Dana Edmonds has a multidisciplinary practice balanced between painting and graphic + web design. Born in Montreal, where she lives and works, Dana received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, Halifax (1990). She has also studied Graphic Design at Dawson College and Art Education at McGill University. Dana has attended BANFF Emerging BAIR Residency, Alberta (2022) and Jano Lapin Residency, Montreal (2022). Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Canada and the US, including "I am NSCAD" Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax (2015), "Show Your World" Gallery MC, New York (2016), "Painting 2017: Juried Exhibition," John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto (2017), 33rd Chelsea International Fine Art Competition Exhibition" Agora Gallery, New York (2018), Xposed: Humans vs. Planet Earth", Knox Contemporary Gallery of Art, Alberta (2019), "Future_Tense," Intervals Collective, Maison de la culture Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal (2020), “Being Scene" Workman's Art, Toronto (2022), Art for Climate Justice, David Suzuki Foundation (2021) "Steal this Poster" Atelier Circulaire, Centre3, and Martha Street Studio (2023), “Zoom Art”, Laval (2023), “The Heart and Soul of St. Henri” at Musée Pointe-À-Callière, Montreal (2024) and her upcoming Solo Exhibition at Gallery 101 in Ottawa, scheduled for June 27 to July 27, 2024. She is a recipient of grants awarded from the Canada Council for the Arts for 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023, as well as, the Montreal Art Council 2021 and the Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Québec 2024.
Dana Edmonds uses oil paint to explore Overconsumption, namely Fast Fashion and its effects on Mental Health Issues: addiction, body dysmorphic, hoarding, anxiety, depression and Climate Change. By forming the connection between nature and culture, her images reflect consumption patterns in different times and spaces of everyday life.
This new series renegotiates painting as part of a reactive commentary on environmental issues and representations of nature in contemporary society. Demonstrating the omnipresent lingering of the "materialistic world" through these landscapes, Dana is looking to develop forms that do not follow logical criteria but on subjective associations and formal parallels.
She uses digital photography and digital media rather than her memory to further enhance and question the aesthetic of distance and cognitive dissonance. How intimately do we know our surroundings? Are we aware of the extent of the consequences of overconsumption? What do we choose to ignore? What is considered valuable versus what gets thrown away? Do things have agency? How do classism and racism play a role in Fast Fashion, Mental Health Issues and Climate Change? Exploring the concept of converting the grotesque into beautiful and Magical realism draws attention to these questions and concerns, inviting the viewer to make new personal associations between art, everyday life and mass culture.
Photography and Artistic Direction:
Camille Dubuc @camille_dubuc
Audience: Joëlle Villeneuve @joellevillenveuve
Alexia Toman @al.toman , Tomy Jo @tomyjo
Em-P L'Abbée @pas.si.bum.que.ca
Camille Dubuc @camille_dubuc
Audience: Joëlle Villeneuve @joellevillenveuve
Alexia Toman @al.toman , Tomy Jo @tomyjo
Em-P L'Abbée @pas.si.bum.que.ca
Acknowledgement of the support of The Canada Council for the Arts
Acknowledgement of the support of The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
Acknowledgement of the support of Conseil des Arts de Montréal.