Nick and Sheila Pye, Stasis, Chromogenic print, 2005, 40 by 50".

Nick and Sheila Pye, Standing Lovers, 2004, Chromogenic print, 40 x 50".

Nick and Sheila Pye, The Paper Wall, 2004, Chromogenic print, 30 x 40".

Nick and Sheila Pye, Silent Flurry, Chromogenic print, 2006, 48 by 48".

Nick and Sheila Pye, Fervor, Chromogenic print, 2006, 48 x 48".

Artcore/Fabrice Marcolini
55 Mill Street
Pure Spirits Building 62
Toronto
416-920-3820
New Video
and Photographic Work
by Nicholas and Sheila Pye
January 27-March 1, 2008

Nicholas and Sheila Pye use large-scale photography and short films to expose the pains and pleasures of long-term relationships.

“How very brave of them.” This is a comment heard frequently in galleries and film festivals where the photographs and films of artist couple Nicholas and Sheila Pye are presented. The artists take their married relationship — generally a taboo subject matter in contemporary art — as a point of departure for a metaphoric foray into power struggles and communication issues between two individuals. Yet their work retains a dramatic ambiguity about the nature of relationships, such as the seesawing of attraction and repulsion or the adopting of different gender roles for expediency or manipulation. An additional emotional complexity is layered onto the narrative by the identification of the characters as brother and sister. As a body of work, these films and photographs are disquieting and erotic, melancholic and wry.

— Excerpt from
The Unmaking of Love,
an essay about
Nicholas & Sheila Pye by Andrea Pollen

Following the stages of a love affair from obsession to antipathy, this work addresses the experiences and desires of the viewer as much as the myriad elements of the artists’ own relationship. In the films, they enact dramatic situations and then create separate still images that capture the iconic moments in their films. By presenting sibling relationships or voiceless, costumed characters, the Pyes dilute autobiography and bring a wider spectrum of mutual dependency to the fore. Their visual language uses vibrant colours, the excitement of taut ropes and flying ribbons within the lighter, exuberant aspects of the relationship. At the other end of their spectrum, dark dens with smouldering fires are inhabited by jaded characters exhausted or enraged by the power struggles of intimacy.

As set designers, scriptwriters, actors and directors, Nicholas (30) and Sheila (28) Pye control every detail of their work and practice exclusively in partnership. Based in Toronto, they met as students at Concordia University in Montreal, where Sheila completed a Master of Fine Art in film production and Nicholas completed a Master of Fine Art in cinema studies. They have had solo shows in Frankfurt, New York, Washington DC, Chicago and Toronto. Their films have been screened at festivals around the world including Locarno, Berlin, Slamdance, Kyoto, Toronto, Kassel and Moscow.

Sheila Pye was born near Hamilton, Ontario in 1978. She studied painting, photography, and video at the Ontario College of Art & Design, where she won the top scholarship for graduate studies. She completed her MFA in film production at Concordia University in Montreal and a residency at the Canadian Film Centre in the Director's Lab. She has written, directed, produced, nine short films and is currently developing her first feature film The Young Arsonists. Sheila also maintains an active art practice, collaborating with her husband Nicholas, which integrates their collective interests in performance, cinema, and large format still photography. Their work has been widely exhibited internationally in art galleries, museums, film festivals and was recently acquired by the Smithsonian's Institute's Hirshhorn Museum. Sheila has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards for her filmmaking, and visual art. Her work is characterized by a unique visual style and darkly poetic treatment of narrative forms. Sheila was recently short-listed for the prestigious Cannes Festival du Residence in Paris, for the feature project she is working on. Currently she teaches at the Ontario College of Art & Design. In 2008 the Pyes will participate in a six-month residency in Austria, along with many upcoming exhibitions.

Sheila Pye's filmography includes: Loudly, Death Unties, HD, 11:00, 2007 co-director/writer/producer; A Life of Errors, 16mm, 12:00, 2006 co director/writer; Empty Room, 35mm, 18:26, 2006, director, Universal Studios, CFC; The Arsonist, 16mm, 14:00, 2005, director/writer/editor; Untitled, 16mm, 7:00, 2005, director; The Paper Wall, 16mm, 11:00, 2004, co director/writer/editor; Untitled, 16mm, 8:00, 2002, director/writer; The Lesson, 16mm, 8:00, 2001, director/writer He's Showing Me his Shadows, 16mm, 11:00 min, 1999, director/writer.

Nicholas Pye was born in Torquay, England in 1976. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada where he teaches at the Ontario College of Art and Design. As a musician, Nicholas relased and toured with four albums in the mid 1990s. Moving from music to art Nicholas completed a Master of Fine Art degree at Concordia University in 2005, and received his undergraduate degree at Ontario College of Art and Design in spring 2002. He maintains an active art practice, collaborating with his partner Sheila, which integrates their collective interests in performance, cinema, and large format still photography. Their work has been widely exhibited internationally in art galleries, museums, film festivals and was recently acquired by the Smithsonian's Institute's Hirshhorn Museum. In 2008 the Pye's will participate in a six-month residency in Austria, along with many upcoming exhibitions.

Nicholas Pye's filmography includes: Loudly, Death Unties, HD, 2007, 11:00, co-director/writer; A Life of Errors, Super16mm, 12:00, 2006, co-director/writer; Untitled, 16mm, 7 installation loop; The Paper Wall, Super16mm, 11:00, 2004, co-director/writer.

Nicholas and Sheila exhibitions include: The Power Plant, Live Performance, Heavy Hearted, Toronto Canada, 2008; Galeria Begona Malone, Madrid Spain, 2008; Curators Office, Washington D.C., 2008; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the LAB, Victoria B.C., 2008; Alexia Goethe Gallery, London, England, 2007; Angell Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2007; Galerie Adler subZONE, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2007; A Life of Errors, Rare Plus Gallery, New York City, 2006; A Life of Errors, Curators Office, Washington D.C., 2006; A Life of Errors, Kasia Kay Art Projects, Chicago, 2006; Almost Young, Angell Gallery, Toronto, 2006; The Paper Wall, Sixty Seven Gallery, New York City, 2005; Black Haired Sister, Blond Haired Brother, Angell Gallery April-May,Toronto, 2004; History, Photographic works, Atrium Gallery, Toronto, 2002.