exhibits
burning project
An exhibit by artist Peter Allen is showing in the gallery until September 17. The exhibit is an exploration of the nature of fire as technology, how that role has formed man and how we now respond to fire. It is a personal exploration of the nature of fire, a catalogue of items burnt and transformed. burning project is a result of many fires.
“Over a course of years I have found fascination in how fire reforms objects. I imagine that this same fascination is what moved fire from phenomena to its modern role as (or in) technology. Fire has also become imbued with character. A strange series of myths surround it. All cultures have at least one fire myth. Our modern culture has these embedded in its roots. The immediacy and destruction that fire bears is so alluring to man. We embrace this idea in simple language: a heart aflame, burning passions, burning eyes. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of similar idioms. To dig into the roots of art is to explore the nature of fire. Again simple things reveal it best: charcoal is obvious, Ink – from encaustre – to burn in – slightly less obvious, encaustic is of the same root. A great number pigment sources are from a burning process, weirdly the more modern the pigment the more likely it has been burned.”
An artist reception will be held September 3 from 6-8 pm as part of Red Deer’s First Fridays.