analogue collage (paper and glue) with subsequent digital enhancements; 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Rhodri Kasperbauer: Information vs. Perspective
Kerr Street Bulletin Gallery in Oakville, Ontario, Canada
1-30 April 2022
Rhodri Kasperbauer presents the outdoor exhibition, “Information vs. Perspective”, consisting of thirty works, one for each day of the month. Pieces, such as that for Easter, aim to challenge perceptions as it is not only the year 2022, it is different in Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist calendars. Overall, the exhibition invites people, of all ages, to consider: what are facts? what are fictions? While some of the collages are overt, in their combinations of various elements, some are subtle and ask viewers to reflect upon what is real or surreal.
analogue collage (paper and glue) with subsequent digital enhancements; 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
Artwork also includes text, to further provide context. This decision was shaped by Kasperbauer’s previous participation in an earlier Toronto exhibition. The piece, My Nine Lives as a Dog, was discussed in the exhibition catalogue as follows, “In a more whimsical vein, Kasperbauer’s My Nine Lives as a Dog inserts dogs into vintage postcard imagery to offer a purported self-portrait. Mixing cat thematics (nine lives), a variety of dog breeds, and images of cameras, the work presents multiple facets of the artist’s identity while playfully (sic) a nostalgia for mid-20th century family life”.
However, for the artist, this missed the collage’s key references to atom bomb tests and nuclear winter (the title also being a reference to canine life expectancy and possible reincarnation). This year Kasperbauer’s collage work, Social Distancing, is also currently appearing in the Art Gallery of Ontario exhibition, “I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces” exhibition. Starting in the 1980s, Kasperbauer had solo and group collage exhibitions in England before emigrating to Canada. After exhibitions in such Canadian locations as a town hall, cinema and hospital, the artist then spent 22 years teaching over a 1000 students in Hong Kong, also focusing there on street art. Recently, Kasperbauer returned to Canada for his son’s future and retrieved a collection of several thousands collages out of storage. Fortunately, the Pritt gluestick has survived Canadian winters.
(text adapted from the artist’s press materials)
INFORMATION
Kerr Street Bulletin Gallery
outdoors
next to 319 Kerr Street
Oakville, Ontario L6K 3B6 Canada
Hours:
24 hours