PATRICK MIKHAIL GALLERY PRESENTS “TOPOGRAPHIES” AN EXHIBITION OF NEW WORK BY MULTI-MEDIA ARTIST DEBORAH MARGO
TOPOGRAPHIES
DEBORAH MARGO
FEBRUARY 20 TO MARCH 23, 2013
ARTIST RECEPTION
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013
5:30 P.M. TO 9 P.M.
ARTIST TALK
SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013
2 P.M.
PATRICK MIKHAIL GALLERY is pleased to present TOPOGRAPHIES, an exhibition of new work by multi-media and installation artist DEBORAH MARGO. The exhibition explores the experience of place, the work of memory and remembrance, and the sensory potential of texture, colour, and the hand-crafted object.
In TOPOGRAPHIES, Margo presents a series of knitted works and drawings that act as visual records of her recent travels through Europe. During this time, Margo turned to knitting as a way of weaving time and experience together into a visual, material form. Time and touch are deposited into the stitch of every knitted work, establishing a connection between the viewer’s apprehension of the works, Margo’s experience of knitting, and the artist’s impressions of the places and experiences that inspired these works. In this way, TOPOGRAPHIES is a visual journaling exercise, a graphic inscription, and visual narration by the artist of her experience of place in the work of art. Topographies invites us into the play that occurs between the patterns of individual stitches, the impression of the finished object, and the work of reading and interpretation.
Margo’s knitted works offer fragmentary impressions of place, with each impression having the effect of a snapshot, establishing a connection with experience and place. Material is central to this snapshot: the wool used in Topographies was purchased or collected at or very near the places named in the works. The geometrical patterns in At the Alhambra are made with wool bought in the Andalusian capital. The colours of Moorish tilework guide Margo’s wool choices, just as the aquamarines of Venice’s canals and the earth tones of Sienna direct her selection of wool for a portion of Italy. And Walking Prague’s Sidewalks is a warm and inviting exploration of the colours and textures of old cobblestone walkways along which the artist collected these very colours.
Deborah Margo is not interested in grand events, or in monuments to commemorate them. Instead, she finds wonder in the everyday and in the task of tracking time. Her art practice has combined a variety of disciplines including sculpture, painting, drawing, photography, and ephemeral installations, questioning the contextual identities of public and private spaces. These ideas have been effectively investigated in solo and group exhibitions across Canada at the Owens Art Gallery, Ottawa Art Gallery, Modern Fuel Gallery, Mendel Art Gallery, DARE-DARE Centre de diffusion d’art multidisciplinairede Montréal, and at Calgary’s Truck Gallery. From January 26 to April 14, 2013, Margo appears in the exhibition BOXED IN at THE ROOMS in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Deborah Margo is a faculty member in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa where she teaches drawing, painting, and sculpture. Her work can be found in the collections of the Ottawa Art Gallery, City of Ottawa Collection, and the Owens Art Gallery. She has written about the visual arts for a number of media outlets and publications including AKIMBO and Border Crossings. She holds a B.F.A. from Montreal’s Concordia University and an M.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia.
PATRICK MIKHAIL GALLERY and Deborah Margo would like to thank RANDY INNES for his assistance in creating the exhibition text for TOPOGRAPHIES. To download and read an original essay by Randy Innes entitled “Topographies: Matter and Memory” please visit the gallery’s Website at www.patrickmikhailgallery.com/exhibitions/.
Randy Innes is a visual and cultural theorist. He holds a Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester, and an M.A. in Theory and Criticism from the University of Western Ontario.
