Curator's Selection: An Exercise

Physical activity, including exercise, is widely recognized as one of the key behaviors for maintaining health and enhancing quality of life for all age groups. An interest in the rhythms of regular exercise routines, the forms of bodies in motion and their relation to sites of recreation informs February's Curator Selection which showcases works by artists who have utilized aspects of sport, active living and fitness as central subject matter within their practice. 

Elliott Wilcox focuses his lens on the angled faces formed by indoor rock climbing walls within his Walls Series. Peppered with colorful crimps, jugs and volumes, the abstract images reveal a striking contrast between the naturalist rock wall surface and the lurid pops of colour which mark it.  Vicki Smith's swimmers, with their momentum and emphatic physicality, propel themselves through forceful kicks and strokes to agitate and disturb the waters they occupy.

A sense of joy and adventure is evident within Mel Gausden's scenes of campers as they commune with each other and the Canadian wilderness. Lastly, Katrin Korfmann's series Homo Ludens captures composite scenes of figures as they engage in play. Photographed from above, the series highlights the kinetic tensions between people as they activate a shared space.