Art Metropole

20 Sep. - 01 Nov. 2008

Oblivion

Nestor Kruger

Time

2-4PM

Art Metropole is pleased to present Oblivion, a solo exhibition of new work by Nestor Kruger. Please join us on Saturday September 20, from 2-4 p.m., for the exhibition opening and to meet the artist. We are pleased to take part in Canadian Art’s Gallery Hop this year. To coincide with the Hop we will be hosting Dan Adler in conversation with Nestor Kruger at 1 o’clock.
In the exhibition, Kruger presents a series of artworks that trace a specific understanding the artist has of oblivion. Kruger refers to oblivion as a place rather than a state or condition of total forgetfulness. It is a space where exchanges, the effect of cancellation via identical values, create a flattening of the hierarchical status of objects; suggesting a return to a featureless, primordial space.

Kruger’s installation is comprised of an aquarium filled with a clear, odourless liquid, built to match and paired with an old-school Art Metropole vitrine. Another twosome, a pair of framed pictures, one in a black frame, the other in a white frame, hang on the wall. Each picture depicts a different item for sale. Operating as a legitimate advertisement, the pictures can also be read as well-preserved ephemera.

Nestor Kruger is a Toronto-based artist who has exhibited painting, installations, and videos, in museums and galleries both nationally and internationally. His work was recently included in a group exhibition at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto). He has had solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), Present Tense (Art Gallery of Ontario), and at Optica (Montreal). He has participated in group exhibitions at IASPIS (Stockholm), the Frankfurter Kunstverein, and MuHKA (Antwerp). Nestor Kruger is represented by Goodwater Gallery (Toronto), and holds a Lifetime Membership at Art Metropole.

Dan Adler is assistant professor of modern and contemporary art at York University in Toronto. He has published in the London-based journal Art History, regularly contributes reviews to Artforum and Canadian Art and is the author of Hanne Darboven: Cultural History, 1880-1983 (forthcoming, Afterall Books)

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