Michael McCormack / Jason Penney
MICHAEL MCCORMACK – S.A.G.S.R.I.
JASON PENNEY – AFTERBLAST
JAN. 9 – FEB. 20
The Suitcase Art Gallery Space Research Institute (SAGSRI) launches its newest project. Newly opened, the St. John’s branch of SAGSRI will host an installation of the mission’s work to date – its continuing struggle to compete in the ‘space race’ – and share their story of exploration and its effects on both the traveler and the environment they visit.
Read the exhibition essay by Valerie Salez.
In conjunction with the space mission, Jason Penney presents survival packs for drag queens and queers post-apocalypse in his exhibition Afterblast. After all the end of the world is near. Each purse contains a home adorned with found objects and reclaimed materials. A man climbing a bleak hill of debris, dressed for the future in discarded fashion co-inhabits the space. A look forward into a past future. Also presented Penney’s automata sculpture featuring a cast of trash inspired characters, who, infused with a new mythology find themselves in a darkened alley compulsively performing and exploring each other.
Read the exhibition essay by Julie Gaspard.
Artist talk + Opening reception: January 9th, 3-5pm
About the artists:
Michael McCormack is an interdisciplinary artist and art practitioner from Halifax,
Nova Scotia. He was the creator and custodian for the McCleave Gallery of Fine Art
since 2002, until the suitcase gallery merged with the Suitcase Art Gallery Space
Research Institute (SAGSRI) in 2007. After several years of extensive traveling, Michael
has returned to Halifax where he works as a representative of SAGSRI Maritimes, and
as Director of Eyelevel Gallery.
Michael would like to thank all members of S.A.G.S.R.I.’s Team: Dustin Wilson, Jo Cook,
Pavitra Wickramasinghe, Chris Dunnett, Dallas Wherle, Peter Gazendam, Scott
McGovern, Justin Tyler Tate, Amos Latteier, Ess Kalien, Susan Hawkins, Marco
D’Andrea, Jesse Mitchell, Valerie Salez, Yolanda Karton-Burns, Scott McCormack, and
Colin O’Connor. He would also like to thank Blanche McCleave, the accidental donor
of the original McCleave suitcase.
Jason Penney – I am an artist who uses various methodologies of production to create
work. From St. John’s, Newfoundland, I have studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art
and Design in Nova Scotia, and am currently completing a MFA at Edinburgh College
of Art in Scotland.
Thank You: for helping with this project; David & Janet Penney, Luke Cooke-Yarborough,
Roja Aslani, Jessica Mclachlan, Julie Gaspard, and for continual support Cyril, Justin,
RJH, and all the other people who I like who help out from time to time.
