EXHIBITION: Pineapple Crush | Work by Amery Sandford
DATES: Friday, May 13 - Sunday, June 12, 2016
OPENING NIGHT: Friday, May 13, 7-10 PM, artist in attendance
WEBSITE: possibleworldsshop.com | amerysandford.com
INSTAGRAM: @possworldsshop | @chubbycowboy

All prints and artbooks are available for purchase.

Possible Worlds presents the work of Newfoundland & Labrador-based emerging print artist Amery Sandford. 

In Pineapple Crush, Sandford explores sense of place and non-place through the creation of printed matter in lithography, silkscreening and woodcuts, focusing on Canadian and American regional identity, tourism and celebration. From island culture to southern culture, she juxtaposes the deep connection to land and nature associated with Newfoundland and Labrador, an eastern province to which she recently relocated, with ephemeral notions of entertainment and everyday life associated with Nashville, Tennessee, where she has spent the last two months completing a print residency. 

*Curatorial text by Possible Worlds Co-Director, Melanie Yugo

BIOGRAPHY
After receiving her BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCADU) in 2014, Amery relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland to fulfill the Don Wright Scholarship at St. Michael's Printshop. Working in printmaking and performance, her work draws on cultural construction, tourism, youth culture, and public understanding of Canadian history. Besides maintaining a strong practice in print media, her work has expanded into collaboration with other artists and writers, such as publications or curatorial projects. She will be starting her MFA at Concordia University in Montreal in September 2016.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Through a combination of lithography, screen print, and relief, I explore cultural construction and identity through researching tourism, and large group events. I am interested in ideas of construction in both Canadian history and contemporary society; using attitudes I found in youth culture and celebration as a microcosm for Canada's own ideas of self-definition. I am drawn to instances that appear at events (such as the Calgary Stampede) that are amplified versions of cultural symbols that might be trying too hard to convey authenticity or tradition – potentially rendering themselves underwhelming or pretentious.

From these experiences of being immersed in cultural celebration, I have felt juxtaposed feelings of allure and repulse around Canadian representation in the way that almost every culture has certain stereotypes that pertain to a specific people, but at times it is difficult to pinpoint the real thing.

Printmaking contextualizes the themes I am working with because of its historical roots in tourist paraphernalia from the early 20th century such as post cards, and also in the use of colonial propaganda posters that encouraged settlement in North America. Romanticism plays a key role in many large scale lithographs of dewy Canadian landscapes and promise of opportunity.

The artist would like to thank the Newfoundland & Labrador Arts Council for its support.

** Entry is free and is open to all.