Dominique Rey: Pilgrims

Oil painting, ma with a mask, three pointed red shirt, red beard, no shirt nipples are covered with x's. — Dominique Rey, General Infinite Love, 2008, oil on canvas, 42 by 30 in. - Image courtesy of the artist

September 9 - October 9, 2010

Performance by Triple Abzurbs Threat: Thursday, September 9, 2:30 - 3:30 p.m.
(Front lawn of The University of Winnipeg)

Opening reception: Thursday, September 9, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
(Gallery 1C03)

Public artist talk: Friday, September 17, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
(Room 2C15, 2nd floor, Centennial Hall)

Culture Days event: Saturday, September 25, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Drawing and mask-making workshops for all ages led by Tracy Woodward in Gallery 1C03!

Throughout her artistic practice, Winnipegger Dominique Rey has been fascinated by representations of the other — a figure both real and imagined — and the ways this figure embodies our deepest fears, our suppressed longings and the infinite complexities of human life. Gallery 1C03 presented Pilgrims, a series of Rey's oil paintings and ink drawings that explore notions of the “unbeautiful” and how the unbeautiful becomes permissible, and even desirable, via performance and public display.

To accompany this exhibition and coincide with the festive atmosphere of The University of Winnipeg's Orientation Week, Gallery 1C03 and the University of Winnipeg Students Association co-presented a participatory performance by the Abzurbs and their friends from Triple Threat. The Abzurbs is a collective of artists and musicians that merges burlesque, performance, music and visual art, evoking the grotesque through absurd and purposeless play. Dominique Rey is a founding member of the Abzurbs and their use of the mask and adoption of unconventional physical traits are vehicles of self-transformation which can be seen in Pilgrims.

Working in photography, video, painting and performance, Dominique Rey completed a BFA in painting at the University of Manitoba in 1999, a MFA in photography in 2007 at Bard College in New York and a MFA in New Media via Berlin's Transart Institute in 2011. Her work has been shown in solo exhibitions at Plug In ICA, Clark Gallery, Michael Gibson Gallery, Alternator Gallery, Gallery TPW, Truck Gallery, Gallery One One One and La Maison des artistes. Rey has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation and the Ricard Foundation. Her work has been reviewed in the Globe & Mail, Frieze, Canadian Art, Border Crossings and the Winnipeg Free Press. In addition to her visual work, Dominique Rey's activities include performing with the Abzurbs, teaching, presenting lectures and curating. Rey was a member of the Board of Directors of Ace Art Inc. from 2002-2009, and a MAWA mentor in 2008-09 in collaboration with La Maison des artistes. She was Winnipeg's Visual Arts Ambassador for the duration of the city's designation as Cultural Capital of Canada in 2010.

Gallery 1C03 gratefully acknowledges financial assistance for this project from the Manitoba Arts Council. The Gallery is also grateful for the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Dominique Rey wishes to thank Johnston Industrial Plastics for their generous support.

Regular Gallery Hours:
Monday - Friday, noon - 4 p.m.
Saturday: 1 - 4 p.m.

Contact:
Jennifer Gibson
Curator, Gallery 1C03
The University of Winnipeg
515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9
Ph: 204.786.9253
F: 204.774.4134
E: j.gibson@uwinnipeg.ca