Artist's Statement
My work reflects an interest in constructed human environments, language and communication, body and mind and the power of the habitual on our dreams and realities. I am interested in the parts that make up our ideas of wholeness. I see my job as somewhat of a wrangler, combining parts and fragments of visual information, physical objects and various idea and belief systems, aware of the futility of the 'ultimate' and the contradictions and idiosyncrasies therein.
I am interested in how we build our environments, intentionally or by default. I try to use humour as a way to present problematic issues by drawing the viewer in while also using a playful handmade aesthetic that people seem to relate to. This method of disarming the viewer allows me to touch on serious issues and ask questions. In my practice, I imagine the absurd as real, because sometimes the real is so absurd.
I believe knowledge is relative and fallible rather than absolute and certain and I endeavour to discover the richness in between intention and result. Utilizing common, surplus and discarded materials such as foam, concrete, found objects, junk mail, wood, rubber and household products, I create installations and sculptural objects that function as gigantic understatements, ruminations on the spectacle of the unspectacular.
Artist's Biography
DONNA AKREY is a graduate of the Concordia University Bachelor of Visual Arts program, and holds a Master's Degree in Fine Art from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. Her work as been shown extensively throughout Canada in solo exhibitions at Truck Gallery (Calgary), Struts Gallery (Sackville), AKA Gallery (Saskatoon), eyelevel gallery (Halifax), Sansair Gallery (Vancouver) and Third Space (St. John). Her work has also been shown in group exhibitions at the Contact Photography Festival (Toronto), Atelier Frankfurt Gallery (Germany), Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge), Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon) and the Darling Foundary (Montreal), among others. In 2004, Akrey was invited as Artist in Residence at the Klondike Institute of Art & Culture in Dawson City. Akrey currently lives in Montreal, where she also teaches at Concordia University.
Links:
mobiusstripmall
Darling Foundry
Mediamatic
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