July 27 - Sept 24, 2017
Jason McLean & Fiona Smyth:
Say “Hi” to the Sun
The drawings of Jason McLean and Fiona Smyth are among the most influential in Canada. The exhibition “Say ‘ Hi’ to the Sun” brings together their work for the first time, and seeks to examine the differences and similarities in their practice. They are known for translating lived experience into the stuff of colour, line, and form as a means of catharsis, social resistance, and self-critique. Their worlds are written and recorded in ink, yet they are also visibly entrenched in the rich tradition of cartoon illustration, zines, and graphic art. On the one hand, McLean’s intricate drawings function as autobiographical mind-maps that chart and investigate everyday realities ranging from dinner plans and celebrity encounters to mental illness and economic hardship; on the other hand, Smyth’s matchless approach utilizes figurative elements and linear narrative to tell stories from her life and the social order, particularly those involving dystopic or apocalyptic scenarios.
The artwork of Jason McLean and Fiona Smyth articulate a liminal state somewhere between good and evil, negative and positive, life and death. “Say ‘Hi’ to the Sun” is a deliberately whimsical title that speaks to the distinct character of their body of work — the sun is a symbol of energy and, paradoxically, a dangerous entity hanging in the sky. It references a fantastical conversation with worlds existing beyond our own, imaginary dreamscapes steeped in reality but are executed with imagination. What we find are records of experience and possible futures, little histories of the world in which we share.