Thesis Exhibition: Kupferschmidt / kupferschmid / kupferschmidte

UW Fine Arts and UWAG are proud to co-present the second of our MFA Thesis Exhibitions

"kupferschmidt / kupferschmid / kupferschmidte" is a sculpture and installation-based exhibition which uses materiality and autobiography to question the role and success of self-preservation amid a disruption to identity. The works in this exhibition use materials including those associated with Jewish culture to demonstrate the paradoxical nature of preservation. Delicate jewellery chains come together in messy knots as a connection to what came before. Pickles are crystallized in a moment of in-between as both their life and death are elongated. Falling, folding, and slumping glass jars appear to be in states of becoming and undoing. past / present / future. tethered / suspension / potential. In this exhibition notions of time and authenticity are disrupted by the tension between desire for preservation and inevitable failure. The works, surreal and absurd, aim to answer the question: is true preservation even possible?

Artist Biography

Jill Smith is a queer, Jewish multi-disciplinary artist born and based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Working primarily in sculpture, her practice explores archival properties of materials, objects, and rituals. Among others, she has exhibited at Xpace Cultural Centre, Toronto, ON; Forest City Gallery, London, ON; and has been artist-in-residence at Gibraltar Point, Toronto, ON; and AGA LAB, Amsterdam, NL. Smith has received grants from the Social Sciences and Research Council (SSHRC) and Toronto Arts Council.

Date: April 18th - May 3rd (available Wed - Sat)

Time: 12pm - 5pm