The March show at the Station House Gallery features work by mixed media artist Bill Edmonds in the main gallery and paintings and sculpture by David Jacob Harder in the upper gallery.
In his creations Edmonds raises issues of anonymity and the release of personal information in the digital age.
This visually stunning collection is based on images and texts received from complete strangers over the internet.
In an interesting twist Edmonds paints his portraits with ordinary house paint often painting on both sides of plexiglass.
“RONA is my opus, lets put it that way,” Edmonds said in his talk during the opening of the show.
“I’m basically a happy person but I won’t paint a happy face,” Edmonds he added during an interview.
Edmond’s work has been strongly influenced by the figurative artists of The St. Ives and Newlyn Schools of Southwest Cornwall where he grew up.
He has lived and painted in Hope for the last three years. Prior to this he was based in the Thompson Okanagan for 25 years and North Vancouver for six years. He sells his work mainly from his studio and at shows.
His first series of shows were mainly in central B.C. and on Vancouver Island.
These were quick style renderings in house-paint, based on candid moments captured through the lens of his camera.
Later, he had intermittent shows, mostly group shows, in New York and Los Angeles, and has now returned to his roots in B.C.
Harder’s show in the upper gallery titled (Un)tamed and (Un)earthed features paintings and sculpture inspired by the natural world and reflecting the difficulty of balancing the needs of wildlife with the needs of man.
During the opening of his show Harder explained that he grew up in the country, home schooled. He said he and his father have hunted and he doesn’t condemn hunting per se, but he is “not to keen on trophy hunting.”
In his next art project, he said he wants to do more exploration with taxidermy.
Harder is an interdisciplinary visual artist/curator born in Quesnel. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts, and a Bachelor of Arts in Social History, from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.
Harder has shown in numerous public exhibitions across Western Canada and the U.S. and continues to develop his work in his homes in Wells and Penticton.
People may recognize him as the co-ordinator for Island Mountain Arts’ ArtsWells Festival of All Things Art.
This month’s show runs through Saturday, March 28.