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Project Proposal / Description
‘Sketchbook and Notebook' puts the artist's thought processes - instead of the artworks - in the spotlight. Meiko and Amy start with the gallery space and elaborate on the space by adding constructed landscape on the gallery walls and past artworks respectively. From there, Meiko will use the gallery space as her ‘sketchbook' by drawing on its walls, and Amy as her notebook by writing. This process turns the focus away from objects to ideas which removes the usual format of finished visual objects awaiting judgement and criticism and instead turns it into a dynamic venue where the viewer enters the artist's mind through the various manifestations of her ideation.
The show is also significant in terms of its dynamic collaboration between the two artists that have very different thought processes; one with images, the other with words. Through collaboration, the two different thought processes are revealed in one space where different ideas and inspiration come together to interact with each other. The viewers can then observe the inner processes of these artists and their interaction in its physical manifestation.
‘Sketchbook and Notebook' dispels the sacredness, neutrality and independence of artworks by putting it back in the context of an artist's incomplete, unstable and contradictory thought processes. The result is a surprising mix of dynamism, liveliness, and humour, where the gallery space can act much more intimately as a point of interaction of ideas and people.
Artist Statements
Amy Sujae Lee
Amy is full of questions. And when it comes to art, Amy has especially a lot to ask. Is art what we see in front of us, presented in the form of an artwork? Or is it the artist's thoughts and ideas that lie behind the work? Why does a viewer want to see an artwork, and what is she or he seeking from it? Can we, as artists, break all the conventions and rules and still be professionals somehow, if professionalism requires a certain kinds of code of conduct and set of regulations? In this exhibition, she breaks free from the notion that art is to be examined visually; she invades the presence of her own artworks with her mysterious, random, self-deprecating, or humourous comments. Then she goes on to fill the gallery space with her endless thoughts and questions, and invites others to join in on the talk of things absolutely impractical to get at what we call ‘art'.
Meiko Maruyama
As a York University Visual Arts student, Meiko has a deep fascination towards the idea of blending artworks into the gallery walls. She believes that fusion of these two things will establish closer relationship between the artists and the viewers because it will eliminate objects that stand in-between the two, such as frames and pedestals. By being born in Japan, growing up in Hong Kong, and studying in Toronto, Meiko lived her life in completely different environments. This made her think profoundly about who she is, and about the distance between people both physically and psychologically. For this exhibition, Meiko is hoping to create a space that is intimate for an artist herself, an artist who she is cooperating with, and of course by the visitors to the gallery.
