Generation
2011
oil and spraypaint on canvas
71 x 71 in
Argument Both Ways Night Sweets A Wandering Wayfaring Giant Gabby Jackson The Last Word 8 Memorable Moments [sold] Your Demon Doppelganger [sold] Apfel Die Nicht Weit Vom Stammfallen [sold] Hear Sound, See Colour [sold] Generation Three Letter Words [sold] We Are You New York Betraying the Adamic Act [sold] Jesus: A Short Story Conclusions from Small Sources II [sold] Conclusions from Small Sources I [sold] The Calm Before The Storm A Vocation By The Sea
Originally from Montreal, Fiona Ackerman is a painter living and working in Vancouver, BC. Since completing her BFA through Concordia and Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design, Fiona has exhibited across Canada and in Europe (Germany and France). She received an honorable mention for the Kingston Prize for Canadian Portraiture in 2009, and was included in Carte Blanche 2: Painting, a survey and showcase painting in Canada (published by The Magenta Foundation, fall 2008).
While Fiona’s work is diverse in style, it is deeply rooted in the practice of painting. Whether working on a wild abstract piece or a delicately rendered portrait, her approach is at once playful and meticulous. Through her painting, Fiona is continually reinventing the way she represents her world, her environment and the places of her imagination.
About her work she writes:
My work has always been a balance between lose, expressionist painting and precise, meticulous editing and composing. In these works, playful compositions made on random pieces of paper are treated with calculated exactness. By rendering the collection with meticulous accuracy onto the canvas’ surface, taking into account placing and shadows, I wanted to explore the tension between the raw, dirtiness of painting, and the exactitude of composition, the relationship between chance and deliberation.
These paintings ask the viewer to blur the line between what we know, and what we believe. As a sensory experiment, we are asked to see both the lightness and temporariness of a paper instillation on the wall, and the unchanging permanence of painting. This 'captured moment' is a clear reference to photography while the content reminds us that in fact, painting is the true subject.