INSIDE
19 July – 5 September, 2009
Kingston is a city chock-a-block full of correctional facilities; also known in the vernacular as the “Big House”. Located in close proximity to urban neighbourhoods or nestled in nearby rural communities, they are home to thousands of inmates from across the country. Having spent several years teaching in the prison system, Gordon reflects on life inside these distinct and complex communities by creating a series of lively multi-coloured banners with statements to suggest some of the realities of everyday life for inmates on the “inside”. Juxtaposing the banners, against the backdrop of the Swamp Ward Window, a public space in a residential home in an urban neighbourhood, is an opportunity to consider the concept of home and community.
Dave Gordon is a Kingston artist. He studied at the University of Western Ontario and in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s he was part of the lively London art scene that included Greg Curnoe, Jack Chambers, Murray Favro and Paterson Ewen, among others. He was a founding member of the Forest City Gallery in 1973. He moved to Kingston in 1976 to teach fine art at St. Lawrence College and was a founding member of Modern Fuel ARC (formerly K.A.A.I.) and the Kingston School of Art. His work is in the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Museum London, the Agnes Etherington Art Gallery, the MacIntosh Gallery, U.W.O. and the Canada Council Art Bank, and private collections.
For more information visit: http://www.dgordonartkingston.com/about.html