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Indepth Arts News:
"New Work by Canadian Artist Evan Penny"
2002-03-23 until 2002-05-26
Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery
Toronto, ON,
CA
In his first exhibition to combine photographs with his hyper-realistic sculptures, Canadian artist Evan Penny examines the terrain between the real and the replica and our susceptibility to perceive the photograph as a source of authentic information. Curated by Power Plant assistant curator Xandra Eden, Evan Penny: L. Faux and No One - In Particular presents two series of work: L Faux from 2000 and No One - In Particular from 2001-02.
While Penny has become known over the past twenty years for his highly mimetic, exceedingly-detailed sculpted figures, the monumental body fragments of the late-1980s, and his articulations of form through the scrutiny of surfaces in the Skin series, this is his first exploration of the optical effects of photography. Incorporating realistic special effects of the film industry with a disturbingly flat re-figuration of the human face, the sculptural portraits of a middle-aged woman in L. Faux are shown alongside corresponding to-scale photographs. In his most recent work No One ˆ In Particular Penny combines facial characteristics from a variety of sources to create composite portraits. Accompanying photographs, as in the L. Faux series, highlight the discrepancy between the visual information we believe we see and what actually exists in space.
Born in 1953, Evan Penny studied at the Alberta College of Art, and currently resides in Toronto. He has exhibited across Canada and in the U.S. and Europe since 1977. Recent solo exhibitions include Galeria Fernando Latorre, Zaragosa, Spain, Trepanier/Baer Gallery, Calgary, Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto and Goodwater Gallery, Toronto; group exhibitions include Warm at I Space, Chicago, My Place or Yours at Pari Nadimi Gallery, Toronto. As a specialist in sculptural effects for film and television Penny has worked on numerous productions including X Men, Existenz, Nixon, Johnny Mneumonic and others.
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