Vernissage on Friday, June 1 from 5 pm
Exhibition June 2 to July 14, 2018
Sporobole, centre en art actuel details
In May 2018, the Rubbish Picker was in residence at Sporobole, centre en arts actuel, in Sherbrooke, Quebec, contemplating the terrible beauty within trash and engaging with a thrift shop, waste transfer stations, and a decommissioned landfill site.
Since 2009, a key figure of my practice has been the Rubbish Picker persona who has wandered through urban, rural, natural and manufactured landscapes across Canada and abroad, meditating on the contemporary human relationship with waste. Garbage, litter, trash, refuse, conjure concepts of the sublime through a paired sense of awe and dread, which together evoke ideas of intrinsic beauty, wealth and creativity found within each single discard, with the terror of the exponential waste accumulation that continues to transform our collective natural resources. Each location offers a unique yet common perspective pondered through walks, acts of maintenance and encounters with built-out-of-necessity landscapes of active, decommissioned and clandestine landfill sites.
The exhibition includes the work done during the Sporobole residency along with selected wanderings of the Rubbish Picker since 2009.
From the Sublime to the Sublime: Wanderings of a Rubbish Picker
Exhibition – June 2 to July 14, 2018
at Sporobole, centre en art actuel
74 rue Albert, Sherbrooke
Text by Noémie Fortin (French):
DOUGLAS SCHOLES – De la ruelle à la galerie : Esthétique pragmatique en contexte curatorial
Published in Inter-arts actuel, #131, January 2019
Statement about Rubbish Picker: Persona and Inspiration
PERFORMANCE in collaboration with poet and performer Frank Poule – May 25 at 7pm – Festival du texte court de Sherbrooke