CAMERON FORBES & SANDRA LEDINGHAM: Shifting Glance
to
the Gallery / art placement 238 3 Ave S, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 1L9
Cameron Forbes and Sandra Ledingham, "Shifting Glance," 2017
opening: Thursday, September 7th7:00 pm to 9:00 pmwith live music by Hot Club Saskatoon
Art Placement is pleased to present the work of Cameron Forbes and Sandra Ledingham in a two-person exhibition that explores the connections and relationships between their distinct practices. Despite the unique character of each artist’s work, Forbes and Ledingham are united by a shared interest in the narratives of our lived environments. Together, these two artistic perspectives offer a conversational visual experience that enriches them both.
Sandra Ledingham is well known for her award-winning works in clay, porcelain, and other diverse materials. For this pairing, she presents a selection of her Walls, which reference architecture, while also exploring various other themes. In dialogue with gravity and balance, her curved slab forms enclose space like a physical embrace, creating intimate, sheltered interiors. The transitions between interior and exterior are uninterrupted, tracing the unbroken contours of her forms. Characters and marks from a variety of modern and ancient alphabets punctuate
Ledingham’s pristine vertical surfaces. Calling to mind everything from ancient hieroglyphics to modern-day graffiti, they speak to a long tradition of walls functioning as mediums for communication.
Cameron Forbes’ name may be familiar to those interested in contemporary Canadian painting. In 2016, she was awarded an Honourable Mention as one of two runners-up in the RBC Canadian Painting Competition. Her works are invested in the history and practice of painting, translated through her own subjective lens. Taking up the tradition of plein-air painting, Forbes describes her work as “an act of engagement; with space and with people.” She presents “an accumulation of observational moments; of paintings, sketches, models, and studies, [that]...describe a spatial experience with time; a searching more than a statement”. Stylistically, her paint handling is consistently loose and gestural, perfectly expressing a temporal and fleeting experience of space. Focusing on windows and window coverings as her subject matter, the boundary between inside and outside often dissolves as a new, hybrid space is brought into being.