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Dimensions: 20X20 inches
Date: 2006
Medium: Chromogenic Print

Artist Statement:
NICHOLAS AND SHEILA PYE


Two essential aspects propel our image making practice: One is HER and the other HIM. Two parts that are not trying to fit together, are not trying to find a greater meaning in regards to togetherness, and are not searching for belonging or identifying with anything. Creating representations that pose questions with a lack conventional definability drive the production of our ideas. The PRACTICE that we engage in is concerned with different modes of visual articulation. Through photographic, cinematic and preformative means we concentrate on the body as a material and an object. Disengaging tradition and dismantling pre-conceptions are common themes in our work as well as lack of definition and an interest in the death of the author (artist as subjectified and objectified). Examining the familiar, the innate and the intimate are also underlying themes throughout our works. Ways in which we perceive a moving image and a still image in various contexts is further examined in our process and installation considerations by interpreting similar subject matter as represented both in a time based and still photographic media.



Artist Bio:
SHEILA PYE was born near Hamilton, Ontario in 1978. She studied painting, photography, and video at the Ontario College of Art and Design, where she won the top scholarship for graduate studies. She completed her MFA in film production at Concordia Univeristy in Montreal and completed a residency at the Canadian Film Centre in the Director’s Lab. Sheila has directed, written and produced, 8 short films and is currently delveloping her first feature film ‘The Young Arsonists’. Her work is characterized by a darkly poetic visual style and an unconventional approach to cimena. Her work has been widely exhibited in art galleries, museums and film festivals internationally and has been the reciepient of numerous awards. Sheila also maintains an active art pratice which integrates her interest in performance, cinema, and large format still photography, often collaborating with her husband Nicholas. She has upcoming solo exhibitions in New York, Chicago, Los Angels and Naples. Sheila was invited to particpate in Rencontres Internationale Paris/Berlin and was short listed to attend the Cannes Festival du Residence.
NICHOLAS PYE was born in Torquay, England in 1976. He lives and works in Toronto. Nicholas recently completed his Master of Fine Art degree at Concordia Universities Mel Hoppenheim school of cinema, and received his Fine Art undergraduate degree at the Ontario College of art and Design in spring 2002. His work so far has been primarily of a photographic nature but he often collaborates on short films and video work with his wife, Sheila Pye. Nicholas has had numerous solo gallery exhibitions in Toronto, Montreal, Miami, New York and Chicago. While a student at OCAD and Concordia Nicholas received several awards for contemporary photography and cinema. Nicholas currently teaches image arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design.