Foreshadowing (by reiko)

Thinking about Bungalow Colony made me realize that much of my work has dealt with the themes of home and place. Most recently, I used the Toronto cityscape. It began with the idea of creating a false window where you see the city skyline and it transformed into glorified souvenirs. Here are some images of work from this series.

More Objects for Thought

Seema's post below; made me think of a few things that are fueling my ideas. Around the same time as I came across the first artist Seema mentioned Michael Johansson I came across Marc-Anthony Polizzi. I love the used of household objects as formal compositional elements.


Visually the next artist that came to mind was Amy Casey, which could be seen as a witty response to our concept.

Then I thought about The Maunsell Sea Forts, photographed by Pete Speller, courtesy of Nick Sowers.


My own ideas about tackling our topic are a bit more abstract. Thinking about lichen colonies and their similarities in structure to cities.

Some Objects for Thought

I recently came across two artists whose work I felt related nicely as to how I might interpret the concept of Bungalow Colony.

Michael Johansson

I found out about this artists' work through a post on the website Design Sponge on December 17, 2009. I like his use of vintage colour schemed household items to perfectly stack household objects and furniture.

Yoshiaki Kaihatsu

I came across this artists' work in Canadian Art Winter 2009 issue. This piece is titled Happo-En from the show Great New Wave, which was exhibited in Hamilton 2008. I liked his use of common objects to create spaces that people could potentially crawl inside to observe and experience a particular atmosphere.

Cocoons - Ideas by Steve

In thinking of the notion of home and portability, I began to draw connections to the animal kingdom. Animals are essentially the masters at creating portable homes. I'm thinking of creating an animal shelter, but human-sized and built with the materials that humans would use building their homes. I'm thinking cocoons, they're pretty awesome:

Bungalow Colony (a work in progress)

We discussed what we wanted to do as a collective and what has brought us here to this point. We realized that the four of us have had similar experiences (leaving home and living in another place), are the same age and are now going through similar things. We discussed that in Japan (when ACOFO began) we were all in a transitional time of our lives and now that we are all back in Toronto and Hamilton, we are beginning to “settle” or become more grounded here. We then explored ideas of settlement and home and came up with the concept of Bungalow Colony.

This is a draft/work in progress.

Bungalow Colony: The Portability of Home/Settling Up

A Collection of Foreign Objects: How we arrived at Bungalow Colony
Now that we are not foreign objects; what sort of objects are we?
We are settling > settlement > colony
Bungalow Colony (observed on a sign for a trailer park)

The title of the exhibition is catchy in its absurdity; the irony of the phrase sparked our imagination. Dressing up the everyday and presenting it as something new is often at the core of our themes; humour is an integral component. This led us to ruminations on the portable nature of home. “Home is where the heart is” “Home is where my stuff is” What is the enduring notion of home vs. the portable notion of home? Our members have spent portions of their lives living in other countries; in other parts of this country, and we often think about where “home” is and what that means. Homeland, nationhood, what does it mean to be of a place but not from that place? These questions and others intrigue us and provide us with fertile terrain for a new exhibition.

How Bungalow Colony fits with Gendai Gallery’s Mandate
The Japanese-Canadian Cultural Centre created a physical space and community to celebrate Japanese-Canadian heritage over 40 years ago. The Gendai Gallery resides in the home of the JCCC and this show will respond to ideas of settlement and community. The Gendai Gallery serves the community and all members will be able to relate to the concept of the portability of the home as well as bring their own stories and interpretations to the exhibition.

Tactile and Tangible

I was given these two books recently and they have become great inspirations for me for our upcoming art show and my art work in general.

Tactile - High Touch Visuals (2007)
Tangible - High Touch Visuals (2009)
Editors: R. Klanten, S. Ehmann, M. Huebner

In Tactile, I came across artist Jen Stark who does amazing sculptures with paper. I found this one ("Burst") to be particularly beautiful.

Bios

Our bios, also a work in progress.
Complete with haikus on your impressions of 'home'
In alphabetical order

Seema Narula
Seema Narula is an emerging artist that has been a part of the artist collective A Collection of Foreign Objects since 2007. She has also been a member of the artist collective Night Shift, and has exhibited her artwork at Shift Gallery, and participated in Nuit Blanche, Alley Jaunt and Square Foot. Seema's previous work has experimented with diffusion of light and space in creating light sculpture installations. Having lived in Japan for a few years, as well as, Toronto, she has recently moved to Hamilton, where she is intrigued by her new physical surroundings of post industrial urban landscapes. With this backdrop as her muse Seema is finding inspiration to experiment with new art forms reflective of her past history, and current space and time. Seema looks forward to exploring her abilities as an artist in creating and transposing her lofty dreams into colour, lights, shapes and sounds.

extension of me
space of foreseen time passing
holds my this and that


Steve Newberry
Steve Newberry is an emerging artist based in Hamilton. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts) degree from the University of Guelph. He has traveled extensively and exhibited his work in Canada and Japan. Primarily an installation artist but comfortable working in a variety of media, his work often explores our connection to the natural world.

home is foundation
both literally and not
find me foundation


Aleksandra Rdest
Living in the city but dreaming in the wilderness; Rdest’s work is created out of a longing to be elsewhere. Not out of dissatisfaction with where she is but out of the desire to create a place which does not exist. Rdest’s paintings create spaces in which the viewer can encounter the recesses of their own mind; using a language drawn from natural forms and elements. She facilitates encounters with memories; suggestions and implications without representation or narrative.

Since graduating from OCAD Toronto in 2002 Rdest’s work has been exhibited all across Canada in commercial and public galleries; as well as in the United States and Japan. She has been an active member of A Collection of Foreign Objects since 2004.

In our little boat
When all others have jumped ship
We ride out the storm


Reiko Shimizu
Reiko Shimizu is a Toronto-based visual artist who works in printmaking and mixed media. She is concerned with materiality, particularly materials associated with comfort and nostalgia: fabric, stitching, and paper. Her work often refers to simple everyday objects combined with a decorative aesthetic. She celebrates these everyday things by beautifying them -- challenging our notions of value and beauty.

Shimizu graduated from York University with a BFA in Visual Arts in 2002. She is one of the founding members of the collective A Collection of Foreign Objects and has exhibited work in Toronto, Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan.

Leave the porch light on.
I'm leaving but will come back.
I won't be too late.