“Surfacing” & “Chaos and Order”, July 2008
July 5 – 26 , Reception Sat. July 5, 4-7 p.m. Open Thurs,Fri.,Sat., 11:30-4:30
Also Open Sunday, July 6, 11:30-4:30
Kenna Fair – “Surfacing”
How does the movement of air play with the wings of a bird? How does the world living in water and the world living in air communicate or are they in a constant state of oblivion towards each other until some sort of collision takes place? Whether it is elemental or life/death that line is all around us. My work has been an exploration of that space within the depth and movement of the carve, the brush stroke and the subject matter. Through that I intend to communicate the mind boggling spectacle of interconnection and disconnection. So, however you may look at my work, I hope that you enjoy the dynamic energy and personality of each subject I paint, with a small window of understanding behind the inspiration of my art.
![](http://www.insightartgallery.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/kfair_herring_for_web.jpg "Kenna Fair\'s \")
Kenna graduated from Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1992. From there she worked at the Helen Pitt Gallery in Vancouver and curated the show “Rednecks and City Slickers”. In 1994 she moved to Galiano Island and got swept up for 12 years into the world of Film and Video while still painting and drawing on the side. Recently Kenna has made the big leap to dedicate herself full time to her first love, painting, and at this point has no intentions of looking back. She and 4 other Galiano artists just opened Island’s Edge Gallery of Fine Art. This is Kenna’s first major show at the Insight Art Gallery.
Kenna has previously been in shows on Galiano Island at the Galiano Art Gallery, and group shows at the Insight Art Gallery. She has also been the curator of Digital Madness (digital photography) and “in a small way” I and II (miniature art works). Presently she has a number of paintings at the Winchester Gallery in Oak Bay. You can see more of Kenna’s work at www.kennafair.com.
A.J. Bell – “Chaos and Order”
![](http://www.insightartgallery.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/ajbell_the_current.jpg "A.J. Bell\'s \")
A. J. Bell was educated in the Fine Arts department at York University. He has worked as a boat builder, furniture builder, cabinet maker and house carpenter. After moving to Galiano in 1989, he worked at the Sturdies Bay ferry terminal, and in 2005 he made visual arts his full time occupation/obsession. His central concern is the question, why does anything exist? Everything is fascinating, astonishing in that it does exist. The universe is inexplicable, improbable, and totally incomprehensible, yet it teems and riots around us. Compared to the size of the universe, we are so small, it can be terrifying to look closely at creation’s incredible vibrancy. But it is important for us to attend. If we don’t, we might never know who we are or how we fit into reality. By looking and painting, Arnie (in total perplexity) contemplates the utter mystery of existence. And the only underlying thing he really sees is that even on the stillest day, everything is in movement and everything changes. Things go in and out of each other through the most amazing transformations. Identity is mutable, nothing is permanent. The wind rises water off the surface of the sea and sends it into the air to fall as rain. Rushing streams grind down rocks. And out of the sandy soil, trees grow tall enough to be blown down by the wind. Lining the streets of a west coast city, a forest of holly trees grows out of the high crotches of ancient oaks. Everything is energetically chaotic, changing places; and on our good days, we can see the beauty. Arnie uses his paintings to abstract out what he perceives to be the most intriguing and beautiful bits of the energetic world. He tries to explore the fine line between chaos and order, the knife edge of existence.