julie epp
Earlier this year I was in a group exhibition at Deer Lake Gallery, in Burnaby, called "Horror Vacui". The show included myself, as well as two fellow UFV BFA grads, Kendra Schellenberg, and Julie Epp.
For those of you who were unable to make it out to see the exhibition in person, here are some documentation photos of the exhibition.
I'm excited to share that I will have two exhibitions coming up this Fall! The first is a group show with some fellow classmates, Julie Epp and Kendra Schellenberg, we all received our BFA degrees from UFV. The exhibition is titled, Horror Vacui, which simply means the fear of empty space. As you can imagine all the works in the show are extremely detailed and obsessive in nature. The show will include works created individually, as well as a collaborative mural we will be painting/drawing directly onto the gallery wall. Read more to learn about each of our inspirations for the show, as well as the exhibition statement.
Horror Vacui is the fear of empty space and the filling of emptiness with details in a work of art. This visual art expression is an important source of inspiration for artists Mallory Donen, Julie Epp, and Kendra Schellenberg. Each artist struggles with issues of fear, joy, and acceptance throughout their creative process. Donen’s practice is driven by the conflict between order and chaos, and explores the infinite nature of digital imagery. On the other hand, Epp’s process is a battle with fear, inner thoughts, and a search for calm in the mundane creative process. Lastly, Schellenberg uses the overwhelming visual aesthetic of horror vacui to engage in conversations about gender, beauty standards, and acceptance. Everyone struggles with inner conflict; Horror Vacui visualizes the mental chaos of life. Art allows us to engage in moments of deep consideration and at times can be a gateway into a numbing calm, empty of worries or thoughts.
My process fluctuates between spontaneity and my obsessive need for control. I find comfort in keeping things in order, but at the same time when things become too controlled there is little room for growth and change. That is why I am always pushing myself outside of my comfort zone and intentionally creating moments of disruption. This struggle between chaos and order is the driving force of my art practice. I am constantly introducing ways of relinquishing control throughout the artistic process. But I inevitably end up back where I started, in an ordered, restrained system of creation. My work explores notions of obsession, control, chaos, infinity, and absorption. Inspired by the theme of horror vacui, my art reflects on the infinite calming chaos of digital imagery.
In an age where lives are lived through online experiences, my brain has become over stimulated. Multitasking, my old friend, is an enemy of productivity; I must embrace the mundanity of focus. My artwork is likely the only consistent focus I’ve had. My mandalas sit inches from my eyes while I draw, and though I am focused, my brain is crashing, burning, bursting with thoughts. It might seem like a good opportunity to be thinking; a chance to be inspired. But the thoughts hang dramatically over me like a creature ready to crush. They are ideas and aspirations but they are also pressure and panic. My work is a chance for me to focus my energy, and it takes a lot of work to get into a headspace where something good comes out of it.
My mandalas are a product of years of disrupted focus, followed by relief. The sculptures are the opposite: they are a product of intense concentration followed purely by thirst and hunger. To me, horror vacui is about the fear of allowing empty space to be filled by anything but artistic joy.
I have always been drawn to work that contains a lot of detail. When I am creating my own work, there’s always a part of me that needs to prove that my art is worthy of attention, and my solution to this is often to fill it with detail—as if this somehow proves that I care about my work, that it is something of value—because I’ve spent a lot of time on it. At the same time, my art practice is an extension of my feminism, and is a way for me to engage with issues that trouble me. I saw an opportunity to use the overwhelming nature of horror vacui as a means of conveying the overwhelming feeling of needing to conform to gender roles and beauty standards. By incorporating imagery I’ve tapped into in previous work, I hope to dig further into representing the affect of the socially-constructed gender binary that is so prevalent in the media we consume.
The second exhibition is a solo exhibition, which will feature my new work titled Glitch Series 01. The show will also include a select few works from my MFA Thesis Exhibition. During the opening reception of the exhibition, on Friday, October 27th, I will also be giving an artist talk discussing ideas from my thesis and how it influenced the creation of this new body of work being showcased in the solo exhibition. The talk will also include a slideshow of images that give an even more in-depth look into my process and my hard drive of digital files.
