The Margins Between

In many ways, this work profoundly reflects the complex tension experienced within the psychological spaces of waiting, as well as the multiple layers of emotion intricately woven into both inner and outer landscapes. By creating work that leans more deliberately toward the abstract, I aim to communicate subtle emotions and nuanced feelings that revolve around the enigmatic and often elusive concepts of the unknown. This approach provides a unique opportunity to confront the viewer with raw and unfiltered moments—those instances when clear solutions or definitive answers remain elusive within certain circumstances—inviting deep reflection on the uncertainty, ambiguity, and vulnerability that are inherently present within experiences.

From the Exhibition Anthroprocites

Edged Out

Painter and printmaker Deltra Powney is drawn to themes of growth, care, connection and disconnection, and the physical traces of human intervention on the land. She uses motifs of grids and scaffolding to give tangible form to our reshaping of the natural environment. Her large-scale paintings–though usually non-figurative–suggest a human presence through her expressive, gestural application of paint.

If you have ever flown over the prairies, Powney’s unconventional landscape painting may seem familiar. Edged Out recalls a bird’s eye view of land partitioned by fences, roads and all manner of economic and geopolitical boundaries. Well-defined gray areas circumscribed and divided by thick, geometric white lines echo the forms of virtual maps. Only three areas have been rendered as flat gray colour fields; the rest of the canvas is interspersed with bright, shifting colour. The white and gray areas appear to be artificially superimposed on a continuous, dynamic background that recedes into the picture plane, much like a concrete road may intersect grassland. This map is land is home is a colour-coded battlefield of rigid gray and organic flux.

Through its use of colour and composition, Edged Out references the deliberate separation of built structures and the natural environment, as well as the dynamic competition between the two as it plays out on the landscape. Land, Earth and its inhabitants are edged out and divided as development projects seek to expand. Yet, man-made structures eventually get edged out as nature reclaims its place; subtle tints of green in the brown field on the lower left side hint at nature’s resiliency.

While Edged Out challenges narratives of human intervention on the land as progress, it does not overtly critique human intervention. Rather, the work presents man-made structures and the natural environment as interdependent equals engaged in a tense dynamic equilibrium. Edged Out thus offers a space for contemplation on human connection with the land we occupy, asking; how do we balance our needs with those of the environment? How do we form just, equitable relationships with the land?

By Liuba González de Armas

Defining Inner Spaces

These works thoughtfully endeavor to communicate the dynamic interplay between a familiar, tangible physical existence and the mysterious, often elusive mental understanding of self in relation to the broader, ever-shifting outside world. These overlapping, intertwined realities collide in a vibrant, richly colourful bursts of emotional charges, evoking a profound and compelling sense of tension and deep introspection within the paintings.

State of STABILITY

Expressive mark making within the medium of lithographic ball grained plate prints skillfully creates a fractured and layered sense of time and space. The intricate drawings evoke the delicate patterns of a tectonic microenvironment, while the subtle interjection of a grid structure gently suggests the space is being consciously held together. This interplay acts as a quiet reinforcement of stability, delicately balancing within an otherwise volatile and transient state of existence.

Holding Space

These prints reflect layered states of multiple realities, delicately set within a framework of faded and fragmented memory. The work emerges from an experimental process involving viscosity inking on intaglio copper plates, meticulously etched with drawings that appear to combine imagery of city buildings with abstract, nondescript forms. This fusion creates an evocative tension between the familiar and the enigmatic, inviting viewers to explore the subtle interplay between constructed environments and transient recollections.

Inner Storm Outer Context

Expressive mark making and amplified colour combinations that evoke a vibrant sense of energy are prominently present within this work. This piece seeks to communicate the complex inner landscapes experienced when inflicted with conflict, adversity, and strife, reflecting the raw and unfiltered capacity to endure and live life under strenuous and challenging circumstances.