Local Artist Living in Nokomis, SK with International Profile Unveils First Solo Exhibition at MacKenzie Art Gallery
28 February 2022
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada—Monday, 28 February 2022:
This March, the MacKenzie Art Gallery is excited to house the solo exhibition of local artist from Nokomis, Saskatchewan—Kara Uzelman.
Long-listed twice for the prestigious Sobey Art Award, Uzelman has exhibited widely across Berlin, France, and Canada, but 10 March, Kara Uzelman: Finite Dimensions will mark her first solo exhibition at a major Saskatchewan gallery. The exhibition applies the use of found objects to provide insight and commentary on human consumption within a global perspective.
Organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery and curated by Associate Curator, Tak Pham, artworks in this exhibition will challenge guests’ perception of time, communication, and the relation to mass consumerism. Conscious of how acceleration in technological development has increased the disposability of our tools and the speed of change in our archeological records, the exhibition ponders our connection to materials and how we treat them once they are deemed no longer useful or obsolete.
“Kara Uzelman is an important voice in articulating Saskatchewan’s multi-faceted cultural identity and sensibilities,” states Executive Director & CEO John G. Hampton. “She brings a unique perspective that bridges rural prairie experience within an increasingly connected global ecosystem. Her work speaks to the everyday wonder and revelation that we can find in our surroundings while prodding us to think about the broader relationships and environment that shape these experiences.”
With the opening of Finite Dimensions, funded by the Saskatchewan Arts Board, Uzelman will show visitors the effects that natural forces like gravity, electromagnetism, and time have on objects and information. As both discarded items and unwanted commodities continue to operate long after being considered obsolete, the artworks in the exhibition will equally continue to experience time as the exhibition runs its course at the MacKenzie. They serve as a symbol of human genius, while considering our destructive desire for growth. Through this exhibition, audiences are asked to recognize our resources on earth that are taken for granted, challenged to reflect on past civilizations, and how they relate to our material culture.
“The global events in recent years have really forced us to sit down and give a hard look at our materialistic culture. While the world economy continues to achieve all-time highs, the earth is being pushed to its limits. As a result, many people and communities are witnessing environmental, social, and existential consequences of globalism in our backyards,” shares Pham.
Kara Uzelman, uses an interdisciplinary practice drawing inspiration and material from the backyard of her studio. Through experimentations with ruins, crafted natural materials, human detritus (waste or debris), and domestic objects, Uzelman’s work proposes a landscape in which materials and objects begin to assert themselves and reveal layers of alternative meaning—disrupting our collective drive towards mass production. Time, obsolescence, disappearance, gravity, and communication frequencies are recurring themes that continue to interest the artist.
“Finite Dimensions emerges from the materials and environment surrounding my rural home and studio. In this context of working within confined spatial and material limitations I was interested in considering various experiences of dimensional space. In making these works, I tried to embrace an attitude of adaptability and of curiosity regarding my immediate surroundings,” shares Uzelman.
“As a producer of material culture working in the context of current global crises, I was also interested in performing a sort of ‘audit’ of my own production methods and casting a spotlight on the materials I use and my relationship to making,” explains the artist. “It is a great privilege to be given this opportunity and I would like to acknowledge and give thanks to all those who continue to work-in, contribute-to and support arts and culture through challenging times.”
ABOUT KARA UZELMAN
Since graduating from Emily Carr University in 2004, Uzelman has presented her sculpture and site-specific installations in group and solo exhibitions including those at The Power Plant, Toronto; Le Commissariat, Paris; Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin; and Mercer Union, Toronto. She has participated in residencies at The Klondike Institute of Art, Dawson City; Triangle, Marseille, France; and Mains D’oeuvres, Paris.