Campbell Wallace | Party Paintings
June 5 – July 11, 2015
Opening reception | Friday, June 5 at 7 pm
Artist Talk | Saturday, July 4 at 12:30 pm
Edmonton artist Campbell Wallace works from found images; these portraits capture extraordinary moments among ordinary people. Wallace’s use of often discarded photographs creates a distance from his subjects that brings the small narratives around them to the forefront of his work—but as he paints, he reinvents the image, making it personal again.
Curious Arts spoke to Campbell Wallace about his show, Party Paintings, in the ProjEx Room through July 11:
Wallace says it’s the expressions of the people that draw him in first and foremost, then the subject’s particular situations.
As Wallace paints, he looks for ways to reinvent or update the image, so that they are not so jarringly from a particular time or place and viewers can easily identify with the representations.
“There are a few images in the show that come from the 1980s, but as I painted them, I liked to look at them and decide what gives it staying power. I don’t want things to be too dated. I like working with pictures that are a bit older, just so you have a fresher view of what makes them work as an image. If it is too of-the-now, it can be hard to pinpoint what it is that strikes you about the image. Is it simply hip and happening? Or is the actual image itself compelling?”
