I've you've ever walked past weird garbage and thought it was sort of beautiful, Lisa Cochrane feels you. Cochrane has curated a show opening opening Wednesday, July 4 the Chase Gallery at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia filled with the work of like minded artists. ReVISION, running to July 30, exploring what she calls “the art of recycling.”
Working with found objects, Cochrane and the exhibiting artists (Jay Dort, Emma Fitzgerald, Noah Logan, Susan Malmstrom, Mike Milligan, Melissa Schwegmann and Catherine Venart) have created an exhibition of sculpture asking “not ‘what is art?’, but ‘when is art?’. When does it stop being an object and becomes art?” asks Cochrane.
“It’s about taking objects that had had a life and doing something new with them,” Cochrane says. “A lot of the artists are collectors, or taking objects they find on the streets.” Cochrane herself is re-imagining an old coffee table, among other things. “It was lying there broken and I'm working with the way it was broken. I saw an image in it and I can see potential.”
The loaded question of “what is art?” may yet go unanswered, but ReVISION aims to at least get a foothold on when art happens.
“I think it has to do with the intention and the purpose of the person envisioning it. You see an object and you see it transitioning,” says Cochrane. “I may decide that I don't want to show it, it may not come to fruition, but it can still be quite a liberating experience.”
