Art Metropole

04 May 2007

Signs, Statements and Proclamations

by Geoffrey Farmer

Artist

Geoffrey Farmer

Art Metropole is pleased to announce the publishing of a new and exciting edition with celebrated Vancouver artist Geoffrey Farmer.

Signs, Statements and Proclamations is a variable sculpture/installation kit that is in part inspired by a memory the artist has of watching his grandfather hang a sign to a post using his Oxford shoe as a hammer.

Each kit is comprised of a transparent shoebox containing one brown Oxford men’s dress shoe, a gold-plated nail and a series of interchangeable text works and ephemera that can be hung from the nail. Similar to his previous works, this kit acts as a generative container that examines the production of meaning through text as well as object relations.

Please join us on the evening of Friday May 4th at 7pm-10pm for a cocktail and an opportunity to meet the artist.

About the Artist

Geoffrey Farmer is known internationally for producing large-scale mixed media projects that are characterized by their process-based methodology and grounded in meticulous research and conceptual rigour. Farmer creates structures that transform and activate the gallery space, incorporating objects that are often in a state of flux. Specific literary or cinematic narratives anchor the works, which are continually revised, altered and adapted from exhibition to exhibition, even within the same work. These multiple narratives are used to conceptually generate and contextualize the processes and materials produced, acquired and presented. Geoffrey Farmer has had solo exhibitions at The Power Plant, (Toronto), Contemporary Art Gallery, (Vancouver), and the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), with forthcoming solo exhibitions at the Drawing Room, London, England (2007), Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2007) and the Witte de With, Rotterdam (2008).

Group shows include the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (Antwerp), Gasworks (London), Fruitmarket Gallery (Edinburgh), Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver), Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul), Melbourne International Biennial (Melbourne). With upcoming group exhibitions, Crack the Sky, The Biennial de Montréal (2007) and The World’s A Stage at the Tate Modern, London, England (2007).

Farmer lives and works in Vancouver and is represented by Catriona Jeffries Gallery.

Geoffrey Farmer is known internationally for producing large-scale mixed media projects that are characterized by their process-based methodology and grounded in meticulous research and conceptual rigour. Farmer creates structures that transform and activate the gallery space, incorporating objects that are often in a state of flux. Specific literary or cinematic narratives anchor the works, which are continually revised, altered and adapted from exhibition to exhibition, even within the same work. These multiple narratives are used to conceptually generate and contextualize the processes and materials produced, acquired and presented. Geoffrey Farmer has had solo exhibitions at The Power Plant, (Toronto), Contemporary Art Gallery, (Vancouver), and the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), with forthcoming solo exhibitions at the Drawing Room, London, England (2007), Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2007) and the Witte de With, Rotterdam (2008).

Group shows include the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (Antwerp), Gasworks (London), Fruitmarket Gallery (Edinburgh), Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver), Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul), Melbourne International Biennial (Melbourne). With upcoming group exhibitions, Crack the Sky, The Biennial de Montréal (2007) and The World’s A Stage at the Tate Modern, London, England (2007).

Farmer is represented by Catriona Jeffries Gallery.

Images

1: Kelly Lycan chats it up with Geoffrey Farmer while Dan Young eyes her with the evil eye and keeps his middle finger at the ready. Meanwhile Art Metropole mack-daddy Miles Collyer is bordered by Rosemary Heather and her martini drinking friend.
2: Séamus Kealy looks for his lighter while talking with Geoffrey Farmer, and some other dude.
3: Andy Paterson (back to the camera) gets some explanation from Geoffrey Farmer.
4: Kelly Lycan gets into the food as AM director Ann Dean watches her.
5: Barr Gilmore, Rosemary Heather (shapeshifting), Daniel Young and Geoffrey Farmer.
6: Sally McKay tries the wine. Geoffrey Farmer, puts his beer down for a second.
7: Barr Gilmore yuks it up with Miles (turned back to the camera), Micah Lexier looks over at the camera as Geoffrey Farmer gets a big hug from... Jinhan Koh?.
8: Signs, Statements and Proclamations, Geoffrey Farmer, 2007.

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