JIM VERBURG | AFTERIMAGE

Light patterns are formed, folded, reflected and repeated leaving a spectral impression. Verburg employs various techniques in the creation of this new body of work – ink is rolled onto glass forms, then transferred and layered onto newsprint – charcoal and powdered graphite is rubbed into cut translucent tape and arranged on paper – white translucent mylar is shifted and layered on a black background. These processes are not necessarily tethered to conventional disciplines such as ‘printmaking’ or ‘drawing’, they are rather the result of the artist employing different materials and methods in the studio to create layered dynamics of interplay & tension. These pieces reference a mirror or a projection – offering transparent layers that the viewer is invited to be absorbed by, or trapped in their opaque passages. The artist shows a sensitivity and vulnerability to materials and processes that responds in a way that is both subtle and quiet, using various means to reference the photograph and the ephemeral.

Verburg’s work in photography, video, print, installation, and text subtly mines the complexities of romantic and familial relationships. Often working with minimal or abstract shapes and images to create an emotional topography, revealing the intricate layers that constitute intimacy, the harmonies and dissonances inherent in an interpersonal dynamic. Taking shape as a poetic puzzle – where many individual pieces offer divergent perspectives and sit in tension with one another in a shared space, suggesting how differences in visual perception parallel the often disparate points-of-view held by individuals navigating relationships.

Jim Verburg is a citizen of Canada and the Netherlands. Past exhibitions include an installation at Widmer + Theodoridis contemporary (Zurich), Portrait Study at the New Stage of the National Theatre (Prague), Domestic Queens at the FOFA Gallery (Montreal), So Many Letdowns Before We Get Up at PLATFORM centre for photographic + digital arts (Winnipeg), and the solo exhibition One and Two at Galerie B-312 for Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal. Recently he has presented a solo installation at Convenience Gallery (Toronto), a feature exhibition for the Contact Festival (Toronto), Where I Lived, and What I Lived For curated by Jon Davies at the Oakville Galleries, Untitled Installation (Weights and Measures) at ARTSPACE (Peterborough), More Than Two (Let It Make Itself),curated by Micah Lexier at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto), and most recently Primeiro Estudo: Sobre Amor curated by Bernardo Mosqueira at Luciana Caravello Arte Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro Brazil. This fall he’ll be a part of the group exhibition Far Away So Close, curated by Kimberly Phillips at Access Gallery (Vancouver).

He has held residencies at the National Film Board of Canada (Montreal), Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography (Toronto) and The Banff Centre (Alberta). His film For a Relationship won the 2008 Jury Prize for the Best Canadian Short Film at the Inside Out Film Festival (Toronto), and was nominated for the Iris Prize (UK).

His first book Divided/Defined, Weights, Measures, and Emotional Geometry, was released by Dazibao (Montreal), and launched in Montreal and Toronto this past fall. Work from the publication was featured by Art Metropole at the 2013 Art Basel Miami.