robots and monsters – ayden gallery

robots and monsters is the theme for the Ayden Gallery’s art collection this fall. the Ayden Gallery is located in Tinseltown near downtown Vancouver where exhibitions of the local art can be seen. the contemporary art displayed were beautiful yet quite disturbing at the same time. for example, Jesse Schilperoort paired androids and human females in his pencil sketches and called them “Perfect couple 1, 2, 3 and 4.” more outrageously, Peter Ricq’s detailed acrylic paintings are of robots and monsters having sexual intercourse with women. both artists were seen at the opening reception collaborating on yet another out-of-this-world painting.

* Jesse Schilperoort (left) and Peter Ricq (right)

"zom bot" - by Peter Ricq

Dan VanHarmelen’s miniature robots made from scraps of metals and other interesting bits were scattered around the gallery. his mini light-up bots can serve as both casual accessories and alternative desk lamps.

3D Leigh created some interesting mixed media pieces which played with the visual dimensions of the canvas. robots and monsters protruded out of the 2D plane to grab its “heart” for installation in “Install Heart.” 3D Leigh also used the giclee technique to draw cartoonish monsters. similarly, Megan Majewski’s sharply defined acrylics paintings were of gothic skeletal robots that reminded me of those characters in the cartoon called the Night Before Christmas.

"install heart" - by 3D Leigh

"cell" - by 3D Leigh

"come to take my soul away" - by Megan Majewski

the exhibition also featured related designer products from Tokyo Flash and Mike Kammerer’s furniture. Tokyo Flash is a leading watch brand in Japan which uses LED lights to display time. unlike classic time-keepers, these watches do not require their owners to read numbers, but rather to count dots of lights displayed in uniquely organized fashions. on the other hand, Mike Kammerer bent euro-birch into skeletal shapes and mingled them with traditional Asian rice paper to form one-of-a-kind floor lanterns. the Ayden Gallery truly showed that the boundaries of contemporary art are limitless.

"infection" - by Tokyo Flash

"frond lamp" - by Mike Kammerer

*where you can learn more about the Ayden Gallery: http://www.aydengallery.com/EN/artists/www.aydengallery.com

-cup of red