Opening Reception: Thursday, June 4, 6-9pm
Blanket is pleased to present a two person exhibition of work by Elspeth Pratt and Corin Sworn.
Elspeth Pratt’s new work engages with the role for ornamentation in the constitution of architecture. Ornament problematizes the duality of form and function and allows us the possibility of thinking about their relationship in new ways. The spaces that she considers are spaces of authority ranging from the obvious spaces for incarceration to the more subtle instances power and control reside in furniture or spatial delineations implied within a space. Elspeth Pratt has had solo exhibitions at the Charles H Scott Gallery (Vancouver), Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), Artspeak (Vancouver), YYZ (Toronto) and the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge). Pratt has exhibited in group exhibitions in Canada, Japan, Australia, Taiwan and Italy, including Weak Thought at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Architettura: Astriazione in Rome, and Contingent: Eva Hesse, Elspeth Pratt and Martha Townsend at the Dunlop Art Gallery. Elspeth Pratt lives and works in Vancouver, BC.
Corin Sworn, often combining precise references and oblique allusions, offers a world where ideas and symbols shift meaning of popular perceptions of social structures. Uncovering some of the ways in which design functions as language, Sworn brings into question contestations involved in readings of the past, drawing attention to the embedded nature of cultural constructs. Having received a BA in psychology and art history from the University of British Columbia, Sworn continued her academic path at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (London, UK), Emily Carr University of Art and Design (Vancouver, BC) and Glasgow School of Art, where she recently received her MFA. Sworn has exhibited at galleries including the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Or Gallery, Artspeak, and Access Artist-Run Centre, Vancouver, BC; VTO Gallery, Cover Up, and Gasworks (curated by Goshka Makuga), London, UK; Wolfsburg, Germany; and ZieherSmith in New York, NY. Sworn has been selected to participate in East International at Norwich Gallery (Norwich, UK) this coming summer. Sworn lives and works in Glasgow.
