The Garden of Earthly Delights
Juan Ortiz-Apuy, Midnight Rain, 2021. Image (detail) courtesy of artist.
Artists:
Juan Ortiz-Apuy
Dates:
October 30, 2021 - January 22, 2022
The Garden of Earthly Delights is the first exhibition of works by Montreal-based artist Juan Ortiz-Apuy on the west coast. Using video, light, sculpture, and living gardens, his works create a rhizomatic exploration of commodity fetishism, exploitation, and the tensions between the natural and artificial. Born in Costa Rica, Ortiz-Apuy’s brightly coloured, plasticized aesthetics are influenced by the commodification of the tropical rainforest he grew up so close to. In our current context of globalization and environmental precarity, The Garden of Earthly Delights immerses its viewer into an uncanny space of unboxing videos and animated household objects, while asking how we might create a more sustainable future.
Co-curated by Dani Neira and Toby Lawrence.
Open House: Saturday, Oct 30 from 3-7pm, artist in attendance.
The Garden of Earthly Delights opens with a free, in-person Open House. The use of masks is required and we are limiting capacity to 25 people in the space at a time.
Video Tour with
Juan Ortiz-Apuy
Juan Ortiz-Apuy is a Canadian-Costa Rican artist who has been living and working in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal since 2003. Ortiz-Apuy has a BFA from Concordia University (2008), a Post-Graduate Diploma from The Glasgow School of Art (2009), and an MFA from NSCAD University (2011).
Juan has exhibited across Canada and internationally in venues such as Les Abattoirs Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (France), IKEA Museum (Sweden), Pamflett (Norway), University of Wyoming Visual Art Gallery (USA), DHC/ART Fondation Phi pour l’art contemporain (Montreal), Owens Art Gallery (Sackville), Carleton University Art Gallery (Ottawa), MOMENTA Biennale de l’image (Montreal), Quebec City Biennial: Manif d'art 7 (Québec), Truck Contemporary Art (Calgary), Museum London (London), Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography (Toronto), The MacLaren Arts Centre (Barrie), and VOX Centre de l’image Contemporaine (Montreal).
He has been awarded numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and has been reviewed in various publications such as Canadian Art, MOMUS, esse arts + opinions, The Gazette (Montreal), Le Devoir (Montreal), and Public Parking. Ortiz-Apuy has completed several artist-in-residence programs, most notably at The Vermont Studio Center (USA), The Frans Masereel Centre (Belgium), and the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center (Denmark). Ortiz-Apuy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Studio Arts at Concordia University.