Robert Kelly Minutia

Gallery 1C03 presents

Robert Kelly

Minutia
March 3 – April 2, 2011

Artist-led workshop in collaboration with Platform Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts: “Minutia: The Books I Didn’t Write – Generating Thoughts, Ideas and Forms in a Digital Age”, March 2, 7 – 9 p.m. at Gallery 1C03
Opening reception: March 3, 4 – 6 p.m. at Gallery 1C03
Artist’s lecture in collaboration with Alliance for Arts Education in Manitoba: “The Creative Disposition: Understanding Creativity Competencies and Creative Maturity”, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. at Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall (3^rd floor, Centennial Hall)
Artist’s talk: March 4 at 12:30 p.m. in Room 2C14 (2^nd floor, Centennial Hall)
Artist-led workshop in collaboration with The Writers’ Collective: “The Book of The and Another Book of The: Idea Generation – The Indispensable Core of Creativity”, March 5, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Gallery 1C03

Calgary-based artist Robert Kelly’s love of language led him to create this conceptual installation consisting of eleven distinct books of concrete poetry displayed on lecterns. A piece whose initial imposing appearance belies the artist’s often playful manipulation of text, the bookworks are based on the eleven words from the sentence fragment “the first time I heard the sound of a page turning.” Kelly’s point is to consider how awareness of minutiae is fundamental to meaningfulness. Minutia demonstrates this by isolating and recontextualizing components from the English language to create an arena in which to explore meaning. Kelly’s installation uses words, letters and sounds in his books to explore the meaningless/meaningful dynamic and challenge our level of awareness.

A special interactive component of the installation is an invitation for gallery visitors to respond to the texts in Minutia using graphite supplied by Gallery 1C03 to write or sketch their thoughts directly on the gallery walls.

Robert Kelly works in Calgary as a conceptual artist and educator. He practices in various media including painting, printmaking, installation and performance. Kelly’s themes are as diverse as his media, as revealed by two bodies of work which he continues to develop: White Noise is a new series of public installations and events focused on the threshold between passive tolerance and action, while Concept of Raven is a group of large-scale painted constructions that use the raven to explore spiritual, cultural and ecological perspectives. Kelly teaches creativity theory and practice, studio art and design and curriculum theory and design for the faculties of art and education at the University of Calgary. The editor of two recent publications on creativity as a primary rationale for education, Kelly has delivered many lectures and workshops on the subject of creativity and educational practice and serves as a consultant for the new Fine Arts Curriculum Initiative for the Alberta Ministry of Education. Kelly has presented his art in solo and group exhibitions across Alberta and in British Columbia and Ontario. Since its initial presentation at the Nickle Arts Museum in Calgary, Kelly’s conceptual bookwork installation Minutia has also been shown at the Maltwood Gallery in Victoria and at the McIntosh Gallery in London, Ontario. Minutia is Robert Kelly’s first solo exhibition in Manitoba.

Gallery 1C03 gratefully acknowledges financial assistance from The University of Winnipeg, Manitoba Arts Council and the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Regular gallery hours: Monday – Friday: 12:00 – 4:00 p.m.; Saturday: 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Admission to Gallery, reception, artist's lecture and artist’s talk are free and open to all. Pre-registration is required for workshops and registration fees apply. Contact Platform at outreach@platformgallery.org or The Writers’ Collective at writerscollective@uwinnipeg.ca for details.

For information, contact: Jennifer Gibson, Curator, Gallery 1C03 1st floor, Centennial Hall, The University of Winnipeg 515 Portage Ave, Winnipeg MB R3B 2E9 204.786.9253 | j.gibson@uwinnipeg.ca uwinnipeg.ca/index/artgallery-index | gallery1C03.blogspot.com