Exhibition: Stephen Bulger Gallery - Cynthia Greig: Exhibitionism

Exhibition Dates: April 2 – April 30, 2016
Reception for the Artist: Saturday, April 2, 2-5pm

TORONTO, March 24, 2016 /CNW/ - The gallery is pleased to present "Exhibitionism," our first solo exhibition of work by American photographer Cynthia Greig.

In this exhibition, Greig surveys contemporary art galleries from across the globe, placing the exhibition space itself on display. Deconstructing the white cube down to its most essential elements, her elegantly minimal photographs present an unexpected shift in perspective, rendering its interior spaces as vast landscapes or archaeological sites—uncharted territories with their own particular histories. Greig's photographs also scrutinize the minute and overlooked details, revealing the interstitial evidence of each building's trajectory, and the continuous flux of time brought to bear on an impossibly pristine Modernist ideal. Reflecting on the delicate balance between the permanent and ephemeral, Greig visits the themes of vanitas, manifest destiny, and the economic theory of "too big to fail" from within the microcosmic framework of this mythic space.

The exhibition presents photographs and video from four related bodies of work each centered on the contemporary art gallery as a site of inquiry, and continue Greig's investigation into the illusory nature of the photographic image and perceived reality. "Gallery Horizons" and "Gone (Circles and Squares)" transform close-up views of drywall and/or concrete into ambiguous topographies suggestive of rugged terrains or the traces of and ancient civilization. For her series entitled, "Threshold," Greig digitally removes the art on view to shift our focus to the expanding scale of the contemporary exhibition space. "Gallery Interventions" mark the white walls of commercial galleries throughout Chelsea as "sold"—whether as art or real estate— making ironic reference to the current geographic shift as some galleries play out a Darwinian drama by expanding their brands to multiple locations across the globe while others close, migrate to new areas, downsize, or go completely virtual.

Meditating on the white void and the idea of nothingness, "Exhibitionism" demystifies the context of art's display and commerce to reveal the forces of entropy at play, regardless of hierarchies of status or influence. As if in search of an extinct species or a lost empire, she has photographed the contemporary art gallery as a metaphor for a world on the brink of dramatic change.

SOURCE Stephen Bulger Gallery

Stephen Bulger Gallery, 1026 Queen Street West, Toronto, Canada, 416.504.0575, [email protected]