary art practice involving drawn, painted, printed and sculpted works as well as animation and sound. In her work, Santos explores the ways in which ideas of self-hood and identity can become multiple, fragmented and dislocated, and then re-invented and created through a reflection of what is considered home. The folklore of the Philippines and North America, elements of the supernatural and the occult, and pop culture form the foundations of her visual language. Through her imagery, she seeks to negotiate the narratives of past and present, which, in their re-telling and reconfiguring, are transformed into personal myth whose imagery functions in the fantastical and otherworldly.
Santos holds a BFA in Printmaking from the University of Calgary and an MFA from Concordia University (Montreal). She is one of the 30 artists selected for the Alberta Biennial of 2017, and is currently represented by Galerie D’Este, and Jarvis Hall Gallery. Marigold Santos divides her time between Calgary and Montreal.
www.marigoldsantos.com /// @marigoldasantos