I hope to see you at the opening on September 11 from 6 – 9pm at Katzman Contemporary! Cheers and thank you for your support!

Pins & Needles
September 11 – October 11, 2014
Opening September 11 from 6 – 9pm
Katzman Contemporary, Toronto

Pins & Needles is decorative, playful, and obsessive, with a hidden sinister edge. Sam Mogelonsky’s painstakingly constructed sculptures use embellishment to speak to notions of craft production and decoration. Her work references ostentation and design, the dual nature of bodily pleasure and pain, and at the same time initiates a dialogue between the mass-produced and the hand-made.

Mogelonsky’s biomorphic forms draw the eye, reflecting changing light and colour. While these surface qualities entice viewers to approach for a closer look, upon inspection, their decadence is revealed as façade – the captivatingly vibrant forms conceal sinister undertones. The sequins, systematically hand-pinned to these styrofoam figures, remind the viewer of the intense process of the physical acts of labour – and the resulting pain – involved in their creation.

Mogelonsky also encases document tubes with sequins, secured with long, sharp pointed pins. The spiraling interior view produces a kaleidoscopic effect that speaks of extravagance and decoration, while also calling attention to the dual nature of pleasure and pain. These objects reveal a studded interior core of methodically placed pins whose deliberate labour results in a threatening spiral arrangement; an intoxicating aesthetic that solicits further investigation.

Mogelonsky’s sculptural practice focuses on the manipulation of light hearted, naïvely seductive, artificial surfaces to reveal narratives that oppose the materials used in the creation process. Her obsessive repetition of decorative elements and process-driven labour challenges the limits of adornment, as well as contemporary consumption and its tendencies towards the ominous consequences of excess.

Presented in the project room at Katzman Contemporary in tandem with Sugar Won’t Work, the most recent and perhaps radical iteration of John Kissick’s painterly approach.

Above: Installation shot with ‘Bent Spiral’, ‘Pins & Needles’ and ‘Harvest Moon’, all works 2014.

Katzman Contemporary
86 Miller St, Toronto, ON, M6N 2Z9
Tel: 416 654 9515
Email: info@katzmancontemporary.com

Hours:
Tuesday – Thursday 11am to 5pm
Friday – Saturday 11am to 6pm or by appointment

To get to the gallery via TTC, take the 168 Symington bus north from Dundas West Station to the stop at Osler and Davenport, the gallery is one street west of the stop.