Michelle Allard
Highlife

In Gallery One
December 8, 2007 – January 10, 2008

Opening Reception: Friday, December 7, 7pm
Artist Talk: Wednesday, January 9, 2pm
This exhibition is accompanied by a RAG publication

Michelle Allard installs a new work informed by irregular and complex patterns found in inorganic structures and speleogy (cave sciences, stalagmites, etc)– formations that arise from pre-existing conditions. Made entirely of thousands of sheets of rolled highlighter coloured office papers and cardboard boxes, Highlife makes more out of less while considering processes of circulation, accumulation and mutability. Allard resists singular readings in her practice, attempting to work within and beyond established systems and signification. For the curator, Allard's use of space refers to minimalist sculpture while offering humorous and uncanny narrative content(s) in the transformative activation of everyday materials.

Michelle Allard received her MFA from the University of Guelph in 2003 and now lives and works in Vancouver. Recent exhibitions include: Flourish at Mercer Union, Toronto, 2006, In Transit at Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, 2006, and More or Less at Eye Level Gallery, Halifax, 2006. She has also taken part in several residencies; Association Pollen, France, 2005; Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Japan, 2005 and Aceartinc in Winnipeg, 2004. She is commercially represented by Diaz Contemporary.

Left: Michelle Allard, Highlife, work in progress, the artist's studio, 2007