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MSVU Collection


Artist
¤ Michelle Gay

Date of Work
¤ 1997

Accession Year
¤ 2000

Accession Number
¤ 2000.5, 2000.6, 2000.7

Location
¤ In storage

Media
¤ Drawing



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Michelle Gay
Portraits from the End of the Day

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Michelle Gay
(b. 1961, London, England; lives in Toronto, ON)

Portraits from the End of the Day 1997
ink on paper
three from a suite of ten. Each 76.2 x 55.88 cm
Purchased with support from the Canada Council Acquisitions Assistance Program, 2000
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
2000.5-2000.7

These “portraits” are made with pooling black ink washes. Due to the uncontrolled nature of this medium, the images are sometimes identifiable, and sometimes abstracted. Though the ink no longer moves, the fluidity lingers as the drawings are perceived; details emerge and submerge and images continue to form and un-form. The results are strange, sometimes frightening images of faces or flesh. The imagery is compelling; faces alone on the page, isolated and distorted.

These three drawings are part of a larger series exhibited at MSVU Art Gallery in 1999 in Skinjobs. Like other works of art in Skinjobs, the Portraits fuse grotesque imagery with refined technique. The drawings highlight alterity and alienation as conditions of contemporary subjecthood.

Gay holds an MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Since 1992 she has originated and collaborated on several award-winning CD-ROMs and videos, while continuing to make drawings and sculpture.

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