Neville Grey
Bio
Born and raised on the West Coast, I am currently living between Victoria and Vancouver. This affords me a lot of time to watch the water and to upset Ferry workers asking for substitutions in the meals they sell. I attended both UBC and Emily Carr and have a BFA. I work mostly on paper with watercolour pigments but creating collages is also an important aspect of my art making. My work usually explores the unnoticed, forgotten or discarded but for this show, KickStart 5 Magic/Realism, the work goes inside to meditate on the cause and affect of my disability.
Born and raised on the West Coast, I am currently living between Victoria and Vancouver. This affords me a lot of time to watch the water and to upset Ferry workers asking for substitutions in the meals they sell. I attended both UBC and Emily Carr and have a BFA. I work mostly on paper with watercolour pigments but creating collages is also an important aspect of my art making. My work usually explores the unnoticed, forgotten or discarded but for this show, KickStart 5 Magic/Realism, the work goes inside to meditate on the cause and affect of my disability.
Artist Statement
“Every act of perception is, to some degree, an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.”
― Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: La musique, le cerveau et nous
The genre of magic realism, literary and visual, often presents situations in which implausible scenarios intrude in to the reality of the natural world. Similarly, during a sleeping state, unexpected scenarios can work their way out in a multidimensional context, with the mind experiencing the past, present and future simultaneously. The artist endeavors to make sense of the world and sorts through this information, and lived experiences, seeking to understand.
In my own case, when sleeping, rather than experience a reduced consciousness during which time my body and mind can rest, rejuvenate and awake refreshed, I regularly experience a powerful dream-state that is replete with multiple, concurrent narratives that are interrupted with formidable characters, scenarios, uncertainties, threats and demands. Far from waking refreshed and energized, it is more likely that I wake exhausted and worn out, having experienced something that felt tangible. While asleep, my unconscious mind engages fully and creates scenarios that can unsettle or pain me.
Upon waking, artistic ideas are fleeting and seem to evaporate, becoming a faint memory of a germ of an idea before I can grasp the image or concept. Nonetheless, the experiences have an impact on my artistic mind. So I work to translate these often extraordinary, surreal and colourful events, ideas and feelings in to the material world, as I live the day-to-day demands of my life.
These works endeavor to give expression to the ephemeral world of the unconscious mind, as I continue to perceive, imagine and create, while trying to make sense of the world around me.
“Every act of perception is, to some degree, an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.”
― Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: La musique, le cerveau et nous
The genre of magic realism, literary and visual, often presents situations in which implausible scenarios intrude in to the reality of the natural world. Similarly, during a sleeping state, unexpected scenarios can work their way out in a multidimensional context, with the mind experiencing the past, present and future simultaneously. The artist endeavors to make sense of the world and sorts through this information, and lived experiences, seeking to understand.
In my own case, when sleeping, rather than experience a reduced consciousness during which time my body and mind can rest, rejuvenate and awake refreshed, I regularly experience a powerful dream-state that is replete with multiple, concurrent narratives that are interrupted with formidable characters, scenarios, uncertainties, threats and demands. Far from waking refreshed and energized, it is more likely that I wake exhausted and worn out, having experienced something that felt tangible. While asleep, my unconscious mind engages fully and creates scenarios that can unsettle or pain me.
Upon waking, artistic ideas are fleeting and seem to evaporate, becoming a faint memory of a germ of an idea before I can grasp the image or concept. Nonetheless, the experiences have an impact on my artistic mind. So I work to translate these often extraordinary, surreal and colourful events, ideas and feelings in to the material world, as I live the day-to-day demands of my life.
These works endeavor to give expression to the ephemeral world of the unconscious mind, as I continue to perceive, imagine and create, while trying to make sense of the world around me.
"Hoping"
Watercolour on paper
13" X 19"
Framed: 18" X 24"
$395.00
Watercolour on paper
13" X 19"
Framed: 18" X 24"
$395.00
"Waiting"
Watercolour on paper
13" X 19"
Framed: 18" X 24"
$395.00
Watercolour on paper
13" X 19"
Framed: 18" X 24"
$395.00
"Gone"
Watercolour on paper
13" X 19"
Framed: 18" X 24"
$395.00
Watercolour on paper
13" X 19"
Framed: 18" X 24"
$395.00
Photos by Neville Grey
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