Chlo Desjardins: The Sculptor's Studio

Opening: 26 February 6-8pm

Exhibition Runs Until: 4 April, 2015

Birch Contemporary is pleased to announce the first exhibition in Toronto of Montreal-based artist Chlo Desjardins.

The Sculptors Studio brings together a selection of recent works by Desjardins that are the result of several years worth of sustained research and practice. Having previously worked with techniques to reproduce specific forms of packaging bubble wrap, cardboard boxes, the sculptural results of which trouble the distinction between workaday and art objects, Desjardins continues her exploration of the often romanticised value of artistic labour through the imagery and symbols of an archetypal studio, particularly, that of a sculptor. Representations of fixtures such as a worktable simplified almost to the point of a sketch, tools and materials a pallet, scissors case and a pile of plaster and sculptures of casting moulds reflexively turn the material process of sculptural creation back on itself. Together these works create a microcosm, independent of time and reality, which serves as a meditation on both the creative process and the germination of artistic ideas and forms. However, a deliberate formal blurring makes it difficult to ascertain how the works are made or what precisely they represent. Rather than a continuous narrative, an assorted collection of forms, processes, and materials is presented; all whitealmost ghostlythe works are less a representation of specific physical forms, and more a materialization of the idea of such forms.

Desjardins lives and works in Montreal, her works have been recently been exhibited at the Maison de la Culture Plateau Mont-Royal, Parisian Laundry, Battat Contemporary and Galerie B-312.