KYLE BEAL
VIVIANEART is pleased to present The Green Room, an exhibition of new works by Kyle Beal. Centred around a green palette, Beal’s mixed media practice continues to explore ideas of individuality and the performance of the everyday. Beal’s newest body of work centres around the ‘green room’, a room actors use before going on stage or in front of the camera, in costume but not yet in character. Drawing on his past works which include depictions of mirrors and reflections, The Green Room portrays a ‘house of mirrors’ that reflects upon contemporary social media existence, and notions of non-performance or at-rest authenticity at play. His continued interest is in exploring the idea that for most of us, we operate in a series of situational versions of ourselves, shifting ourselves to suit an audience, or circumstances as they occur.
“The pandemic has in many ways put some aspects of the ‘performance’ on pause. Our audience has shrunk as our interpersonal interactions have largely been reduced to zoom with co-workers (where we are often preoccupied with consuming an image of ourselves as our work persona) and transactional ones as we venture out for essential items, or meet delivery drivers. These exchanges are all interrupted or screened at many levels. In some ways we are left with social media, which, ironically is mostly anti-social; and exists as an isolating platform for self-branding and unhappy voyeurism. And so, we wait. We wait for things to reopen, for social interactions to re-normalize. For our worlds to spring. We are (to some degree) performers in a green room, ready to perform, waiting to be called.”
Beal holds a BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design (2001) and an MFA from the University of Victoria (2004). His work has been exhibited across Canada and the USA in Montreal, Toronto, New York City, Calgary, Saskatoon, Seattle, and Vancouver, notably including presentation in the 2015 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, and the Esker Foundation, Calgary, among others. Beal currently lives and works in Edmonton, Alberta. Upcoming exhibitions include a Series Exhibition in 2022 at the Nickle Galleries at the University of Calgary. Beal’s work is included in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton.
Watch Kyle Beal in conversation with Viviane Mehr HERE.
Watch a short film about Kyle Beal’s public artwork “Nightwatch” HERE.
