FABULOUS FINDS

Tyler Lafreniere, Claire Lachow, and Jon Duff
On view: January 22nd - February 20th, 2022
Opening reception: Saturday 29th of January, 4-7pm

FABULOUS FINDS includes Claire Lachow’s futurstic 3D works; Tyler Lafreniere’s carefully organised panels, packed with symbolism and executed with precise intensity, combining painting and silkscreen techniques. Exploding with content, Jon Duff’s paintings hold a collage-like quality, as do Lafreniere’s works. Each artist offers their own unique take on personal identity, and how they confront current challenges.

Jon Duff’s Inventory Paintings, as he calls them, carry collections of recognizable objects and unexpected, surreal forms, painted in bright colors, seemingly jump- ing around the canvas. His work reflects societies present condition of overabundance and disorder. Duff pokes fun at the human experience through his works, which express a disorderliness that is both humorous and apocalyptic. Duff’s subject matter is a combination of personal imagery and images found on the internet, most of which are sourced from Amazon product pages. He combines personal and consumerist experiences together to create a surrealist realm that describes current psychological experiences and communicates a humorous cynicism of our anthropocentric perspective.

Tyler Lafreniere’s work probes the contemporary masculine identity by interpreting the “male” persona through the recreation of cultural imagery. The precision in the rendering and graphical positioning of the silk screened and painted elements give them an equality of weight and purpose, complicating their original semiotic codes. The work denies the obvious narratives of masculinity as the interactions between the subjects shift from comical to disconcerting, ultimately settling deeper into the collective pit of the stomach.

Claire Lachow’s work considers how humans relate to their bodies and the natural world within a late-capitalist paradigm. Exploring the ways that these relationships are objectified and intensified through digital technology, particularly in video games. Starting with crude digital ephemera —free 3D models, cell phone footage, found language from message boards and comments, etc.— Lachow creates sculptures, collages, texts, 3D animations, and scripted videos. Often returning to the same source material over long periods of time and across mediums; whereas they would otherwise be considered digital detritus, she uses these sources as an index for changing technologies and attitudes.

FABULOUS FINDS offers a humoristic view on the flaws, big and small, of modern day society. The three artists included in the show offer different expressions of overlapping topics, subtle, spot on and with a hint of irony. Turning the gallery into a great looking assemblage of modern day observations, critiques, questions and symbols.