This week, SNAP grabs Jill and Mandy’s attention with Maps and Remaining Geographies, a collection of recent prints by Shannon Collis, Michelle Murillo, and Erik Waterkotte.

Jill: Remaining Geographies is a group of works that make me inherently excited about printmaking and its possibilities. Waterkotte’s work in particular stands out for me. His imagery is rich and exciting—he’s clearly an expert in layering and composition. But what’s especially compelling about it for me is the virtuoso way he combines print techniques; it’s not immediately apparent how he even produced these images. They just sort of seem to have appeared onto the paper, as if by some sort of wonderful magic. I am in serious awe. 

Mandy: I thought that his ideas about disasters creating these kinds of stoppages in time were really well-reflected too. The tiny outlined ghosts/people being bombed by giant explosions of ink struck me as both delicate and tragic—though I think the ink bombs had a tendency to float in front or on top of the rest of the image. They worked better to me when they had a similar colour scheme as the rest of the print. 

Jill: I’m feeling like that was part of his point. When he calls disasters “landscapes in flux,” for me that suggests that these works could for all intents and purposes be works in progress without actually being unfinished; the fact that cohesion was not complete in them is part of what makes them so appealing for me. I have a feeling you liked Shannon Collis’ works, with all that collage-y business. Am I right?

Mandy: I did really like Collis’ work, particularly her smaller drawings. The intricate pieces of collage created this extreme kind of detailed mark without actually limiting the suggestive nature of the whole work. 

Jill: I thought they were really effective as well. I enjoyed looking at them very closely and trying to figure out which layer came first with some of the bigger prints. The only thing that really bothered me about them was the use of digital technology. Some of the works are based upon a digital print that Collis has collaged onto. The quality of the digital is a little fuzzy and slightly pixelated, and nowhere near the quality that could be achieved through lithography or something of that nature. Sometimes digital printing works, but other times not. I wonder why Collis chose to use it, as she is clearly well-versed in other, more traditional printmaking techniques. In any case, her work was really wonderful.

Mandy: Maybe it was an attempt to create tension with the use of such a removed form of markmaking combined with the physicality of the collage. What was great for me about this exhibit is that there really seemed to be a relationship between the artists’ work. I got a sense that the construction of images was extremely important to all of them.

Jill: What about the third artist, Michelle Murillo? How do you think her work related to the others, with the use of silk screening on both mirror and glass? At first, I feared her work was a bit disconnected from the rest of the show; however, I think that it worked well on its own merits as well as a reprieve from the other, more complicated works. Hers were simple and almost kind of understated. I’m not sure it’s entirely my aesthetic, but I can definitely see its validity. What do you think, Mandy-Pants?

Mandy: I couldn’t really find anything to grab onto with her work. The printed glass was very slick and distancing for me. The idea behind the instillation was ambitious, and I think maybe in a different setting it would have been more approachable. There’s something very casual and inviting about that main gallery space; glass and mirrors can be very pretentious in a way.

Jill: I know what you mean. But don’t tell me it didn’t’ make you completely aware of yourself while you were in the gallery—which was weird, because for me, galleries are usually private, meditative spaces. I’m not used to seeing my own goofy face looking at things. 

Mandy: That’s true; you’re definitely forced to acknowledge yourself. Maybe that’s what’s off-putting; it’s like an aggressive challenge towards the viewer.

Maps and Remaining
Geographies is on display
at SNAP Gallery until May 31.