Wish you were here
AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

The miniature “typifies the structure of memory, of childhood, and ultimately of narrative’s secondary (and at the same time causal) relation to history.” – Susan Stewart, On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection

The Red Head Gallery is pleased to present Wish you were here, the first solo show by emerging Canadian artist Samantha Mogelonsky. By developing her own form of naïve sculptural language, Mogelonsky constructs environments to transport the viewer into an imaginary space, outside and beyond the everyday. These humorous and sinister sculptural forms seek to investigate storytelling and repetition with the viewer becoming both participant and observer of an invented narrative: where the heroically crafted and time-consuming elements coexist.

Drawing conceptual influence from Utopian literature, theories, and tall-tales, and Susan Stewart’s ‘On Longing’, she will present sculptural ‘island’ forms, thereby building an imaginary ‘little world’ for the viewer to experience. These islands retain the so-called child-like qualities of construction, but reflect the intricate details of her practice and merge the ‘made’ with found kitsch objects.

The exhibition will also include neon signage, resin castings, postcards and trinkets from this imaginary place. Also in the space is a bronze cast of a typewriter that appears as if it has magically melted, which speaks to the changes in narrative perception and the relationship of storytelling to the overall narrative. Mogelonsky plays with the vernacular of travel, while creating largely desolate, lonely and haunting images, thereby evoking a tension between the expected present and the uncertain future.