Layers of cave mythologies inform the material and compositional play in Figuring Depths. An investigation into simultaneous interior-exteriority, this exhibition references cave spaces, both as artificial garden features and vital subterranean ecosystems. In Heavenly Caves: Reflections on the Garden Grotto, Naomi Miller traces the ancient and varied tradition of the grotto and observes that “from Homer to Joyce the grotto has been the locus of mysterious forces, of unanswered questions, of states of being and becoming…”(1982, 123). Through undulating surfaces, painterly strata and enmeshing of recognizable forms these painting-installations query humanism’s static enclosing of vibrant and intermingled beings while also figuring notions of porous personhood.
Sarah Carlson is an interdisciplinary artist who recently completed her MFA at OCAD University. Carlson earned her BFA at York University in 2009 and BEd at the University of Toronto in 2010. She has completed residencies at Algonquin Park, Gaspé Peninsula, Toronto Islands, Dawson City Yukon, Barcelona Spain and Florence Italy.
www.sarahcarlson.ca @sarahlizcarlson