By rdnewsNOW staff

Red Deer MAG: Exemplars of the Feminine – Abstract Portraits

Oct 31, 2018 | 2:14 PM

Matt Gould is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Red Deer. His exhibition, Exemplars of the Feminine: upright portraits of a particular group of women in wool, leather, cotton, linen, wood and steel, will be on display at the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery (MAG) November 3rd, 2018 to January 6th, 2019. G

ould has created abstracted portraits of women based on words and artifacts supplied by them. When seen in assembly, these columns are reminiscent of trees in a clearing, maypoles or memorials, each reflecting the nature and personality of the subjects.

As a response to his 2014 exhibition, “Totems of the Masculine,” Gould put the call out to women who were interested in exploring their ideas of womanhood – what it meant to them, how they saw themselves as women, their successes and failures. To that end, they each answered a questionnaire, the same as the men answered four-plus years ago, and submitted that to him along with a box of nine personal “artifacts.” These objects ran the gamut; from photographs and letters, to bits of jewelry, empty birds nests, antlers and even children’s teeth! He then took both the objects and the text and created abstracted portraits of each of the women, using leather, industrial wool felt, linen, cotton, wood and steel.

“Matt’s unique approach to creative inquiry really resonated with the women who participated,” says Lorna Johnson, Executive Director. “It will be intriguing to see how he interprets the stories of the women in media and materials that are more traditionally used by female artists. I am sure that the works will be engaging and provocative!”

Over the course of his career, multi-discipline artist, Matt Gould, has found expression through painting, drawing, singing, acting, writing, stage directing, design and fibre art. He has created and exhibited works on paper, canvas and in textiles. Gould’s work can be found in numerous private, public and corporate collections in Canada, the United States and Europe including the Athabasca University, The University of Alberta, Manulife Insurance Company and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. 

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First Fridays Red Deer – Exemplars of the Feminine Opening Reception: Join the MAG from 5-8pm on Friday, November 2nd for the opening reception of Exemplars of the Feminine: upright portraits of a particular group of women in wool, leather, cotton, linen, wood and steel, by Matt Gould.

(Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery)