Colin Campbell and Gareth Long @ Oakville Galleries

Please join us for our winter exhibition openings on Friday 5 December from 7:30 to 8:30 pm at Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square. A reception will follow from 8:30 to 10 pm at Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens.

A bus to both receptions will depart from The Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West, Toronto) at 6:45 pm, returning downtown at 10 pm. $10 per rider.

People Like Us: The Gossip of Colin Campbell
6 December 2008 - 22 February 2009
at Centennial Square

Colin Campbell, The Woman from Malibu, 1976

Pioneering Canadian artist Colin Campbell used video as a flexible and accessible medium for storytelling; his oeuvre is about characters and their words. Campbell's homespun tapes are a perverse collage of tall tales, rumours, conversations and daydreams gleaned from his everyday life. Ever the great collector, Campbell would borrow a bon mot here, a dirty joke there, a dash of tabloid eccentricity and voilà: an unforgettable story, an unforgettable character. Through videotape, he gossiped with and about his real social circle and created a new one, a group of fictional personas who became tangibly real once their tapes were watched, loved (or hated) and talked about.

People Like Us: The Gossip of Colin Campbell surveys the artist's video career from early tapes like True/False (1972) to his final work, Que Sera Sera (2001). It is the first major exhibition of his work since his death in 2001.

Curated by Jon Davies, this exhibition will tour Canada accompanied by a bilingual catalogue.

This project has been made possible in part through a contribution from the Museums Assistance Program, Department of Canadian Heritage.

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Gareth Long
Second, Third, Fourth
6 December 2008 - 22 February 2009
in Gairloch Gardens

Gareth Long, Video Solid (detail), 2006

The work of Gareth Long tends toward conceptual gestures that play with formal ideas of translation, narrative and medium-specificity. His projects frequently turn video into material objects in an effort to explore video's value as infinitely reproducible. Such translations result in pieces far-removed from their source, often barely resembling the original in their new, compromised object form. In crafting modes of video that extend outside the limits of single channel screening, he has generated artworks that not only expand the category of video, but also of animation, sculpture, installation and performance.

This exhibition was programmed to coincide with the Colin Campbell retrospective at Centennial Square; as Campbell's former student, Long's clever experimentations with video are a timely testament to Campbell's ongoing influence.

Equipment for this exhibition has been graciously provided by Ambo Technologies.

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Oakville Galleries has two locations:

Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square is located at 120 Navy Street in downtown Oakville. Open Tuesday to Thursday: 12 - 9pm; Friday: 12 - 5pm; Saturday: 10 am - 5pm; Sunday: 1 - 5pm.
Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens is located at 1306 Lakeshore Road East, 2 km east of downtown Oakville. Open Tuesday to Sunday: 1 - 5pm.

Media inquiries contact Tracey Shepherd, 905.844.4402 ext. 28 or e-mail communications@oakvillegalleries.com.

For more information about Oakville Galleries, our exhibitions or programmes, please call 905.844.4402 or visit http://www.oakvillegalleries.com

New admission fees: Adults $2; Youth 12-16 (with ID) $1; Members (Friends of Oakville Galleries) and children under 12 are free.

Oakville Galleries acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Corporation of the Town of Oakville along with our many individual, corporate and foundation partners.