Anne Low

Anne Low’s roving exploration of historical decorative objects forms the basis for her work. Objects are invented that seem both familiar yet mysterious, with the artists’ imagination taking over where records no longer remain. Imagery, surfaces and materials are taken apart, brought together or recombined anew. Concerned with the conditions in which objects are produced and consumed — particularly by women — and the domestic spaces they defined, her artistic approach imagines the interior worlds of the woman who may have purchased, owned or used them.

While in previous exhibitions Low imagined a singular woman through her installation, Chair for a woman expands to imply a multitude of different possible fictional women and the emotional and psychological states that might be implied from the domestic objects she owns. In the purpose-built space of the gallery, Low takes the opportunity to consider systems of presentation often found in decorative arts museums, where historical rooms and objects are removed and reinterpreted beyond their original sites and contexts. Details in Low’s sculptures offer clues to the women who might have lived among such objects, but as with all of her work, that which remains unknown is as potent as what is offered up in all its pleasurable specificity.

Curated by Kimberly Phillips, with assistance from Julia Lamare

Biography

Anne Low is based in Montréal, Canada. Recent solo exhibitions include The Fine Line of Deviation (with Evan Calder Williams) and Paperstainer, Mercer Union, Toronto (2018);* A wall as a table with candlestick legs*, Tensta Konstall, Stockholm (2018) and Witch with Comb, Artspeak, Vancouver (2017). Recent group exhibitions include Soon Enough – Art in Action, Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm (2018); Clive Hodgson & Anne Low, The Block, London and Dream Islands, Nanaimo Art Gallery (2017); Vancouver Special: Ambivalent Pleasures, Vancouver Art Gallery; Standard Incomparable, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena (2016); The Grantchester Pottery Paints the Stage, Jerwood Visual Arts, London and Reading the Line, The Western Front, Vancouver (2015). In 2017 Low was included in the Loewe Craft Prize, La Fundación Arquitectura COAM, Madrid; Chamber Gallery, New York; and 21_21 Museum, Tokyo.