REALMS II
EXHIBITION X BOOK LAUNCH: Realms II
DATES: March 16 to April 29, 2018
OPENING/VERNISSAGE: March 16, 2018, 7-10 PM, free admission, welcome to all
CURATED BY: Guest curator Jon Vaughn (Saskatoon, Canada)
ARTISTS
Aisha Franz (Germany)
Emmanuelle Pidoux (France)
Francois Van Damme (Belgium)
Frederic Fleury (France)
Jon Chandler (USA)
Jon Vaughn (Canada)
Juli Majer (Canada)
Kinya Hanada (Japan)
Lasse Wandschneider (Germany)
Lomé Lu (France)
Loic Doussin (France)
Marc Hennes (Germany)
Nicolas Nadé (France)
Patrick Kyle (Canada)
Pia-Mélissa Laroche (France)
Ruo Han Wang (Germany)
Sretan Bor (Croatia)
Tetsunori Tawaraya (Japan)
Tim Romanowsky (Germany)
Tristan Pernet (France)
Tylor Macmillon (Canada)
Vincent Fritz (Germany)
Zigendemonic (Ukraine/Germany)
NEW ARTIST EDITION
We are also pleased to debut on the occasion of the show a special new artist edition by curator Jon Vaughn and participating artist Patrick Kyle (Toronto, Canada). Produced by Possible Worlds in an edition of 60 and available for purchase, this Risograph print is the result of a drawing collaboration between Vaughn and Kyle created via email correspondence.
OPENING NIGHT
Date: Friday, March 16, 2018, 7- 10 PM
Live music set by Jared Epp
Launch of Realms II anthology, available for purchase in shop and online
Free admission and welcome to all
ABOUT REALMS II
Realms II is a project that brings together 100 artists across the pages of a book and a travelling exhibition of works. It shines a light on the work of emerging creative talent in contemporary print, illustration, digital drawing and comic arts from across the globe. Curated by Canadian visual and music artist Jon Vaughn, the first stop of this travelling exhibition will be at Possible Worlds.
For its premiere in Ottawa, Realms II will feature prints by 23 emerging artists from eight countries who are consistently producing fresh and engaging work. Each artist was invited by the curator to create pieces that reflect or comment on imaginative, personal or intimate universes. These spaces are fictional, abstract or representational and tend to define them as individuals or what they call ‘home’. The curator's inspiration for exploring this area came from an interest both in science fiction and fantasy art, as well as to focus on the contexts that artists create, rather than the characters and subjects which tend to dominate them.
While drawing is often the trajectory for the works, the artists express themselves in a multitude of ways using a diverse range of media: risograph, silkscreen and ink, or by digital methods. Sometimes fragments form the basis of the pieces in an abstract collage, while other artists dissect and reassemble parts of drawings to make challenging montages. Abstraction, cartooning and illustration share equal space in the Realms II book and exhibition.
Possible Worlds will also play host to the launch of the Realms II anthology, a companion publication which features the illustrative work of the 100+ artists who have contributed to this project.
This exhibition marks the first showing of work by each participating artist in Ottawa or in Canada.
CURATORIAL STATEMENT
I believe the imagination has a power of invention that can rigorously challenge notions of knowledge and perception. Artists experience massively overpowering and deeply internal microscopic visions that can be like an axis crossing from the largest to smallest things. Powered by the imagination, these visions can transcend our biological limitations and show us worlds beyond our visual spectrum, as well as provide permutations and combinations of all worlds in numerous ways. Realms II seeks to open a space for those visions, and champions artists whose visionary gifts are fearless, obsessive and unapologetically unique.
CURATOR BIOGRAPHY
Jon Vaughn was born in Saskatoon and holds a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Saskatchewan in Art History. In addition to visual art, he is also involved in a range of other creative pursuits including curation, design, screen-printing, music performance and production, and publishing. A noted electronic musician, Vaughn’s collage style often has the precision and range of digital art while also maintaining a hand-made quality. His work has been exhibited, performed, and distributed locally (AKA artist-run 2014, BAM 2015, Art Placement 2015), nationally (Regina, Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg), and internationally (England, France, Italy, Belgium, Argentina, Bulgaria, Germany, the United States). Vaughn is editor-in-chief at Ecstasy Editions.
ABOUT THE REALMS PROJECT
The first Realms exhibition launched in 2010 in Saskatoon, Canada, and was guest curator Jon Vaughn's major undertaking as a curator of visual art. In 2017, he invited no less than 100 artists from around the world to create work that reflected their imaginative, personal or intimate universes. Realms II is a culmination of this invitation, a collection of hundreds of prints, larger originals and smaller drawings by members of the Canadian and international independent graphic arts community. The Realms II project was first exhibited at Gordon Snelgrove Gallery in Saskatoon in January 2018. Vaughn is currently planning a few variations of the Realms II exhibition, expanding across Canada and beyond.