Kelly Jazvac & Kelly Wood

The dissemination of information, how we are seduced, the material detritus left behind from such seduction and the infrastructure of life that supports contemporary luxury all come to mind when viewing “Impel with Puffs.” This exhibition, presented by Diaz Contemporary in Toronto, featured two solo exhibitions that also created a dialogue between the London, Ontario-based artists, sculptor Kelly Jazvac and photographer Kelly Wood. The two bodies of work—Jazvacs’s salvaged vinyl sculpture and wall works and Wood’s photographs addressing issues of pollution—created a space where ideas concerning the afterlife of human presence were brought to the forefront. Those concerns, specifically ones of environmental waste and media, leave traces, and these traces are then picked up by Wood and Jazvac, becoming the medium with which this work—and this exhibition—was produced.

Kelly Jazvac has been working with salvaged vinyl from advertising for several years—bending, folding and laminating large shards to form her sculptures. However, most of these works are barely sculpture in the traditional idea of a structure existing in three-dimensional space. Laminated together and delivered to us in FedEx form from some otherworldly place or recess of the mind, these compressed planes create a well sealed, albeit slightly tampered-with packaging of all that surrounds us. Jazvac brings us our world in a two-dimensional wrap format creating a new and hollow third dimension. This wrapping slumps into its forms, questioning both a failure of sculptural integrity and a prostration of two-dimensional forms—paper, cardboard, vinyl, plastic. Those that refuse to completely flatten curl towards us as if to renounce their material’s original intended use.

In the two works Battle of Leisure (this one standing 14 feet high) and An Alcove within a Niche, Jazvac explores some new additions to her work with steel poles and stanchions holding flat works in space as if they were presentation screens. On the backside of each piece, the screen is reflective and is emphasized with a light source—either a single or double lamp component. These new props help to secure the presence or origins of her salvaged material. Like resurrecting ghosts, print media and the digital dissemination of contemporary information is referred to here. However, there is a lack in its present form. Where does this information, this media, come from and what are its sources; what does it represent? In this presentation there is a suggestion of mere reflection of tangible reality, the phantasmagoric presentation of lifestyle.

In the work Red Teaming, a rectangle of vinyl depicting a section of grass has had a large section cut away in the centre—a long strip remains above and another longer strip dangles away at the bottom. On the section of rectangle that remains, the vinyl is slightly folded and a small pleat sewn into it with thread; at the corners where the section has been cut away, the material folds outward revealing an underside depicting something that is bright yellow and plastic. This piece is typical of her work in its suggestion of several planes in a mostly flat work. The recognizable and organic imagery of grass is, however, unusual in comparison to the mass-produced luxury consumer goods that are often referred to in her work. Here, a natural and organic, although groomed, substance becomes fair game in a world of commodities.

This reference to the organic leads to the body of work produced by Kelly Wood. If Jazvac collects the leftovers of public advertising that infiltrate our environment, Wood collects evidence of infiltration that is harder to track—ephemeral evidence at once beautiful and ominous. In continuing her photo-based work exploring the accumulation of waste, environmental issues and pollution, Wood creates a parallel dialogue with Jazvac in questioning both the waste and the ambiguous nature of permanence and solid form.

The photographs on immediate view blur the boundary between nature and human-produced pollution. The puffy smoke against a bright blue sky appears no more menacing than billowing clouds—their airy and benign nature beg us to hold our suspension of disbelief for just a few seconds longer. We are aware that, like clouds, these cottony pillows are ephemeral. The camera capturing this puff of chemicals slows us down and forces us to wonder what indeed it is made of. What happens when it disappears from the eye so quickly; how dangerous is “nothing”—how dangerous is the air and how often do we think of what we cannot see?

In all the unpopulated photographs there are sections of blue sky with small references to infrastructure here and there—the top of a smokestack, power lines, a chemical trail, highway lamps. The only substances that suggest movement—and therefore the only ones with any life—are the billows of smoke and clouds. These trails that we send up to the sky float, dissipate and live with the atmosphere. Wood’s previous projects have included The Continuous Garbage Project, a series in which she documented her weekly garbage. Photographing a black plastic bag full of her waste each week, Wood produced a slowly shrinking animated portrait of her yearly disposal and also made herself available for scrutiny. In this project at Diaz Contemporary Wood turns the scrutiny outward to the public, to the shared space and air that we all breathe. Perhaps we can follow her challenge, and by allowing these puffs to remain in our consciousness we can commit to collectively shrinking these ominous clouds in the atmosphere.

Both Jazvac and Wood are contemplating visual seduction, from sourcing glossy advertising material and material products to capturing the ephemeral. Whether seduction is the medium or the message, both artists question the visible and invisible forms that shape our modes of communication, consumption and disposal. ❚

“Kelly Jazvac and Kelly Wood: Impel with Puffs” was exhibited at Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, from February 21 to March 23, 2013.

Stephanie Cormier is a multidisciplinary artist who currently lives in Toronto and is an MFA candidate at the University of Guelph.