BLUE RED BLUE
04 March – 30 April, 2008
BLUE RED BLUE is site and context specific. It consists of three elements, the text on the window, the sheer curtains and the living room standing floor lamps that are turned on in the evening. The lamps illuminate the words from behind so that they can be seen in silhouette at night.
The text is like a nursery rhyme with a bit of an edge. It has a degree of innocence and playfulness but also contains an undercurrent of pain. The pronouns “HE” and “SHE” are interchangeable. The third line “SHE SAID TWO” can mean an affirmation of the relationship of a couple, or it can refer to a third person. The last line, “BLUE RED BLUE” is then a commentary on the preceding one. The sheer curtains provide a conventional, polite façade behind which tensions and painful experiences are quietly hidden. The living room lights that remain on at night signify togetherness now qualified by the understated ambiguity of the text.
Ted Rettig is a Kingston artist. He has been a practicing artist for over 35 years and taught in the Department of Art at Queen’s University from 1996 until 2016. He has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad. Rettig’s works are in public collections and major Canadian art galleries including the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. He has also curated exhibitions and writes reviews, critical articles and exhibition catalogue essays.