M.E. Sparks at VANS Corridor Gallery

Image: Google Images (detail), 2014, charcoal on paper, 24 x (8” x 15”)

VANS

corridor gallery Image M.E. Sparks June 5 - 26, 2014

Emerging New Glasgow based painter M.E. Sparks exhibits a series of drawings derived from Google Image searching a previous work, on view in the corridor gallery from June 5 – 26. Describing her process of abstraction, Sparks explains:

Google Images is created using Google’s reverse image search capabilities. The source image for each drawing is derived from googling a digital image of an existing drawing, resulting in a series of progressively disparate images (much like the game “Telephone”). While Google Images does not recognize the subject matter of each drawing, “visually similar images” are found through recurring formal and abstract qualities. Through the removal of original context and connotation, the images are further objectified and abstracted by Google Images’ search engine algorithms. This work explores the idea of instant and universal access to unlimited imagery, illustrating the ever-growing gap between past and present modes of image sourcing.

M.E. Sparks holds a BFA, 2013 from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax, NS. She is currently an artist in residence for the 2013-2014 NSCAD – New Glasgow Community Studio Residency Program. In September 2014 she will begin her Master of Applied Arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, BC. Sparks is a current recipient of Arts Nova Scotia Creation Grant and Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarship, as well as the Gordon Smith Painting Scholarship (Sept. 2014). Her recent work explores the categorical grey area between abstraction and representation. As a painter, she is interested in the relevance, persistence and variability of the medium.
www.mesparks.com

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) office at the Halifax Seaport, since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complimented by a historical legacy of Nova Scotia culture, simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia and is open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm.

Visual Arts Nova Scotia advances the visual arts through leadership, education, and communication.

For further information regarding the exhibition, please contact:
Becky Welter-Nolan
Programming Coordinator
Visual Arts Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS B3H 4P7
902.423.4694    1.866.225.8267   f: 902.422.0881
communicate@visualarts.ns.ca