Catriona Jeffries

Catriona Jeffries is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new works in sculpture by Liz Magor. Since the mid-1970s, Magor has contributed a vast oeuvre of work across sculpture and photography, from her early ‘machines’ that automatically processed and produced sculptural forms to her photographic series documenting historical reenactment groups in the early 90s, she has sought to dissolve the convictions of what is apparent in objects and people, by revealing layers of information that both conceal and generate meaning. The exhibition marks an important departure for Magor, her measured turn away from the polymerized gypsum sculptures of the last decade has lead to her most recent body of work using found woolen blankets which she subtly altered to bestow each with characteristics that reflected their use, or their inherent temperaments.

Installed on the walls of the main gallery are a large assembly of standard retail boxes for clothing, each with its own dense material identity created through layers of garments and textiles that have been carefully cut and stitched to reveal and highlight labels, embellishments, insignias and brands. The highly individual boxes vie for attention, noisy polyester is judged against embroidered silk, the university logo of a nylon jacket is veiled beneath a layer of chiffon. As every one of the 100 boxes is as distinctive as the next, a loud chatter is produced as they each indicate to themselves through a frippery of cast-offs: lace gloves, elastic cuffs and woolen sleeves all miming figuration.

Together with the boxes, Magor has marshalled together a large collection of sticks and logs found on beaches that have been dressed – through the painting of their surfaces – with the costume of a cigarette. The collected sticks all have the approximate cylindrical form and proportion of a cigarette, if not the exact scale. They all stand about pretending, but not entirely passing as shy representations of a complex object of disparity where desire, satiation and revulsion rush in.

Liz Magor (b. 1948, Winnipeg), lives and works in Vancouver. She has a forthcoming solo exhibition at Triangle, Marseille (2013) and her work will be included in the forthcoming 2013 California-Pacific Triennial curated by Dan Cameron. Practicing for over 40 years, Magor has had numerous solo exhibitions including The Mouth and other storage facilities, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; Simon Fraser University Gallery, Vancouver (2008); The Power Plant (2003); Deep Woods, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto (2000); stores, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2000); Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon; Winnipeg Art Gallery; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (1987); Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (1986); Production/Reproduction, Vancouver Art Gallery (1980); The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, BC (1977). A selection of group exhibitions include Zoo, Musée d’art contemporain de Montreal (2012); Baja to Vancouver, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; Wattis Institute, San Francisco; Vancouver Art Gallery; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2003); Elusive Paradise, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2001); Notion of Conflict: A Selection of Contemporary Canadian Art, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1995); More than one Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1992); Places with a Past: Site Specific Art in Charleston, Spoleto Festival, Charleston, South Carolina (1991); Meeting Place: Robert Gober, Liz Magor, Juan Muñoz, Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary; Vancouver Art Gallery (1990); Camera Lucida, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff (1989). Magor exhibited at Documenta 8 , Kassel, Germany (1987); and represented Canada at the Venice Biennale (1984). Numerous monographs have been published on her work from the late 1970s to the present.

Documentation by SITE Photography.