The UNB Art Centre welcomes everyone back-to-school with (dis)location an exciting exhibit by Prince Edward Island based multi-disciplinary artist, Damien Worth.
(dis)location features paintings as well as multi-media installations that focus on the idea of place and our relationship with natural and manufactured landscapes. It explores the tensions that exist in the spaces that we inhabit. Worth states, "I try to explore the spaces that exist between worlds...the thresholds occurring between the wild and the cultivated, the logical and the spiritual, and representation and abstraction. My paintings look to landscape as theme not as an idyllic space, but rather a site of dislocation, duality, and transition...and attempt to link such notions to contemporary social, political, and ecological dilemmas."
Of particular interest is the project the artist began several years ago which features specific locations in Atlantic Canada to investigate the relationship between identity and location. Using video-game technology (Unity3d), Worth builds surreal landscapes that are textured with crowd-sourced images solicited from the public. In this exhibit, the particular idiosyncrasies of the city of Fredericton will be featured. According to Worth, "I'm interested in how we navigate spaces, how sites transform over time, and the function of memory as it relates to personal identities."
Damien Worth is a graduate of NSCAD and currently lives in PEI. Worth's interest in experimental approaches to art production began with printmaking and now include a variety of media including painting, digital media, video, gaming software and installation. He has had numerous solo exhibits throughout the Maritimes and been included in group exhibits across the country. He has won awards for academic achievement as well as received scholarships and grants for his artistic endeavours. His work can be found in the University of New Brunswick Permanent Collection, the Newfoundland Art Bank, the PEI Art Bank, as well as the Confederation Centre for the Arts Collection in Charlottetown, PEI. In 2020, he was one of the curators for Art in the Open, an annual contemporary art festival held in Charlottetown.
Damien Worth will give a walking tour of his exhibit on a date to be announced. (dis)location will be on view in-person at the UNB Art Centre from Sept. 9 to Oct. 21 and in our online UNB Art Galleries.
In my work I try to explore the spaces that exist between worlds. I am interested in the thresholds occurring between the wild and the cultivated, the logical and the spiritual, and representation and abstraction. My paintings look to landscape as theme not as an idyllic space, but rather a site of dislocation, duality, and transition. I try to portray uncertainty terrains yet to come, the ones that once existed, and the turbulence of sublime transformations. I try to play at the edge of what is landscape, blurring and collapsing its conceptual boundaries. I work with situations that stand just a little outside of the collective knowledge of how we navigate the unknown and attempt to link such notions to contemporary social, political and ecological dilemmas.
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Damien Worth is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in Belfast, Prince Edward Island/Epekwitk. Worth graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2011, and his interest in experimental approaches to art production are focused in the media of painting, new media, video, and installation. He has participated in various solo and group exhibitions in national and international venues and has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards. Worth has his work held in various private and public collections including the Confederation Centre Art Gallery permanent collection(PE), University of New Brunswick Art Centre permanent collection,The Rooms provincial art bank (NL), The Prince Edward Island art bank (PE), and Global Affairs Art collection for embassies and consulate offices. |
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