Thus began her professional career as a practicing clinical psychologist. That department was the Psychology Department. Tanya’s immediate reaction was to seek out the only department with a tenured female professor. The tone was sexist and derisive and it led to a ten year hiatus from seriously making art. He characterized her piece, which incorporated quilt collage elements, as “very feminine”. For him, the only work that was “worthy” was abstract expressionism. However, in one of her first classes in painting, the professor was quite dismissive of her efforts. She began formally studying art in college. Tanya’s career as an artist was nearly stillborn. It was a title that, for me, tied together many of the threads running throughout her art. The potential title that immediately resonated was “Illusion of Choice”. Tanya was struggling with a title for that work and she threw out a few possibilities. I was really taken with one of these new works in particular. The walls are plastered with tattered posters making vague promises, partially peeled away revealing fragments of older posters with more vague promises. They are inspired, in part, by the semi-destroyed temporary walls that you often see surrounding construction sites. She has founded and exhibited with a number of collectives including NetherMind, 5 things hic and Persona Volare.The most recent works by Tanya Wilkinson are a series of half life-sized paper dolls collaged over layers of fashion magazine layouts. Her work is included in collections such as The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, York University, Cadillac Fairview Corporation, Tom Thomson Art Gallery and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery. She has exhibited at The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Power Plant, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, The Mendel Art Gallery, The Textile Museum of Canada and Koffler Gallery among others. For over 20 years her work has been exhibited in galleries across Canada and internationally including San Francisco, New York, Adelaide (Australia), Paris, and Berlin. Rye received a BFA from York University and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Whether sculptural or video-based, the installations engage physically, optically, and conceptually, hailing us to our perception of time and space. Using angled forms, images, and the space itself, she creates encounters that require active viewing. She works in installation, sculpture, video and photography to explore our experience of architectural space. Lyla Rye began her studies in architecture. The artist would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. The artist would like to thank the following individuals for their assistance on the body of work presented in Illusion’s Obstacles: Walker Akhlaghi, Bhreagh Campbell, Aurelie Collings, Lisa Cristinzo, John Dickson, Holly Dunlap, Corinna Ghaznavi, Emma Goudie, Catherine Heard, Lee Henderson, Niloufar Hosseinkhani, Jacquie Jacobs, Pam Joyner, Anna Lefsrud, Yifan Liu, Anthony Magnani, Shelley McEwen, Pam Patterson, Leena Raudvee, Heather Riley, Lena Rye, Ellen Samler, Rachel Sekler, Claire Stewart, Lulu Turnbull, Ellen Gould Ventura, Nava Waxman, Termeh Yeghiazarian In contrast to the rapid pace of image creation and consumption in the digital world, Rye encourages slow viewing and close observation, and by extension, renewed attention to the physical world around us.Ī Meditation features audio by Debashis Sinha. In Illusion’s Obstacles, Rye presents embodied experiences that explore the disembodied experience of contemporary screen culture. Through these works, Rye subtly addresses how media and technology influence the perception of images. The works in this exhibition focus on illusions of space that can be created in the digital world, and in each, Rye employs different forms of representation to reveal when those illusions break down. Lyla Rye is a Toronto-based artist who uses video and installation to explore how we experience space and time.
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