Re-ify

Words have long been a feature of modern and contemporary art practice. Not only are they used to explain the artistic process, they also inform it. No matter what form they take (poetry, text, word play), words have served as powerful initiators of visual expression. But it’s in the re-imagining of what words express that our relationship with them changes, and other, often unforeseen, connections are made.

In this exhibition, the seven artists of co-LAB-orate explore the nature of a single word reify. Reify is the act of thinking about an abstract concept or idea as a real or material thing. Each artist has chosen a word that engages with the root meaning of reify and reflects a personal interpretation of it.

My word is re-modify: to change again or anew; to re-interpret, re-shape or re-structure

My paintings in this exhibition are in response to time spent in Venice during 2013. They are part of a series exploring the re-modification of structures and environments over time, particularly by water and human activity. The intent of this work is a re-shaping of that information through process (allowing things to happen) and intervention (restraining how they do).

Artists' video from July 2014. The Re-ify exhibition was at the Massey Gallery, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria,
January 30 - March 1, 2015.