The works in Making Methods focus on concepts of repetition, detail, and labour as a means of production. They arise in an era when rapid digital and non-physical experiences are commonplace. In this exhibition, art by three emerging Toronto-based artists demonstrate a deliberate engagement with the physical, through material. This modernization of craft-based processes, could indicate an increased focus on hand-rendered art.
Although each of the artist’s work is steeped in process, it is not, however, the process alone that makes their work compelling. Becky Ip’s video To cry (of birds) draws on her family history. The artist’s meticulous research, followed by graphite drawings, which are then translated to paintings on mylar and recorded to experimental film, create a final work that is a dream-like and very personal portrait of the artist’s family history. Accompanying the film is a paper sculpture installation, each piece intuitively cut and folded.
Mark Stebbins’ paintings deal in the art of the error—the glitch—and reference computer games or data. His meticulous process is a manipulation of material, which includes paint and ink, allowing us to draw comparison to textiles
such as knitting and embroidery. The result is works of incredible detail and colourful pattern that celebrate error by purposely producing glitches–something referred to as glitch-alikes.
Sam Mogelonsky’s sculptures are experiments in material and labour, each made with disarmingly excessive method. In one example, the artist works with sequins, sewing pins, and a document tube, creating an object that at first glance is smooth and soothing, but upon closer inspection reveals an interior that is sharp, overlapping, and dangerous. Mogelonsky re-presents the sculptures in a series of photographs of their interiors to hallucinogenic effect.
Though this exhibition reveals the “type” of process by which each artist produces their work, the significance of their practices is revealed through the artists’ individual sensibility and intent.