The Power Plant

The Power Plant is pleased to present a commissioned project by Toronto-based artist Shelagh Keeley.

In the late 1970s, Keeley began employing drawing as both a response to and exploration of Conceptual Art where the gesture of her hand and physicality of her body were integral to her mark making. As such, Keeley’s work involves a high degree of physical effort where the concrete resistance of the wall is juxtaposed with the fluidity of her hand and the extensions of her body. By working with the limits of the wall and the constraints of its architecture, Keeley defines a confined space within which she works within. These boundaries provide the artist with a counterpoint to the openness and improvisation of her physical action. More, the architecture coupled with her movement allows Keeley to re-think the space of her installation in relation to her body. Each of her wall drawings are created in situ, marking a moment in space and time when the work—a visual document of her movement—is created.

For her installation at The Power Plant, Keeley will create a new wall drawing that will envelop the clerestory walls. Her drawings on these grand canvases are the remnants of her corporeal action and articulate the moment and gestures of her body. Keeley’s drawings act as performative objects. They emerge from choreographed gestures as they relate to the limits and conditions of a bound space.

Fall 2014 Program Guide

Winter 2015 Program Guide