About the exhibition

 

The exhibition Internal Dialogues explores the complexity of the human condition in times of uncertainty through images of reflection and despair, strength and resilience.

 

Shinsuke Minegishi will be showcasing his latest series of wood engravings “white dots in a jet-black sky”, which is based on his recent personal medical experiences. In the spring of 2024, he received heart surgery. Although this catheter surgery was supposed to be minimally invasive, there were complications that resulted in a prolonged recovery time. While Minegishi was lying in his hospital bed and then immobile for weeks at home, he realized how fragile the human body is, truly, there is only a thin line between life and death. At that same time, he was amazed at the human body’s ability to rebuild and recover. Also, during this healing period, Minegishi’s young 21-year-old nephew had a baby, causing him to marvel at our ability to create new life. This experience brought home the sensation of the infinite cycle of life and death: “One generation passes, another comes”. Since the beginning of time, new lives replace old ones. Not only living organism but also inorganic matter such as stars, planets, and the universe itself experience this everlasting cycle of birth and passing. 

 

Also shown in the exhibition is a series of lithographs by Dan Starling composed of both abstract imagery and representations taken from public gatherings attended by young people such as Vancouver’s annual Fan Expo and 420 Festival. Echoing the rupture of continuity in wider cultural system of power, each print also includes text panels that trace the contours of an inner monologue of doubt, anxiety and loss. The disjunctive sense created by the series offers a glimpse into the imperfection of the current moment and the fragility of maintaining a stable façade of control. But by taking a lead from the material process of lithography and printmaking, in each work the dialogue of uncertainty is countered by the energetic exuberance of mark making and the vibrancy of matter. In the absence of over-arching and fixed story lines, the viewer is invited to re-construct what has been broken and imagine possible futures of redemption and possibility.