Andrew Wright’s recent images of pines, boulders and rock use artificial light to reconstruct a sense of the staged, the protected, the artificial, and the segregated. Wright’s objects and settings, both living and inanimate, are presented as pre-formed, illuminated, and plastic. By the simple addition of artificial light into so-called natural and even remote locales, Wright’s images encourage a reconsideration of existing space that is disconcerting and beautiful all at once. They posit nature itself as a series of vistas constructed solely for the eyes, designed to be consumed and knowable within the bright glow of highly controlled illumination.

“Wright’s photographs reprogramme the activity of the eye in such a landscape, preventing us from distraction, imposing a particular kind of dramatic attention. Having had the scene narrowed and focused for us we teeter back and forth on the edge between the sublime and the tableau.” (– Kim Simon)

Also included in this exhibition are selections from Prairie Skies, a recent series of vignette-like images of clouds. Shot using a cookie tin as a pinhole camera, these majestic and lustrous formations appear on dark grounds, removed from their real-world context. The result of a single day, these images simultaneously document their actuality while suggesting lyrical fictions.

CATALOGUE LAUNCH: Saturday, November 12th, 2-6pm

Andrew Wright: Blind Man’s Bluff

This new publication from The Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (KW|AG) documents Wright’s film project and traveling exhibition. The catalogue includes the original feature-length DVD work in its entirety and the complete descriptive screenplay.

Text by Robert Enright. A recent recipient of the Order of Canada, Robert Enright is the Editor-at-Large for the Winnipeg-based arts magazine, Border Crossings and is the University Research Chair in Art Criticism at the University of Guelph.

Official distribution by ABC Art Books Canada. www.ABCartbookscanada.com.

Andrew Wright is an artist whose practice is multifarious. Using photographic, drawing, video, and sculptural techniques, his work has been described as visual inquiries at the heart of a practice that is exploratory and experimental. He has received critical acclaim for his work in publications such as Canadian Art, AN Magazine (UK), Border Crossings, and the Globe & Mail. He has twice been nominated for the prestigious Sobey Art Award and in 2001 he was the winner of the Ernst & Young Great Canadian Printmaking Competition. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Presentation House, Vancouver, ARCO ’05, Madrid, UC Berkeley, California, The Art Gallery of Calgary, and Roam Contemporary, New York. This is his third solo exhibition at Peak Gallery in Toronto.

Acknowledgments: The Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, The Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, and the Waterloo Regional Arts Fund.