LAURA MOORE
one man’s junk (woodcuts)
June 21st – August 11th, 2013

Opening Reception: Friday June 21st, 6-9pm
Artist Talk: Wednesday July 31st, 7pm

one man’s junk (woodcuts)

I was recently walking over a pedestrian bridge in Toronto; the bridge is built above a series of train tracks.  I noticed that someone had thrown a computer monitor down onto the train tracks below.  I stood there wondering why someone would go through the trouble of carrying a computer monitor all the way up these stairs just to throw it away.  The monitor’s screen faced upward, as if it was looking up at me, asking ME why.  Was this object so useless and undesirable that it deserved to be discarded in such a dramatic way?  And now, it was down there, marking a moment, a time and place, becoming an icon for every other out-dated, unwanted computer monitor in the world. 

After this experience, I began to notice a lot of monitors being discarded around the city and soon thereafter I started collecting them.  I now have a pile of large, bulky, and out-dated electronics in my studio.

one man’s junk is currently in progress and will consist of several limestone computer monitors.  The monitors are hand carved at a 1:1 scale and stacked on top of a wooden skid.  By re-creating these forms in limestone and stacking them onto a skid, the work may shift the viewer’s perception about technology and the forms may become metaphors that relate to our life experiences.  The pile of computer monitors will question the tension between the original and the multiple, the disposable and the permanent, and the interactive and the inert.

one man’s junk (woodcuts) is an extension of this experience. Through the process of collecting computer monitors I often came across boxes of ‘junk’; VCR’s, Nintendo equipment, DVD players, alarm clocks, telephones, etc.  And more often than not these devices were disassembled; showing their inner workings.  These boxes of ‘junk’ got collected as well; I took the objects apart and stock piled the circuit boards.  In addition to the curb-side junk collecting, I also began to collect used pieces of plywood; discarded from construction sites.

The two components; found circuit boards and recycled plywood inevitably got combine together. I drew the circuit board patterns onto the plywood and carved away the negative spaces.

-Laura Moore

Laura Moore has an MFA from York University, a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and a Diploma of Art from Fanshawe College.

Laura is a transient member of Studio Pescarella in Pietrasanta, Italy where she spends periodic time carving large-scale stone.

Laura is an international artist and has been exhibiting her work since 1998. She has exhibited her work in venues such as; the St. Catharines City Hall Sculpture Garden, Ontario Science Centre, Thames Art Gallery in Chatham ON., Siena Art Institute in Siena Italy, Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Santa Monica, CA., USA, Peak Gallery in Toronto, ON., Stride Gallery in Calgary AB. and Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax, NS.

Recently, Laura was invited to the Thames Art Gallery Artist in Residence program where she carved a limestone computer monitor for her new series one man’s junk.  In September, 2011 Laura carved stone at the Uxbridge Sculpture Symposium in Uxbridge ON. This work became part of the Uxbridge Public Sculpture Garden’s permanent collection. In May, 2011 Laura attended the Vermont Studio Centre Residency Program. In May 2010, Laura carved a large scale stone entitled Mouse at the University of Windsor Residency Program. Mouse is now part of the Thames Art Gallery’s permanent collection. In 2005, Laura attended the first Atlantic Stone Carving Symposium in Inverness, Cape Breton.

www.lauramoore.ca