Opening Reception: Friday, April 29, 7-10pm. Artist will be present.
Referencing Material is a new body of photo-based work by Dennis Day that continues a 30-year exploration into what might best be described as re-imagining and re-arranging the “familiar”. Like many of his earlier photo and video works, in which pop-inflected explorations of figure-ground constructions were often colourfully and artificially staged, Day’s new photographs use naturalism largely as a point of departure.
On an immediate level, Referencing Material is a playful re-working of the still life genre; re-imagining everyday rituals, and more formally exploring the dichotomies of materiality / immateriality and representation / impersonation. Staged on a diorama light-table, the resulting photographs at first present a kind of “trompe l’oeil” but ultimately point to larger issues in image making.
Referencing Material is a Featured Exhibition of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.
Image Credit: Dennis Day, Form vs. Function, 2016, Chromira print, edition of five 13 1/2 x 20 inches