Brad Necyk is on a bit of a run. He recently took over the McMullen Gallery for Of Other Spaces, an exhibit featuring works inspired by his turn as artist in residence for Transplant Services with Alberta Health Services. While that was still on display, he also opened up at Latitude 53, curating dubious translations, a show featuring the works of Kyle Appelt, Andrew Israelsen, and Alex Linfield.
“I tried to pick some artists and some artists’ works that are trying to find interesting ways to translate various aspects of our contemporary condition,” he began.
The diverse but compact exhibit features TV screens with the nearly static emotional faces of a handful of film actors and a video of a statue of radios and other electronics being tended to by a technician who seems to be endlessly plugging and unplugging the cords into a power cord. On the wall is a large gangly ‘spider’ with wires instead of legs. Smaller robots sit on the floor, just waiting for someone to push their buttons to make them perform little tricks.
Necyk explained that so much of how stories or information is translated is a hopeless cause just because of the nature of translation itself. Even translation software (as used with the radio statue) garbles words into gibberish.
“We just can’t. We can’t narrate properly and we can’t bring it to a proper field of meaning.”
dubious translations closes on Saturday. Latitude 53 is located at 10242 106 St. in Edmonton. Call 780-423-5353 or visit www.latitude53.org for more information.
Shirley Cordes-Rogozinsky is taking charge of a new direction for her art and she’s at the helm of a new show of abstract works to prove it. Flagship is her first solo exhibit at the Lando Gallery featuring two new series called Craving and Enigma.
The exhibit runs from May 22 to June 6, with an opening reception on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. The artist will be in attendance.
Flagship follows the finale of Lando’s Group Exhibit that features VASA member Kristine McGuinty, among numerous others. Today is the last day to catch those works.
The Lando Gallery is located at 10310 124 St. in Edmonton. Call 780-990-1161 or visit www.landogallery.com for more details.
A bit farther south, Samantha Williams-Chapelsky is bringing a series of Group of Seven-inspired abstract acrylic landscapes to the Naess Gallery, starting this Friday.
The Structure of Sky runs from May 22 to July 2. An opening reception will be held next Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. The artist will be in attendance.
The Naess Gallery is located in The Paint Spot, 10032 81 Ave. in Edmonton. Call 780-432-0240 or visit www.paintspot.ca for more details.
St. Albert Painters’ Guild member Gail Seemann took first prize in the Allied Arts Council of Spruce Grove’s annual juried members show on April 25. Her work, Mardi Gras Girl, features a flowery blonde femme holding a mask on a stem while standing in front of a draped brick wall.
Bernadette Neumann celebrated her own award-winning brushstrokes after taking the grand prize from the annual Edmonton Orchid Show for the second year in a row. She’s enjoying a string of successes that started with her getting the honourable mention prize of the 2013 Torrit Grey Competition.
The Hidden Talent student was one of five from the Campbell Park art studio to take a ribbon at the Orchid Show that was held at the Enjoy Centre April 17 to 19.
