Alley 1_(112 E. Pender St.)
Gerri York
GALLERY 295
April 15 - July 22, 2016
Gerri York’s piece explores the transformation of material matter through print media. Interested in surface characteristics in of pictorial space in photography, York views the process of drawing with ink a concentration towards the materiality of an image, a foundation that bleeds from her background as a print-maker into photography. In the case of her Alley series, York explores the flowing pool of ink on transparent film, working intuitively and loosely on their forms to examine the ambiguities of chance and circumstance. For York, the spilling of ink on polyester film speaks to the material relationship to light and photography, and the transference of light through the translucent material via the presence of backlighting. Here York’s work takes up a multifaceted position within the light-box project space of Gallery 295, where the qualities of her exploration are deepened when installed as a large-scale backlit photographic image. The pooling of ink overplayed onto a banal street image, transforms the image into a mise en scène. It is this essence in photography that interests York, the reflective and transparent nature of light and its collaboration with the material context of the photograph as it sets the stage for a juxtaposition of form. The resulting work recalls the past tense of photography; of an event that evokes an ineffable sense of absence.
Exhibition text by Patryk Stasieczek, co-curated with Mike Love in conjunction with Capture Photography Festival.