Allison Hrabluik

21 October 2004 - 27 November 2004
Opening Reception 21 October 2004 8pm

Front Gallery:

Island, Bar, and Abattoir

Hrabluik photographs her locations on site then takes her images back to the studio where she uses them to make miniature sets. Filming her characters’ silent pantomimed action within the confines of her studio, she selects every few frames from the shot footage, cuts out the individual characters by hand, then places them within the miniature sets—bringing them to life by way of stop-motion animation. The miniature set building and labour-intensive technical aspect of her animation process; the sharply articulated divide between the actual filmed space of her characters and their replicated, miniaturized, and superimposed placement within the space of her collaged location; the suspension of disbelief that her recreated film sets require of the viewer; the contrast between seductive aesthetics, cyclical content, and connotative setting—these all function with the disembodied and disjointed “action” of her characters to create a changed place and a new moment.

– Luanne Martineau

“For Pit Bar, Dawson City, Yukon I visited the Yukon partly to satisfy an interest in comparing the Canadian North with my romantic impressions formed of the north of Lofoten Islands, Norway. During my research I managed to both de-romanticize my notion of the place, and confirm it with a more familiar definition. It was hard to avoid the Klondike legends of Dawson City, being that the gold rush is the most documented moment in the Yukon’s history. Due to our lack of abilities to handle the Yukon wilderness, I spent more time in the town of Dawson City than originally intended. During this time, I was introduced to the younger generation’s attempt to replace the legends of Klondike history, and their recognition of the economic necessity of building a culture in Dawson that could function independently from this history. It is this attempt by the younger generation that The Pit Bar, Dawson City, Yukon is nodding towards.”

-Allison Hrabluik

Allison Hrabluik is from Calgary, Alberta and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions and film festivals across Canada and internationally, including Catriona Jeffries Gallery (Vancouver, BC), Downtown Artspace (Adelaide, Australia), Market Gallery (Glasgow, Scotland), EK Arts Centre (East Kilbride, Scotland), Stride Gallery (Calgary, AB), Eastern Edge Gallery (St. John’s, NFLD) and Latitude 53 (Edmonton, AB). Allison’s videos have recently been screened for Artboat as part of Art Chicago through Threewalls Gallery (Chicago) and as All Set: Two Model Videos by Allison Hrabluik on CBC Radio 3. She has recently made multiple works with Tutu magazine (Glasgow), Patti magazine (Vancouver), Art Metropole (Toronto), Artcity (Calgary), and independently as The Lost Hamster Commission.