Decadence brings together works by artists with diverse practices to investigate consumerism through the act of over-consuming. Using the aesthetic of excess as an inspiration, the exhibition captures moments of desire that exist in the fine line separating satisfaction and depreciation. Desire prolongs satisfaction; it discounts the individual's state of comfort and well-being into incremental steps of exploitation to one's self-control. The exhibition's curatorial premise describes these instances as indulgences, but not gratifications of desire. It acknowledges the struggle to be content with having "just-enough" in contemporary society. The world market always demands more from us as its consumers. In Decadence, the politics of the world are distilled into flavourful displays of desire as the subjects have gone past satisfaction and head towards depreciation. Artists Alifan, Aslizadeh, Crossman, Holland, and Kovler provide an interdisciplinary and wide reference for the illustration of this immanent decline caused by the act of over indulging. Through the works, the exhibition seeks to speak to a multitude of issues including exploitation of resources, environmental responsibility, ethical consumerism, and ethics in the age of technology. In an excessive display of flavourful visuals, Decadence entices viewers to look closer at the display and presentation of glamour in various subjects. The glorification of excess creates a jaunty environment , where the viewers can enjoy the presentation while catching glimpses of their own decay, and of their societies. Ivan Alifan (b. 1989) is a painter currently based in New York City. Alifan's work is an exploration of modern social and sexual taboos. His subject matter is provocative, the erotic subtext designed to disarm the viewer and force an exploration of their relationship with sex and sexuality. Alifan's figurative paintings are not strictly explicit, instead they insinuate. Intentionally encouraging the viewer to delve their own impressions and reactions, and thus to consider their own psyche. Alifan is a BFA graduate from OCAD University where he won OCADU Grad Ex Medal for Drawing and Painting (2013), Mercedes Benz Financial Services Award (2013), "Untapped" Emerging Artist Project Award (2013), Nora E. Vaughan Award (2013). Alifan's paintings have been exhibited internationally such as Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, Vermon), Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia), and Red Dot Art Fair (Miami, Florida). Matilda Aslizadeh (b. 1975) is a visual artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Throughout her career, Aslizadeh has developed a dense visual language positioned between photography, video and animation that evokes the complexity and saturation of the contemporary media landscape. Her video installations and photo-based works draw on a vast array of visual influences -both esoteric and popular - to rethink narrative structures that persist in Western culture. She reworks narrative tropes that range from Greek mythology to science fiction to shift conventional thought in relation to our contemporary social, political and economic condition. Aslizadeh received a BFA from the University of British Columbia and an MFA from the University of California, San Diego. Her work has been exhibited internationally and has been the subject of several solo exhibitions including: Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (Kitchener, Ontario), Simon Fraser University Gallery (Vancouver, British Columbia), La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse (Montreal, Quebec), SKOL Centre des Arts Actuels (Montreal, Quebec), Or Gallery (Vancouver, British Columbia) and Artspeak Gallery (Vancouver, British Columbia). Adrienne Crossman (b. 1988) is working and living in Windsor, Ontario. Her practice involves the exploration of non-normative and non-binary objects, characters and spaces, with a specific interest in queer potentialities within the non-human. Crossman creates queer interventions through the manipulation of digital media and popular culture, the re-contextualization of often overlooked objects and artifacts, and by locating queer sensibilities in the everyday. She holds a BFA in Integrated Media and a Minor in Digital and Media Studies from OCAD University, and is currently an MFA candidate in Studio Arts at the University of Windsor. Crossman has exhibited at: White House Studio Project (Toronto, Ontario), Xpace Cultural Centre (Toronto, Ontario), Artcite Inc. (Windsor, Ontario), Idea Exchange (Cambridge, Ontario), iSchool at University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Ontario), Studio L'Eloi (Montreal, Quebec), Moscow Biennale for Young Art (Moscow, Russia), and The Wrong New Digital Art Biennale (Sao Paolo, Brazil). John Holland (b. 1993) is an painter based in Toronto. Holland's work explores construction of identity in relation to digital spaces. The age of social media is one of constant filtering, editing and curating to the point of abstraction. Our facade is slick, but compressed, layered and abstract on the inside. His work is the construction of this abstraction, interpreting digital image filters as portraits of fragmented identities. Holland graduated from the Drawing and Painting program at OCAD University, where he also received the John Madott Fine Art Award 2017. Holland's works have been seen at a variety of venues such as Art Toronto (Toronto, Ontario), Yorkville Village (Toronto, Ontario), OCAD University (Toronto, Ontario), and The Gladstone Hotel (Toronto, Ontario). Anna Kovler (b. 1985) is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Toronto. Her paintings and sculptures explore the slippages and spaces between ubiquitous dichotomies as a fertile ground for lateral modes of thinking. Oppositions such as human vs. animal, kitsch vs. high art, and fantasy vs. reality are playfully blurred to reveal their fundamental similarities. She holds an MFA from OCAD University and a BA in Studio Art from University of Guelph. Kovler has had solo exhibitions at The Gladstone Hotel (Toronto, Ontario), VSVSVS (Toronto, Ontario), and Howard Park Institute (Toronto, Ontario).

Opening Reception: : Thursday, February 15, 6 - 8 pm

mpefm CANADA art press release