Ebb and Flow brings together a group of artists whose work draws upon ideas of fluidity and dynamism. Each work weaves around, and through a number of themes, absorbing and adapting them as it goes. The notion of fluidity is used as an aide within this exhibition to provide a clearer understanding of how each artist is able to work on multiple ideas simultaneously.

Ebb and Flow brings together a diverse selection of work, ranging from painting to sculpture to installation. The key element focuses on how each artist can begin working within one context, but can then shift into another, to produce work that is constantly evolving. Some of these artists achieve this by incorporating a layering system onto their work, encouraging fresh ideas to evolve with each added layer. Others change the work's medium from one piece to the next, in direct response to how an idea progresses. Like a body of water that branches inland to form rivers, which in turn form streams, the continuous bifurcation of ideas that travel through this show bisect and move forward, to produce a multitude of possibilities. It is this force that the show aims to capture. Through a shared wilfulness, the artists in this exhibition refuse to restrict their practice, in order to remain persistently inquisitive, and to question the boundaries of achievabiity.

     Cold Comfort is a collaborative installation by Canadian artists Michael Caines and Leah Decter. It draws on Caines’ continuing examinations of vulnerability as a human condition; coping with, disguising, exposing and avoiding it; and Decter’s explorations that are rooted in intersections of memory, history and social/political issues both local and global.
      Cold Comfort consists of sculptural components comprised of cast lead objects and over 2000 pieces of felted wool. The labor inherent in Cold Comfort’s construction is manifested in its structure; the layering of felt alludes to the passage of time, accumulation and a deliberate process. The sense of dominance and authority implied by the towering vertical components is in constant dialogue with the intimacy of their human scale and the soft, tactile nature of the felt from which they are constructed.

Click here to view Michael Caines and Leah Decters AIR page

Opening Exhibition: Ebb & Flow
Artists In Residence Michael Caines and Leah Decter (Canada), Cold Comfort
Opening: Saturday, December 2, 7- 10
Exhibition Runs: December 2 - 30, 2006