Looks, the new exhibition at the Campbell River Art Gallery opening this week, will present an installation of dyed rug paintings by Emily Hill in combination with a film by the artist duo Feminist Land Art Retreat. The exhibition will open with a reception at the Gallery at 7 p.m. this Friday (June 2) preceded by a beach performance at the Big Rock at 5 p.m.
Hill’s rug works are made with pre-existing wool shag that she pours and smears dye on while they are horizontal on the floor. The resulting marks and traces infer the absent body that made them. These gestural textile pieces intercept parallel material histories of performance, fabric and painting.
Screened for the first time in Canada, Feminist Land Art Retreat’s film Heavy Flow features a woman’s monologue over a montage of moving images of volcanic lava. As a non-cohesive soundtrack, it posits a situational environment for Hill’s dye-drenched rug paintings, and conjures a range of references to film, land art and self-help literature.
In a special event performance as Vapours, the artists will be presenting an opening act for Looks at the Big Rock, the landmark boulder south of the Campbell River Art Gallery on Highway 19A at 5 p.m. June 2. Vapours experiments with an embodied history of performance and ritual, presenting bodies in the landscape. This performance will announce the exhibition to the public, with its first act occurring outside of the institution. Additional performances will take place during the opening reception at 7 p.m. at the Gallery.
Looks, by artist Emily Hill featuring Feminist Land Art Retreat, will be at the Campbell River Art Gallery from June 2 until July 12. The Gallery is open from Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The opening will release a text by Amy Kazymerchyk, in conjunction with the new work.
For more information visit the art gallery’s website at crartgallery.ca