Paradise Lost at Slide Room Gallery
I was very happy that I stopped by the Vancouver Island School of Art a couple of weeks ago to see the art installation, Paradise Lost, by Xane St. Philip.
Xane’s installation completely transformed the gallery. (If you haven’t been there, imagine an old school –and I do mean old school— building’s basement, dark and dingy, albeit with a few windows and doors….not the most aesthetically pleasing, or comfortable space.)
The space itself became a work of art. Xane gave an artist’s talk, and explained some of the features of Paradise Lost. He talked about colour theory, as espoused by Josef Albers. He touched on the components of a classical garden, and he elicited participants’ responses to the title of the installation, Paradise Lost.
Just as the beauty of a garden is transitory, Paradise Lost has come and gone from the Slide Room Gallery at VISA. I look forward to the catalogue, and I’ll never again look at that gallery space in quite the same way.
