exhibition: erin finley, sept. 16-30, 2009, peak gallery

Erin Finley
Ink and watercolour drawings from the series, "Wally and the Detroit Sibyls"
Peak Gallery
23 Morrow Avenue
Toronto ON M6R 2H9
September 16 - September 30, 20

Wally and the Detroit Sibyls

Violence and romance collude and collide in this series of phantasmagorical, narrative-based vignettes. Motifs from the disparate worlds of Victorian fashion, ancient mythology, and professional wrestling are combined here, creating the locus for a perverse wonderland where everything is at once serious and comical. Parodying the beauty, grotesquerie, and madness of the real world, this is an alternate universe where hyperbole abounds – with equal force – at the fall of empires and the spilling of milk.

Produced on paper, and rendered in ink, watercolour, and pencil crayon, the mark-making in these images recalls illustrations belonging to the canon of children’s lit, including Cinderella and Robin Hood, with most of the influence being from John Tenniel’s Alice in Wonderland illustrations. These tales have also been exploited for their larger-than-life conceptions of morality, tragedy, and villainy: therefore, in these vignettes, cruelty and kindness act as a form of currency.

telephone: 416 537 8108
email: zack@peakgallery.com

http://www.erinfinley.com/

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