EVEN THE MOST FRAGILE OF PASSING MOMENTS HAS ITS ANTECEDENTS
FIONA KINSELLA & PAUL LISSON
APRIL 28 - MAY 28

"Nothing says the skull must remain hidden forever. What is concealed will come to light. What is hidden will be found. You can see that invisibility grows. The belly expands. The Egg cracks. The doll will twist and open."- - Robert Clark Yates in response to the work of Fiona Kinsella and Paul Lisson

The art of Fiona Kinsella and Paul Lisson embodies beauty and ugliness, life and death, fantasy and tragedy. By taking objects from our everyday and placing them in different settings they are forcing us to consider their uses, their meanings and their impact in our lives. Whether it is an old lace doily placed in the same frame as a medical drawing, an egg housing images from the Wizard of Oz, or a doll containing a skeleton, each of the components are very familiar to us, but by putting them together they are jarring. The artists ask the viewers to take a second look.


Kinsella creates her work out of materials generally associated with domesticity and women, using eggs that are delicately cracked open to show photo transfers and text. The eggs framed in beautiful wooden boxes are nestled in doilies.

Lisson juxtaposes the familiar image of the Babushka doll with that of a Halloween skeleton head. By referencing safe objects associated with home and childhood, Lisson questions safety versus vulnerability.

Both artists live and work in Hamilton, Ontario. They have been exhibiting their work throughout Canada for over a decade.