The Khyber Centre for the Arts' first exhibition in their new (although temporary) gallery space on Cornwallis St in the North End, Claire Greenshaw's The World Has a You Shaped Hole in It, is a confusing and disconnected collection of works. Composed of drawings, photos, and sculptures, it lacks cohesion both stylistically and thematically. The only binding reference seems to be concerned with illusory qualities: a series of drawings of paper, a rubber snake on the floor that is actually made of bronze, and a photo of a sculpture that is in truth a photo of a photo in a magazine.
Claire Greenshaw, Ouroboros, 2014, bronze, found can
If the work is about illusion, it appears flat and elicits a circular sort of thinking about material and reality. Unfortunately, the exhibition statement fails to really expand on this in any direct way, instead writing in vague terms about "strategies of appropriation," perception, and "the tension between what is depicted and the nature of its depiction." Granted, the way in which an idea or image is depicted greatly alters and shapes its meaning, but this concept is not adequately explored within the work for it to appear as anything more than an attempt to create the illusion of meaning. Confirming the lack of focus, the statement then suggests that the exhibition "explores ideas about the environment and our place in it."
The one piece that stands out from the rest is a small photograph in the corner of the gallery. The background is a mountain range that is both majestic and like every other; the foreground subject is a woman carrying a dog in some sort of giant fanny pack harness contraption, wearing a pink shirt, shorts, and a tennis visor. The photo is both absurd and terribly plain, and I can't make heads or tails of it, but it's doing something.
The Khyber Centre for the Arts: http://www.khyber.ca/
Claire Greenshaw: The World Has a You Shaped Hole in It continues until July 24.
Daniel Higham works in a butcher shop where he'll talk to you about art, food, and life. He'll probably sell you a roast. Daniel writes for Visual Arts News and is Akimblog's Halifax correspondent. He can be followed on Twitter @HighamDaniel.
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Claire Greenshaw at the Khyber Centre for the Arts
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