Blur Art Gallery of Ontario
September 14, 2019
“In her Blur series, Sandra Brewster explores layered experiences of identity — ones that may bridge relationships to Canada and elsewhere, as well as to the present and the past. The artist directs her subjects to move while she takes their picture. Then, using a gel medium, she transfers her image to a new surface, capturing changes in the creases and tears and empty spaces where ink does not adhere. These layered works capture the effect of existing in a state that defies easy categorization. They evoke the self in motion, embodying time and space, and channeling cultures and stories passed down from generation to generation.”
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Token | Contemporary Ongoing
“In Token | Contemporary Ongoing, Sandra Brewster re-presents objects selected and transported from various Caribbean geographies and temporalities, projecting them beyond the private and intimate spaces of their belonging. These objects are belongings, possessions. The deliberate and deliberated presence of these object-images bears witness to our movements through time and space. The objects themselves function as reminders of where we come from, their value increasing in significance through their transportability, material durability, and sheer and sometimes irrational or inexplicable nostalgia.
The object provides a material reference for memory-time, a point of origin & destination & presence & departure & conclusion & arrival. The object projects and exists in past, present, future, and reflects back to us our emotions, including desire, regret, love. Memory-time is non-linear, cyclical, the object providing a necessary (re)calibration point in the spiral of our lives’ progressions.”
– Nehal El-Hadi for the installation at A Space Gallery
Link HERE for Token Reflections, an audio recording that accompanies this exhibition.
Pointer Broom, Photo-based gel transfer – Or Gallery, Vancouver (June 15 to August 3, 2019) Photo credit: Dennis Ha
Photo-based gel transfer on paper – Or Gallery, Vancouver (June 15 to August 3, 2019) Photo credit: Dennis Ha
Iron and Handkerchief Photo-based gel transfer on plinth – Or Gallery, Vancouver (June 15 to August 3, 2019) Photo credit: Dennis Ha
Installation image, Or Gallery, Vancouver (June 15 to August 3, 2019) Photo credit: Dennis Ha
Installation image, Art Gallery of Guelph (January 22 to April 12, 2020)
Installation image, A Space Gallery, Toronto (January 25 to March 9, 2019) Photo credit: Selina Whitaker
Installation image, A Space Gallery, Toronto (January 25 to March 9, 2019) Photo credit: Selina Whitaker
Dutch Pot, Photo-based gel transfer on paper, 30x40in., 2018 Photo credit: Craig Boyko
Doily, Photo-based gel transfer on paper, 30x40in., 2018 Photo credit: Craig Boyko
Oxford Dictionary, Archival pigment print, 73x48in., 2019 Photo credit: Craig Boyko
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It’s all a blur… Georgia Scherman Projects
It’s all a blur… is a series of gestural portraits made with photo-based gel transfers. Brewster uses the medium as a metaphor for movement or change from one place to another, specifically in reference to the migration of her parents and their peers who left Guyana for Toronto in the late 1960s. Inspired by the preciousness of old photographs and their relationship to time and memory, the series mimics and somewhat exaggerates the physicality of those photographs by revealing the imperfections left by creases, tears, and folds.
It’s all a blur…, Georgia Scherman Projects, May 5 to June 10, 2017
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A Trace | Evidence of time past
May 02, 2017
A Trace | Evidence of time past, Masters of Visual Studies thesis, Art Museum, University of Toronto, March 2017. Metaphor, materiality, and storytelling is used to reflect on the transition of home, using my family’s migration from Guyana to Toronto as inspiration.
Heirloom. a jar containing fruits and currents soaked in rum and wine in preparation for black cake; Town girls atop the hill, gel transfer on wall; In the Wake of Demerara-Essequibo, photo-based gel transfer on mylar, 2017. Photo credit: Toni Hafkenscheid.
In the Wake of Demerara-Essequibo, photo-based gel transfer on mylar, 2017. Photo credit: Toni Hafkenscheid.
Un Scene, 2017. Photo credit: Toni Hafkenscheid.
