| Comprised of video, photographic, sculptural and audio elements, each of Calgary artist Robin Arseneault’s projects presents different facets of singular ideas that can best be described as "theatrical" installations, with recurring themes of farce and tragicomedy. In these environments, the viewer is no longer subservient to the object but is granted instead a personal autonomy. Some of these objects stand in for complex systems of rhetoric, others are simply props in a private theatre where stories may or may not be revealed to the viewer.
Predominantly void of colour, her recent projects (Dinnae, Coming Soon, Lunge Forward and Back, Monsterdom and Night Scene), are each imbued with a sense of melancholic foreboding. The recurring theme of mobility, often focused on escape, becomes a cleverly composed satire. Ladders leading to an open window would topple if not for blocks righting the mis-cut stilts, and unicycles sport hexagonal wheels. Windows in the installation are covered, ensuring that escape from this black and white universe is impossible. Despite this sense of dejection, humour predominates. Her props are to be read as metaphors that comically point out life’s absurdities, reminiscent of the comedy of music-hall routines, vaudeville, Laurel and Hardy slapstick and a Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin-type of silent cinema foolery.
Arsenault is one of 25 young artists in the running for the 2007 Sobey Art Award, worth $50,000. The award, presented biennially since 2002 will, as of this November, now be awarded annually to a young Canadian artist. Organizers announced on Tuesday, May 15 the list of young artists hailing from across Canada who will compete for the contemporary art honour. The winner will be chosen in October 2007 at the award ceremony in Halifax.
The Prairies and the North semifinalists are (by region): Robin Arseneault, Daniel Barrow, Sarah Anne Johnson, Rachelle Viader Knowles, Graeme Patterson. Curator: Dan Ring.
Arseneault graduated from the MFA program at the Edinburgh College of Art in 2005, and has a BFA (with distinction) from the Alberta College of Art & Design. She has exhibited in Canada, the United States, Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands. Arseneault is to be represented in the upcoming 2007 Alberta Biennale. |
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