February 27 – March 31,2020
The Slide Room Gallery is honoured to host RETURN TO SENDER, a solo, digital exhibition by Fern Long (Victoria, Canada). In this exhibition the artist brings our attention to something we all experience: home. The concept of the “home” is open and subjective. It can take many forms and meanings. Fern Long explores this theme with paint, cardboard and everyday materials.
RETURN TO SENDER by Fern Long
Cul de Sac, acrylic on cardboard (installation view), size variable
(16 pieces), 2019
Doctor Appointment, acrylic on board, 25cm x 31cm x 2cm, 2019 
Late Night, acrylic on board, 21cm x 32cm x 2cm, 2019 
I Could Live There (Left) Lucky (Right), 4ft x 8ft each, 2019 (City of Victoria Commission) 
Paper Tigers (Left) All Flies, Flies and Goes (Right), 4ft x 8ft each, 2019 (City of Victoria Commission) 
Creep In A Tee-Shirt, cardboard, acrylic paint, paper mache and thread, 40cm x 120cm x 38cm, 2019 
Force Majeure, plastic with tape, tempera paint on wall (Installation view), size variable, 2019 
Government Street, charcoal on cardboard, 182cm x 91cm 
Return Ticket, acrylic, spray paint and collage on board, 25cm x 45cm x 2cm, 2019
Artist Statement
Architecture, urban landscape and personal history intersect in my art practice. I explore the idea of home in my paintings and the built environment in the sculptures I construct. In each series, I endeavor to consider the spaces we inhabit and how we move through them physically and emotionally. In my paintings, wooden supports in the shape of a house are beguilingly simple but the subject of home is complex. What does it mean to have a home? A prison or a refuge? A place of belonging or no more than a suitcase; it is a physical space but also an emotional landscape inextricably bound with memory. Domestic objects – a chair, a lamp, a coffee cup, stand in as characters in these abstracted interiors that combine color and fragments of text to create open ended narratives.My sculptural work then expands from personal spaces into the urban/industrial landscape. Using found/salvaged materials like wood, cardboard and plastic I respond to their materiality to build structures and installations that reflect the rapid expansion of cities and their resulting cast-offs. Left in piles by the roadside or in dumpsters they call out to be turned into something more. Re-imagined, they retain their history while becoming something entirely different.
Biography
Fern Long is a contemporary artist living and working in Victoria, BC. She is a member of BOXCARSIX artist collective and a Diploma of Fine Art graduate from Vancouver Island School of Art (June 2018). Architecture, urban landscape and personal history intersect in Fern’s art practice. Moving between painting, drawing and sculpture she builds structures that explore the spaces we inhabit and how we move thru them both physically and emotionally.
RETURN TO SENDER by Fern Long
Cul de Sac, acrylic on cardboard (Installation view), size variable (16 pieces), 2019 Doctor Appointment, acrylic on board, 25cm x 31cm x 2cm, 2019 Late Night, acrylic on board, 21cm x 32cm x 2cm, 2019 I Could Live There (Left) Lucky (Right), 4ft x 8ft each, 2019 (City of Victoria Commission) Paper Tigers (Left) All Flies, Flies and Goes (Right), 4ft x8ft each, 2019 (City of Victoria Commission) Creep in a Tee-Shirt, cardboard, acrylic paint, paper mache and thread, 40cm x 120cm x 38cm, 2019 Force Majeure, plastic with tape, tempera paint on wall (Installation view), size variable, 2019 Government Street, charcoal on cardboard, 182cm x 91cm Return Ticket, acrylic, spray paint and collage on board, 25cm x 45cm x 2cm, 2019
Thank you for viewing RETURN TO SENDER, a digital exhibition by Fern Long. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Please stay tuned for new exhibitions coming soon.
©Fern Long. Images courtesy of the artist.
