Event

9 Jun 2023

#FirstFridaysRedDeer Opening Reception: June 2 from 6 – 8 p.m.

Artist talk on Friday, June 9 at 6:30 p.m.

The Viewpoint Gallery, Red Deer, Alberta

Futility Index Artist Talk

The "Futility Index" photo series depicts the limitations and possibilities of physical balance.

Artist Emily Promise Allison (BFA ’15, Sculpture) 

"Utilizing an array of household, industrial, constructed, and natural materials, Emily intricately balanced and photographed hanging assemblages. The details of each assemblage were considered with an utmost regard for authenticity; meaning that nothing in the composition was altered in post-production. The resulting artwork is a collaboration between the artist and natural forces, as gravity demands the size, weight, and position of the item to be added next. Emily’s use of a tomatillo, a branch, or a rose suggests that each balancing sculpture is temporary. As time passes and the leaves whither and vegetables rot, the natural exchange of matter and forces will eventually topple each sculpture. Although the works depict intricate balance, they draw from Emily’s appreciation for the tense, unstable, and absurd forces within each of us. If each photograph is really a sign of futility, the quest to strike a permanent and stable balance in our psyche, emotions, or lives is really the futile act."

Written by Adam Whitford