Issue 10
—
Fall 2013
McGill Art + Design
folio magazine : Issue 10 — Fall 2013 Folio Staff
Editors Carolyn Bailey Clara Puton Levi Easterbrooks Jordan Deutsch Anna Foran Andrew Grant Kenneth Koo Guiliana Mazzetta Uma Vespaziani Contact foliomag@gmail.com foliomagazine.ca
About Folio is a student-run visual art and design magazine that acts as an ongoing archive of McGill’s artistic community by providing a venue for student artists to showcase their work. It is published biannually. Cover: Kenneth Koo All contents © the respective artists. Opinions expressed in Folio are not necessarily those of McGill University.
Contents Untitled 1, Untitled 2, Untitled 3 Vatican, Detroit Negar Nakhai Cheyenne Arbula-Pelletier
[blue] reflex no. 4, [red] reflex no. 1 Emma Hambly
set 1 Claire Stewart
Oneface, twobodies Ezra Kayira
Untitled Levi Easterbrooks
God’s Baby-Mama, Portrait of a Young Jim as an Artist Bryce Clohesy
NEGAR NAKHAI Untitled 1
Untitled 2, Untitled 3
CLAIRE STEWART set 1
LEVI EASTERBROOKS Untitled
BRYCE CLOHESY God’s Baby-Mama
Portrait of a Young Jim as an Artist
CHEYENNE ARBULA-PELLETIER Vatican, Detroit
EMMA HAMBLY [blue] reflex no. 4
[red] reflex no. 1
ESRA KAYIRA Oneface, twobodies
folio contributors KENNETH KOO ’s cover image poses the question “can a photograph printed on Plexiglas be contemplated as both an image and object?” This is a rhetorical question, since Kenneth creates art as a way for him to raise questions without necessarily answering them. His practice of photography explores the medium’s ability to transcend inherent qualities of photography and tap into the latent possibilities of other media (i.e. painting, sculpture, installation). Despite the plethora of artworks Kenneth has encountered as a U3 Honours Art History student, he finds inspiration in the plasticity of manufactured objects and the steeliness of 60s minimalist art. NEGAR NAKHAI creates her “hiccups of the mind” by hacking or glitching them in Photoshop, satisfying what she describes as a reflexive itch to make art. A third year student in psychology and world cinemas, Negar’s art practice is inspired by asymptotic curves and “those moments when time dilates.” CLAIRE STEWART is a Montreal-based costume and set designer who works in theatre and film. Her photographs were taken over the course of a trip to Los Angeles this summer and deal with the tension between natural and built landscapes. She recently graduated from McGill with a B.A. in English. LEVI EASTERBROOKS creates a personal art that aims to make sense of his situation. Though individualized, he simultaneously attempts to realize the coinciding situations of others. He describes the artmaking process as both conflicting and drawing from a life as a student. Levi finds inspiration in the mid-century works of artists like Philip Guston and Francis Bacon, leaving him confused about the location of his work in time. CHEYENNE ARBULA-PELLETIER photographs while she travels and interprets when she gets home. When she’s in the mood for some Photoshop therapy, she plays with color, contrast and light and transforms her digital photos into highly personal reflections. And when she can’t physically travel, Cheyenne relies on her history degree to introduce her to new and unfamiliar places. She wants to visit many more.
BRYCE CLOHESY makes free and spontaneous art from anything he can get his hands on, including trash, when he’s taking a break from completing his 4th year of Electrical Engineering. “Portrait of a Young Jim as an Artist” and “God’s Baby-Mama” were shot through curved fragments of glass (most likely broken in some loud and emotional frenzy) using a disposable camera purchased in a fluorescent light-soaked depanneur somewhere south of Des Pins. He credits the creative process for keeping him sane despite its propensity to be “immensely selfdeprecating” and sees returning to analogue art as a way to push back against the decline of art and music in the Internet age. He is inspired by his friend James, the only human in the above photos, who once said, “You know what gets me up in the morning? People. I could have a shit time at work but when the chef and I are kickin’ it, crackin’ jokes, none of that matters.” EMMA HAMBLY sees her ink on paper reflex drawings as “exercises in not being a perfectionist,” creating predetermined patterns where mistakes along the way are both inevitable and acceptable. Inspired by her encounters with good books, bad movies, Dollarama, and clouds, Emma approaches these everyday phenomena with a creative eye via a process of visual daydreaming. Her everyday inspirations fuse with her self-proclaimed “weird” imagination and even “weirder” dreams, transcribing the outcome into art. EZRA KAYIRA has always preferred drawing over words as a mode of expression. Inspired by human anatomy and the aesthetic potential of all bodies, she summons faces and figures we wouldn’t see in daily life. These imaginative creations disrupt norms and challenge the general point of view, and stress that nobody has the same body, that everyone is unique.
Thanks to the Students’ Society of McGill University and the Dean of Arts Development Fund for their generous support.