A Scene of Jouissance: Meichen Waxer
Thu. November 21st 2019 - Sun. November 24th 2019
@ The Ministry of Casual Living Free
Thursday 7-9pm, Friday 12-5pm, Saturday 12-5pm, Sunday 12-5pm A Scene of Jouissance
Meichen Waxer
Devonshire Studio Gallery
858 Devonshire Road, Esquimalt
Opening reception: Thursday, November 21, 2019, 7-9pm
Viewing: Fri, Nov 22, 1-5pm, Sat, Nov 23, 1-5pm, Sun, Nov 24, 1-5pm and by appointment
The garden is sublime, a vestige of ceremony, of outward representation, a space of taming, of cultivation; the garden is a backdrop; the garden is gendered; the garden is colonized. "A Scene of Jouissance" is a series of new sculptural and video work that utilize the ornamental and ordered aesthetics of the jardin à la française; a style of garden popular in the 17th century, based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature.
The works draw material reference from curved topiaries, coloured sand, alabaster statues, ornamental layouts of flowers, and water features. Through the theatrical orchestration of the garden, an environment is created where in one can be seduced by the ecstasy of beauty, while contending with construction and engendered privilege and class politics of the references that compose the space.
http://meichenwaxer.com/
http://ministryofcasualliving.ca/
The Ministry of Casual Living Studio Gallery is supported by a Project Grant from the CRD Arts Service
https://www.crd.bc.ca/service/arts-funding
Meichen Waxer | Artist Statement
b.1983, she/her/hers
I am a queer visual artist, curator and arts worker based on the unceded xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ territories of Vancouver, Canada. I hold a Masters of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Through an interdisciplinary practiced focused on installation, sculpture and image based media, I consistently engages in questions surrounding culturally inherited power structures and resulting modes of representation. I draw primary reference from domestic materials, architecture and colonized European ornamentation to explore relationships laden with symbolic significance straddling the personal and social. My practice employs personal experiences and references to create works that both highlight and cut across the connections and differences between disparate periods and aesthetics.
In my material practice I utilize methods of collage, bricolage and with ornamental motifs and structures. Recent installations and bodies of work including, Cour, site specific installation for Micro-Wave, Mr. Lee's Shed, Vancouver, 2017 and If the red is
rose and there is a gate surrounding it…, CSA Space, Vancouver, 2019, have highlighted my inquiry into the structures of performance and ceremony. These works have taken up ideas such as the gate and the stage to explore the myriad consumer
and social ceremonies and ritualized treatment of public and private property upheld by symbolic structure.
Recently an artist in residence at Treignac Projet, France; Anvil Centre, New Westminster and halka sanat projesi, Istanbul, Turkey as well as Turkish Cultural Foundation Fellow. Recent exhibitions include Mr. Lee’s Shed, Vancouver Canada; #3
Gallery, Vancouver Canada; Charles H. Scott, Vancouver, Canada; halka sanat projesi, Istanbul, Turkey; Open Studio, Toronto and CSA Space, Vancouver, Canada. I am the Co-Director and Co-Founder of Arts Assembly; President of the Board of Directors and Fundraising Chair at Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, as well is a Studio Collective Member at Dynamo Arts Association.
Meichen Waxer
Devonshire Studio Gallery
858 Devonshire Road, Esquimalt
Opening reception: Thursday, November 21, 2019, 7-9pm
Viewing: Fri, Nov 22, 1-5pm, Sat, Nov 23, 1-5pm, Sun, Nov 24, 1-5pm and by appointment
The garden is sublime, a vestige of ceremony, of outward representation, a space of taming, of cultivation; the garden is a backdrop; the garden is gendered; the garden is colonized. "A Scene of Jouissance" is a series of new sculptural and video work that utilize the ornamental and ordered aesthetics of the jardin à la française; a style of garden popular in the 17th century, based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature.
The works draw material reference from curved topiaries, coloured sand, alabaster statues, ornamental layouts of flowers, and water features. Through the theatrical orchestration of the garden, an environment is created where in one can be seduced by the ecstasy of beauty, while contending with construction and engendered privilege and class politics of the references that compose the space.
http://meichenwaxer.com/
http://ministryofcasualliving.ca/
The Ministry of Casual Living Studio Gallery is supported by a Project Grant from the CRD Arts Service
https://www.crd.bc.ca/service/arts-funding
Meichen Waxer | Artist Statement
b.1983, she/her/hers
I am a queer visual artist, curator and arts worker based on the unceded xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ territories of Vancouver, Canada. I hold a Masters of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Through an interdisciplinary practiced focused on installation, sculpture and image based media, I consistently engages in questions surrounding culturally inherited power structures and resulting modes of representation. I draw primary reference from domestic materials, architecture and colonized European ornamentation to explore relationships laden with symbolic significance straddling the personal and social. My practice employs personal experiences and references to create works that both highlight and cut across the connections and differences between disparate periods and aesthetics.
In my material practice I utilize methods of collage, bricolage and with ornamental motifs and structures. Recent installations and bodies of work including, Cour, site specific installation for Micro-Wave, Mr. Lee's Shed, Vancouver, 2017 and If the red is
rose and there is a gate surrounding it…, CSA Space, Vancouver, 2019, have highlighted my inquiry into the structures of performance and ceremony. These works have taken up ideas such as the gate and the stage to explore the myriad consumer
and social ceremonies and ritualized treatment of public and private property upheld by symbolic structure.
Recently an artist in residence at Treignac Projet, France; Anvil Centre, New Westminster and halka sanat projesi, Istanbul, Turkey as well as Turkish Cultural Foundation Fellow. Recent exhibitions include Mr. Lee’s Shed, Vancouver Canada; #3
Gallery, Vancouver Canada; Charles H. Scott, Vancouver, Canada; halka sanat projesi, Istanbul, Turkey; Open Studio, Toronto and CSA Space, Vancouver, Canada. I am the Co-Director and Co-Founder of Arts Assembly; President of the Board of Directors and Fundraising Chair at Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, as well is a Studio Collective Member at Dynamo Arts Association.