MARIE LANNOO: "In the Dirt with Eyes on the Stars," May 11 to June 29, 2013, Newzones, Calgary

×

Expand

"Red Yellow and Blue"

Marie Lannoo, "Red Yellow and Blue," 2013, acrylic on folded mineral powder paper, 33” x 69”.

MARIE LANNOO: In the Dirt with Eyes on the Stars

May 11 to June 29, 20 13

Newzones, Calgary

By Thomas E. Hardy

“I never knew,” says Marie Lannoo, a Saskatoon-based painter, “that the simple act of folding would open things up for me.” Lannoo is referring to the new material her immensely colourful work is painted on: Flat sheets composed of calcium carbonate. Heavier than paper, it maintains its integrity through the process of multiple folds. Lannoo has exhibited across North America and internationally. The manipulation of light through experimental means has been a central subject for her. She has used such materials as prismatic foil (what CDs are made from), interference paint (mica flakes coated with oxide pigments), and now has discovered mineral powder paper. Technically, this allows the complex interactions that anchor the work: Different angles of the perception of fluid space and unstable colour that only come into play when a viewer’s movement activates the surface. Red Yellow and Blue, Lannoo explains, opens and multiplies dimensions through the folds, giving viewers “a very dimensional read of the primary colours.” Depth of field is substantially increased. And the show’s title? In the Dirt With Eyes on the Stars (get ready for this, Lannoo jokes) refers to the dung beetle and how it navigates using starlight – or, for us, the ubiquity of dirt (like calcium carbonate) and its endless reflections of light.