Stacey Cann : Tally

"Tally" takes a phenomenological approach to the exploration of time and labour. Through its creation, the work inscribes time's passage, and although the processes used to make the work are labourious there is no clear meaning or direction to the output. Parallel to our modern economy which must create more and more regardless of need, this work becomes an obsessive creation of more and more, rather than creating meaning through the objects. The viewer is left to interpret these works to come to their own assessment of what they are seeing.

"Tally" is a futile gesture to create, and becomes repetitious, boring, a mark of labour rather than creativity. A pattern that blends one mark into the next, obfuscating all uniqueness. Each references the passing of time, each day and work blending into each other. This work encapsulates vagueness and indeterminacy, much like time itself: a feeling that one cannot quite grasp, sometimes dragging, sometimes gone before it has begun. The viewer must contend with the tension between an intense commitment to labour, and the dullness that the effort produces.

Stacey Cann is a multidisciplinary artist living in Edmonton, Alberta. She holds an M.A. in Art Education from Concordia University and a B.F.A. in Print Media from Alberta College of Art and Design. Her work is a phenomenological analysis of everyday life and has explored themes of loss, environment, labour, and time. She is currently the Executive Director of Harcourt House Artist Run Centre.

Stacey has shown her work in group exhibitions at the International Print Centre New York, the Mass MoCA and Richmond Art Gallery. As well she has had solo exhibitions as part of Next Fest, at Latitude 53 Contemporary Art, the Drawing Room and Harcourt House Artist Run Centre.