The Robert McLaughlin Gallery

Reception: July 7, 7-10pm
Artist Talks: August 13, 1-3pm

This summer, as artists in residence, Art Police will be focusing on the themes of play and silliness, transforming the Art Lab into a playground with the use of sculpture, video, and drawing. Our goal is to make work that engages all visitors and de-sanitizes, or challenges the seriousness of institutional art practices.

One of the ways that we plan to embraces the idea of ‘playing around’ is by creating small, affordable art pieces such as zines, buttons, and artist multiples, while inviting visitors to create their own zines.

We want to take this opportunity to engage with young artists, in particular. Our hope is that this will facilitate new artistic collaborations and encourage other artist collectives in the community. Collaboration is integral to our practice and we hope to encourage emerging artists in Oshawa to make art for themselves and with others.

In the end, our aim is to encourage members of the Oshawa community to visit the gallery and reimagine this space, while continuing to grow as an art collective.

Biography: The Art Police was founded in 2014 and consists of four members Andrea Aleman-Pastor, Claudia Rick and founding members Rebecca Casalino and Caroline Popiel. Based out of Guelph, Ontario the Art Police is multidisciplinary mainly working with video, sculpture and drawing to make humorous and engaging works of art. “I DUNNO” was a zine published by the collective which covered topics such as; the Guelph art community and the trope of the ‘starving artist’. All the members of Art Police have individual practices that bring different and exciting ideas to the collective’s art work. Andrea Aleman-Pastor’s practice primarily includes drawing, video, and audio installation. Claudia Rick is a Toronto based artist who uses a variety of media to explore the uncanny and document the mundane in unconventional ways. Rebecca Casalino works in sculpture, video, and printmaking to create artworks surrounding topics of her body, and mundane or bizarre single actions. Caroline Popiel works with painting and sculpture, and is currently working with furniture and painting on canvas, to create ‘paintings-in-the-round’. Together these artists share a desire to create works that embrace a sense of humor, fun and ‘playing around’.

Caroline Popiel is a multi-media artist who works with painting and sculpture. Her practice is focused on the subject of furniture, which she fuses with painting to create ‘paintings-in-the-round’. These pieces address some philosophical concepts such as neo-materialism or object-orientated ontology.

Originally from Toronto, Rebecca Casalino grew up in the suburbs of Oshawa, and recently graduated from the University of Guelph with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art with a minor in English. She works in sculpture, video, and printmaking to create artworks surrounding topics of her body, and mundane or bizarre single actions. She has shown her work in Oshawa, Guelph, and Toronto. As well as an international show in Bremen, Germany.

Andrea Aleman-Pastor is a Milton artist working out of Guelph. She uses drawing, video, and audio installation to make autobiographical art. She uses personal experience, memories, and confessions to propagate work that covers themes of communication and site-specificity. With a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art, Andrea Aleman-Pastor graduated from the University of Guelph.

Claudia Rick is an interdisciplinary artist from Toronto. Rick uses video, sculpture, installation, drawing, photography and other media to explore topics such as body politics. Rick works within the feminist discourse to express her distress with her body. Rick is deeply involved in the Guelph art community participating in numerous shows and has received awards in recognition including an honourable mention in the University of Guelph Juried Art Show 2016. Claudia Rick graduated from the University of Guelph in 2017.