Exhibition: Stephen Bulger Gallery - SANAZ MAZINANI - Frames of the Visible

TORONTO, April 23, 2012 /CNW/ -

Exhibition Dates: May 5 - June 9, 2012
Reception: Saturday, May 5, 2-5pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, May 5, 1-2p (RSVP as seating is limited)

In "Frames of the Visible," Sanaz Mazinani examines the disassociation that occurs between an event and its photographic record. Using destabilizing images of war mined from online news media outlets, Mazinani constructs photographic collages that collapse the intimations of the original image, thus creating a new representation of conflict.

Mazinani explores the relationship between perception and representation by drawing from concepts such as censorship, scale, and the body as a site of action or violence. For instance, juxtaposing appropriated images of a female suicide bomber and of media darling Paris Hilton, creates a new meaning that can affect our understanding of an image and how it is used to illustrate and construct history. The geometric patterns created by sequentially coupling, repeating, mirroring, and multiplying her source material references Islamic ornamentation, pairing traditional Eastern and contemporary Western image production techniques. These works examine the radical ways in which individuals perceive the same object with differing complexity. Mazinani seeks to recognize how political realities are represented in photography. She visions the perspectival frames of warfare, while acknowledging the complicated nature of our modern existence in a globalized world.

This exhibition also coincides with the launch of Mazinani's catalogue, Unfolding Images, published by Bulger Gallery Press in April 2012 and co-authored by Jeremiah Barber, David Fresko and Mohammadreza Mirzaei.

Mazinani (b. Tehran, Iran, 1978) is an artist, curator, and educator based in San Francisco and Toronto. She holds her undergraduate degree from Ontario College of Art & Design University and her MFA from Stanford University. Her work has been exhibited throughout North America and she has received numerous grants from Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council.

Stephen Bulger Gallery
1026 Queen Street West Toronto Canada
416.504.0575
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www.bulgergallery.com