September 9 - 21, 2008

*Hotshot presents

Shadow Play a new series of paintings by Stephanie Avery.

"Shadow Play is elusive and whispery but also materialistic and a little suggestive. It is the intense desire for something that does not exist."

Opening Party - September 13, 2008   8pm - 1am

Show runs from September 9 -21, 2008

Shadow Play

"Shadow Play uses a reverse stencil technique to create overlapping silhouettes that suggest the elusive, the mysterious, the sensual; exploring the idea that there is an ideal life we collectively crave, crafted of glamour, wealth, and intoxication.  It is this superficial wanting--planted in our unconscious by the inescapable influence of popular media--that we crave, sensing that its riches would improve us, despite knowing that it is contrived and devoid of substance.

The lack of detail in the figures enables viewers to project their own desires into the images.  Though the desires are unattainable, we are permitted to live vicariously through and seek connections with the invented subjects of our desires, while recognizing their intangibility.  Like trying to grasp a shadow, they remain ever-present, and ever-untouchable."

Stephanie Avery

Stephanie Avery was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. After receiving her special diploma in Visual Arts from Canterbury High School, she struck out for Toronto to get her BFA in Visual Arts from York University. Since graduating, she has worked photographing houses for the Toronto Real Estate Board, dressing as Gandalf the Wizard at Toys 'R Us conventions, and serving as finger food mistress to the stars; all a part of life as an artist. She is now working in film art direction, a field that combines her love of installation art with her love of paying rent. The rest of her time is devoted to experimenting with any medium she can get her hands on, and she is always on the look out for ways to make the world more interesting place.