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From Life
June 23, 2015
From Life, mixed media on wood, 68x48in., 2015
From Life 2, mixed media on wood, 40x60in., 2015
From Life 3, mixed media on wood, 60x48in., 2015
From Life 4, mixed media on wood, 48x60in., 2015
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Untitled Smiths
January 11, 2015
Untitled Smiths 2011-
Untitled (Smiths), mixed media on wood, 48x60in., 2011
Untitled (Plain Black), mixed media on wood, 48x60in., 2011-12
Untitled (Plain Black 2), mixed media on wood, 18x48in., 2012
Untitled (Whiteout), mixed media on wood, 48x48in., 2014
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Smith
SMITH 2009
The surname Smith takes up the largest section of a Western telephone directory. Its volume conjures up ideas of sameness, commonality and anonymity as there are so many. In the series I am mocking the notion of a monolithic Black community – of course not all Smiths are related, or look or act the same. These works are represented by simply rendered characters, donning afros. The area of the face is collaged with transfers of pages from the phone directory.
Smith 71, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 3.25x5x1.5in., 2009
Smith 72, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 5×3.25×1.5in., 2009
Smith 75, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 5×3.25×1.5in., 2009
Smith 80, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 3.2x55x1.5in., 2009
Smith 83, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 5×3.25×1.5in., 2009
Smith 84, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 5×3.25×1.5in., 2009
Smith 89, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 5×3.25×1.5in., 2009
Smith 90, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 5×3.25×1.5in., 2009
Smith 93, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 3.25x5x1.5in., 2009
Smith 100, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 5x5in., 2009
Smith 103, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 5x5in., 2009
Smith 106, acrylic, gel transfer on wood, 5x5in., 2009
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Mohammeds at Alice Yard – Final Exhibition
April 15, 2013
Exhibition and talk...
On April 4th I gave a talk and exhibited the work I produced during my time at Alice Yard. The following images show the exhibition evenings April 4th and 5th. Some pictures were taken by Rodell Warner.
Panels that were first exhibited during Verse to Converse hung at the entrance.
In the room where I was staying I placed furniture pieces covered with Mohammeds. I had also drawn and painted on the walls. Artist “collaborators” included Marlon Darbeau (the Accountability piece) and Richard Rawlins (the bench and wall).
I found this cage in the Yard and secured some of my stencils inside that cast a shadow on the wall.
The Mohammeds, cut out of aluminum were placed throughout the Yard, travelling out of the gallery space of the wall mural. These images were taken from the two evenings. The aluminum stands, all gathered in the room at the end of the evening contributed to an interesting room installation. Experimenting with light was important to the experience.
The studio turned into an exhibition space for my drawings and a presentation space for my talk.
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Final days in Port of Spain
April 14, 2013
Mohammeds walking the wall…
It has been a week since I returned to Toronto from spending over 2 months at Alice Yard in Trinidad and Tobago. The images below are of work that I completed while there that contributed to the final installation on April 4th.
A mixed media mural of Mohammeds, acrylic, china marker and gel transfers, travelling across the gallery wall then being confronted with, and encircling an image of a bikini wearing Carnival reveller now covers the wall of the small gallery space located on site. Until they paint over it at least. While playing mas with friends I learned about the political directions that some bands delved into while enjoying the energy of Carnival – I played with the mas camp Cat in Bag Productions and they did this – while others joined bands free from political positions or message delivery and instead focused on jumping up and having a good time. It’s all about individual choices but can become very emotional for those who wish to folter the traditional elements of carnival and long for creative and innovative performance throughout the streets of Port of Spain.
Mohammed stands…
The Mohammeds designed to be cut out of aluminum to make stands.
Drawing Mohammeds…
I created a series of Mohammed drawings, some using aluminum stencils and transfers of the phonebook pages. All drawings will soon be posted in the work section of this site.
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Holy Name Convent Annual Art Exhibition • Port of Spain
March 18, 2013
Form 5 and Form 6 students showing their talents
The reception for the annual Holy Name Convent art exhibition was on March 18. The students created amazing work that commented on beauty, the environment, fantasy and posible struggles that could be faced as a young woman. They experimented with materials and took some risks. I was happy to read the opening remarks for the evening. Click HERE to read Marsha Pearce’s review of the exhibition in ARC Magazine.