BIOGRAPHY
Dana Edmonds has a multidisciplinary practice balanced between painting and graphic + web design. Born in Montreal, where she currently 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. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Canada and the US, including One Earth, One Chance at the Rebecca Gallery, Toronto (2016), Show Your World at Gallery MC New York, New York (2016), the Ontario Society of Artists Exhibition at Neilson Park Creative Centre, Toronto (2016) and I am NSCAD at the Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax (2015). She is a recent recipient of an award from the Canada Council for the Arts 2020 and the Montreal Art Council 2021.
Dana Edmonds has a multidisciplinary practice balanced between painting and graphic + web design. Born in Montreal, where she currently 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. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Canada and the US, including One Earth, One Chance at the Rebecca Gallery, Toronto (2016), Show Your World at Gallery MC New York, New York (2016), the Ontario Society of Artists Exhibition at Neilson Park Creative Centre, Toronto (2016) and I am NSCAD at the Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax (2015). She is a recent recipient of an award from the Canada Council for the Arts 2020 and the Montreal Art Council 2021.
ARTIST STATEMENT
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 and the Magical Realism 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 enhances 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.
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 and the Magical Realism 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 enhances 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 & Conseil des arts de Montréal.