Cheryl Sourkes, Buenos Aires, details, 2002-2003, From the series Locations, 34 ink jet prints, Collection of the artist, Courtesy of Peak Gallery, Toronto. |
A World View Provided by Closed Circuit Television |
Cheryl Sourkes, Toronto, details, 2002-2003, From the series Locations, 32 ink jet prints, Collection of the artist, Courtesy of Peak Gallery, Toronto. |
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography "The process of making the work is the process of living a certain life, because none of the works are made in a moment. They’re accumulation on various levels of a world view." — Quote from View: The Canadian Photographer Sourkes plunges into the Internet universe to fish out hybrid images from Web cams that are both public and private, and presents her work under the theme of “public camera.” “It is with pleasure that we open our doors to these inventive images, to creation, and to new aesthetic experiments,” says Martha Hanna, Director of Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. “Contemporary art often raises questions linked to social dimensions and relationships with others, and this is the work offered by Cheryl Sourkes for the exhibition.” This exhibition presents an ambiguous idea of art making. On one hand, Sourkes challenges traditional concepts of artists and originality by using imagery produced by others. On the other hand, her framing and presentation fulfill a more conventional artistic role. For the last six years, Toronto artist Cheryl Sourkes has been surfing the Internet and grabbing Web cam imagery, which she transforms into new pieces of work. She gathers some images into grids, while others are presented individually or combined into a composite or video presentation. The artist also enlarges some works to the point where pixels blur and blend, the results appearing more pictorial than digital. Sourkes’ work broadens the conventional notion of photographs. As in regular photography, her images represent an instantaneous moment frozen in time. However, the capturing device used in her work, the Web cam, generates virtual images that appear only to disappear a few seconds later. The shutter’s “click” is replaced by the mouse’s capture of the image. With this exhibition, Cheryl Sourkes offers a reflection on the use of Web cams and other surveillance devices. By doing so, she leads viewers to consider the way this technology influences their social realm, as well as their relationship with the people in it. These works raise questions on what are now considered to be public or private boundaries, and redefine what should be shown and what should stay hidden. For more than 25 years, Cheryl Sourkes (Born September 1, 1945 in Montreal, Quebec) has had a prolific career in the art world. It is through photography, and over the last several years through new technologies, that this Toronto artist expresses her ideas and concerns. Recurrent themes in her work include language, time, history, the real world versus the virtual world, and the ways we perceive and understand what we see around us. University and post-graduate studies in sciences, psychology and biology at McGill University in Montreal and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver directed Sourkes to explore behavioural science, physiological processes and awareness. During her studies she discovered photography. Her work is inspired and shaped by her experience of the world around her. Each body of work is closely related to one another. Selection and editing are an important part of Sourkes’ artistic process. She accumulates elements that inspire her. In her works from the 1980s, she establishes a link between language, illustration and photography. She creates photographic collages from images and words she obtains from different sources. For almost seven years now, Sourkes has been creating artwork using images pulled from webcams and transforming them into still images or videos. In her artwork she raises questions about time and space, public and private space, as well as our understanding of the real world, the virtual world and the social sphere. Sourkes’ work is exhibited throughout the world and featured in several public and private collections such as the Vancouver Art Gallery, Air Canada, the Canada Council Art Bank, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Concordia University Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Canada. She regularly writes articles for various publications and frequently curates exhibitions. |
Cheryl Sourkes, Paris, details, 2002-2003, From the series Locations, 32 ink jet prints, Collection of the artist, Courtesy of Peak Gallery, Toronto. |
