Laura Griffiths - 'Within'
Front Gallery, 13th January–7th February 2010
'Within tells a story of love and loss through a series of words-within-words. Lying at the intersection of poetry, design and art, this series of works plays with language to bring forth unexpected layers of meaning…. These works tell their story with a quiet voice. Parentheses delicately hug the inner words, just as we cradle layers of thought and emotion within ourselves. Unencumbered and uncluttered the works invite the viewer to attach their own personal meaning.' Laura Griffiths.
Laura Griffiths has worked as a writer and designer, graduating from the Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto in 2001. In her first solo exhibition at COCA, she reveals a design influence informed by an appreciation of typography and the beauty and aesthetics of letterforms. Griffiths' intentions however, are not separate meaning from the forms themselves, but to add, opening up additional levels of reading. Her work is largely conceptual, with a commitment to language and the ambiguity of meaning. She comments: 'Like Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer I have a fascination with consumer culture, and I admire their blurring of art, writing and mass media. I also find inspiration in the word-based works of John Reynolds, the 3D letterforms of Michael Parekowhai's early work The Indefinite Article and the visualized poetry of John Pule… My current practice lies somewhere within these worlds.'