Calgary-based artist Linda Carreiro has returned to Winnipeg to present Langue, a solo exhibit of mixed media works that will be on display in Gallery 1C03 from January 22 until February 14. The exhibition uses tongue and text to explore ideas of language, memory, history and biography.
The pieces produced for Langue reveal how much Carreiro's art has changed in recent years. A vast departure from her 1997 Gallery 1C03 exhibition The Seven Deadly Sins and a Murder of Crows, Carreiro's current show reflects her move away from painting to focus on three-dimensional works that still manage to showcase her love of drawing. An adept draughtsperson, Carreiro's detailed anatomical studies of the tongue are made with unconventional materials such as marmalade and lemon juice. Carreiro also etches her drawings and textual elements with smoke to create a rough, charred appearance. Many of the components presented in this exhibition are made up of several layers, a physical aspect of the art that connects to metaphorical truths the artist is seeking to evoke.
Recently, Carreiro explained some of the ideas at play in Langue:
There is an abundance of wordplay among the works, not just "langue" being tongue and language, but in other examples . . . . The Latin derivation for the word history is "histos", meaning tissue, layer or web. This notion of the "trace" inherent in my works through the drawn or imprinted mark conveys a visual record of shifting time and memory; sometimes erased, sometimes re-written, sometimes re-revealed. The use of fire as both a metaphor and actual medium also become integral to the concept by suggesting images and phrases that are seared into one's memory.
An Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at the University of Calgary, Carreiro teaches painting and drawing and is pursuing cross-disciplinary research in art and anatomy. The artist obtained her BFA (Honours) degree from the University of Manitoba and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alberta. She has received several awards for her art, including project grants from the Manitoba Arts Council and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. In 2003, her piece Archives was selected for a Special Gallery Recognition Award in the 26th Bradley National Print and Drawing Exhibition in Illinois. Carreiro's art has been shown in numerous solo and group shows in Canada and the United States. Upcoming exhibitions include Against Tradition: Contemporary Trends in Printmaking at the University of Indiana, Writes of Passage at the Heuser Art Center in Illinois and Quintessence at the Nanaimo Art Gallery.
Gallery 1C03 gratefully acknowledges the support of the Manitoba Arts Council.
For further information, please contact Acting Art Curator Jennifer Gibson at 204.786.9253.