Eric McDade Giving in to the fear that a secure, healthy relationship could mean certain death for someone whose bread and butter are the dregs of interpersonal experiences, Eric McDade risks stunting his evolutionary growth and continues to drink from the same old stagnant well of self-pity-tainted social malignancies in order to bring forth his most recent suite. The resulting body of work is, again, one that begs from the viewer as much sympathy and praise as can be neatly separated from the lint in one’s pockets. A couple of pieces not withstanding, the primary theme is one of discontent with the behavior of those around him, as is with most of McDade’s past work.

Jorge Julian Aristizabal Creating images that awaken that language of the unconscious is where the foundation of my work lies. I have always been intrigued by the way some images affect me, and how I react to them. I am interested in images not only that expresses “ideas” but also dispute those ideas. These images generate a thought process and open different doors into my memory as words often do. Creating a sense of confusion that alters my perception, where the familiar becomes unfamiliar. Where I live in the world, and what lives in my mind, and the conceptual relationship between these two equally fictive places, is what I want to make visible to the viewer.

I find a great deal of pleasure in creating images based on fragile structures that challenge and defy our sense of balance and order, both through the physical and the natural world. Defining concepts that not only demonstrate how vulnerable we are, but remind us of our emotional confusions, frustrations, and disappointments, as well as our sense of hope, enlightenment, joy and humour. I am interested in a paradoxical image that generates ambivalent feelings, i.e.: “Is the bird headless or is it perpetually trapped,” such as the confusion between seriousness and the absurd, compassion and mockery.

At the end of the creative process there is the expectation of making work capable of moving the viewer. Allowing them to see something that they were not apprised of. Silently making them an accomplice in the web where their turmoil and perception forces them to reflect whether they have become the spider or the prey.