Michael Greer’s exhibition of figurative charcoal drawings and oil paintings explores questions like: What happens when life throws you a curveball? A life-threatening illness? The end of a relationship? The loss of a loved one? How do these life experiences meet the flesh? How do we carry our responses to such events in our bodies? This show, Surrender, is a space in which to consider some of the complexities and nuances of these and other questions with this series of work. See Surrender in the Corridor Gallery March 4 – 28.

Of the exhibition, Greer states:

This exhibition marks a significant departure for my practice from semi-abstract subject matter to figurative painting. This move towards figuration has allowed me to approach new content with the specificity that, to me, comes with the figure. My paintings and drawings are a layering of marks that remain faithful to the photographic source material and marks that seem ‘accidental’. Marks are put down in layers that are sometimes partially or wholly covered over. This type of mark making reveals both the process used and the time it took to make the work. The figures inhabit that temporal environment. Parts of those figures come to complete form and other parts are incomplete. In this way the technical narrative is about both form and formlessness, the physical and metaphysical, integration and disintegration. The figures in the paintings, much like the viewers of the paintings, are subject to the inevitable passage of time.

Raised in Italy, Spain, and Belgium, Michael Greer was exposed to centuries of European artistic tradition from a young age. He studied fine arts at the University of Guelph, OCAD University, and the Academie des Beaux-Arts de Watermael-Boitsfort in Brussels, Belgium, before completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at NSCAD University. Following art school he made films/videos for several years before returning to painting and drawing. Greer currently lives in Dartmouth and enjoys time spent in his studio in the north end of Halifax.

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia office at the Halifax Seaport since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complimented by a historical legacy of Nova Scotia culture, simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia and is open Monday through Friday, 9:30am – 5pm.

Visual Arts Nova Scotia advances the visual arts through leadership, education, and communication.

See more of Michael Greer’s work on his website: www.michaelgreerart.com.

High resolution image for press available via Dropbox.

For further information regarding the exhibition please contact:
Carri MacKay
Programming Coordinator
902.423.4694 | 1.866.225.8267 | f: 902.422.0881
vans@visualarts.ns.ca | www.visualarts.ns.ca

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