Bridge | Kotama Bouabane
2010
21 x 16.25 inches (28.5 x 24.25 inches framed)
Edition of 20, 3 APs
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
“My fascination with contemporary trade shows and the notion of ‘dream’ marketing is explored again within this new body of work. Bridge is from the 2010 International Auto Show. It utilizes the backdrop of a car campaign, strategically cropping out the logo and a car at the bottom of the bridge and including part of the convention centre in the background. It examines the staging of culture in North American society and how it is marketed to us.
I’ve been photographing various trade shows in Montreal, from the International Auto Show to the Bridal Show to the National Hunting and Fishing Outfitters Show. The installations at the trade shows act as sets and backdrops that are important in alluding to idealized social conventions like marriage, home, and profession as artificial, alienating, and phantasmagoric. The construction of each space utilizes objects that are familiar yet presents them as artifacts that seem uncanny and dislocated. The production of lifestyle and leisure are put on display in highly choreographed scenarios.”
—Kotama Bouabane, 2010
ABOUT KOTAMA BOUABANE
Born 1980 in Pakse, Laos
Kotama Bouabane is a Toronto-based artist who employs ethnographic approaches when examining the relationships between objects and images. Bouabane has received degrees from the Ontario College of Art & Design and Concordia University; has received grants from the Toronto and Ontario Arts Councils and the Canada Council for the Arts; and participated in the TPW exhibition “10 Days in July” in 2005.
Selected solo exhibitions: “We’ll Get There Fast and then We’ll Take It Slow,” Gallery 44, Toronto (2016); “Untitled,” Loop Hole, Toronto (2015); “Outdated, Updated, Renovated,” Erin Stump Projects, Toronto (2014); “Meisai,” York Quay Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto (2010)
Selected group exhibitions: “When Forms Become Attitude,” Contemporary Calgary, Calgary (2017); “Measured Time,” Harbourfront Centre, Toronto (2016); “Follow Suit,” Centre A, Vancouver (2014); “Collision 8,” Parisian Laundry, Montreal (2012); “Whitney’s Biennial,” C.R.E.A.M. Projects, Brooklyn (2009)
2010
21 x 16.25 inches (28.5 x 24.25 inches framed)
Edition of 20, 3 APs
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
“My fascination with contemporary trade shows and the notion of ‘dream’ marketing is explored again within this new body of work. Bridge is from the 2010 International Auto Show. It utilizes the backdrop of a car campaign, strategically cropping out the logo and a car at the bottom of the bridge and including part of the convention centre in the background. It examines the staging of culture in North American society and how it is marketed to us.
I’ve been photographing various trade shows in Montreal, from the International Auto Show to the Bridal Show to the National Hunting and Fishing Outfitters Show. The installations at the trade shows act as sets and backdrops that are important in alluding to idealized social conventions like marriage, home, and profession as artificial, alienating, and phantasmagoric. The construction of each space utilizes objects that are familiar yet presents them as artifacts that seem uncanny and dislocated. The production of lifestyle and leisure are put on display in highly choreographed scenarios.”
—Kotama Bouabane, 2010
ABOUT KOTAMA BOUABANE
Born 1980 in Pakse, Laos
Kotama Bouabane is a Toronto-based artist who employs ethnographic approaches when examining the relationships between objects and images. Bouabane has received degrees from the Ontario College of Art & Design and Concordia University; has received grants from the Toronto and Ontario Arts Councils and the Canada Council for the Arts; and participated in the TPW exhibition “10 Days in July” in 2005.
Selected solo exhibitions: “We’ll Get There Fast and then We’ll Take It Slow,” Gallery 44, Toronto (2016); “Untitled,” Loop Hole, Toronto (2015); “Outdated, Updated, Renovated,” Erin Stump Projects, Toronto (2014); “Meisai,” York Quay Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto (2010)
Selected group exhibitions: “When Forms Become Attitude,” Contemporary Calgary, Calgary (2017); “Measured Time,” Harbourfront Centre, Toronto (2016); “Follow Suit,” Centre A, Vancouver (2014); “Collision 8,” Parisian Laundry, Montreal (2012); “Whitney’s Biennial,” C.R.E.A.M. Projects, Brooklyn (2009)
2010
21 x 16.25 inches (28.5 x 24.25 inches framed)
Edition of 20, 3 APs
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
“My fascination with contemporary trade shows and the notion of ‘dream’ marketing is explored again within this new body of work. Bridge is from the 2010 International Auto Show. It utilizes the backdrop of a car campaign, strategically cropping out the logo and a car at the bottom of the bridge and including part of the convention centre in the background. It examines the staging of culture in North American society and how it is marketed to us.
I’ve been photographing various trade shows in Montreal, from the International Auto Show to the Bridal Show to the National Hunting and Fishing Outfitters Show. The installations at the trade shows act as sets and backdrops that are important in alluding to idealized social conventions like marriage, home, and profession as artificial, alienating, and phantasmagoric. The construction of each space utilizes objects that are familiar yet presents them as artifacts that seem uncanny and dislocated. The production of lifestyle and leisure are put on display in highly choreographed scenarios.”
—Kotama Bouabane, 2010
ABOUT KOTAMA BOUABANE
Born 1980 in Pakse, Laos
Kotama Bouabane is a Toronto-based artist who employs ethnographic approaches when examining the relationships between objects and images. Bouabane has received degrees from the Ontario College of Art & Design and Concordia University; has received grants from the Toronto and Ontario Arts Councils and the Canada Council for the Arts; and participated in the TPW exhibition “10 Days in July” in 2005.
Selected solo exhibitions: “We’ll Get There Fast and then We’ll Take It Slow,” Gallery 44, Toronto (2016); “Untitled,” Loop Hole, Toronto (2015); “Outdated, Updated, Renovated,” Erin Stump Projects, Toronto (2014); “Meisai,” York Quay Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto (2010)
Selected group exhibitions: “When Forms Become Attitude,” Contemporary Calgary, Calgary (2017); “Measured Time,” Harbourfront Centre, Toronto (2016); “Follow Suit,” Centre A, Vancouver (2014); “Collision 8,” Parisian Laundry, Montreal (2012); “Whitney’s Biennial,” C.R.E.A.M. Projects, Brooklyn (2009)