CCCA Canadian Art Database

Lakeshore: I don’t buy it

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52735

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

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Work by John Armstrong

directional indicator / panneau indicateur

directional indicator / panneau indicateur

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52719

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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character / caractère

character / caractère

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52714

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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cloth / tissu

cloth / tissu

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52692

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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newscast / les infos

newscast / les infos

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52690

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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hammer / marteau

hammer / marteau

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52688

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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chair / chaise

chair / chaise

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52687

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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hand / main

hand / main

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52686

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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musical instrument / instrument de musique

musical instrument / instrument de musique

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52709

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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sujet libre

sujet libre

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52726

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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poet / poète

poet / poète

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52725

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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Lucy Hogg

Lucy Hogg

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52724

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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water / eau

water / eau

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52723

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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travel advertisement / publicité touristique

travel advertisement / publicité touristique

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52721

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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florist / fleuriste

florist / fleuriste

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52718

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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word / mot

word / mot

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52715

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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hat / chapeau

hat / chapeau

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52707

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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boss / patron

boss / patron

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52694

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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garbage can / poubelle

garbage can / poubelle

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52699

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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painted sky / ciel peint

painted sky / ciel peint

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52708

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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toilet / w.c.

toilet / w.c.

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52711

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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car / voiture

car / voiture

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52685

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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tree / arbre

tree / arbre

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52698

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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critic / critique

critic / critique

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52727

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

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Date Made: 2002

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number / numéro

number / numéro

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52720

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

Materials:

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arts administrator / administrateur d’art

arts administrator / administrateur d’art

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52722

Description: From the series, Jim ¡ú. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim ¡ú (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par l¨¤"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of P¨¨re-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/¨¦preuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

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phrase

phrase

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52716

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

Materials:

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draped cloth / tissu drapé

draped cloth / tissu drapé

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52693

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

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Jim –>

Jim –>

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52681

Description: From the series, Jim →. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim →(pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb. Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject. Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

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view of Canada / vue du Canada

view of Canada / vue du Canada

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52729

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

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mustard pot / pot de moutarde

mustard pot / pot de moutarde

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52682

Description: From the series, Jim ¡ú. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par l¨¤"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of P¨¨re-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/¨¦preuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

Materials:

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curator / commissaire d’expositions

curator / commissaire d’expositions

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52717

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

Materials:

Virtual Collection: ,

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fish / poisson

fish / poisson

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52695

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

Materials:

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view of France / vue de la France

view of France / vue de la France

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52728

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

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colleague / collègue

colleague / collègue

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52706

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

Materials:

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George Seurat

George Seurat

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52701

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

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air vent / bouche d’aération

air vent / bouche d’aération

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52713

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

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bicycle / vélo

bicycle / vélo

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52700

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

Materials:

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floor / sol

floor / sol

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52697

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

Materials:

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phone / téléphone

phone / téléphone

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52712

Description: From the series, Jim -->. Through a series of 98 paired photographs, Paul Collins and John Armstrong set out to explore the blurred edges of North American and European culture, of the familiar and the exotic, of our shared and individual experiences. The title of our project is Jim --> (pronounced in a bilingual, "Jim, that way, par là"). This references the graffiti scratched into the gravestones of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, pointing the way to Jim Morrison's tomb.

Armstrong and Collins initially drew up a list of 49 words to serve as the 49 subjects of a series of photographs. Armstrong would shoot in Canada, and Collins in France, where he has been living these past 20 years. The resulting images were brought together, presenting two points of view of the same subject.

Some of the subjects relate to motifs in our individual art practices; some are shared banalities and enthusiasms; others are figures that populate the professional life of an artist. The paired images playfully act as indicators of a specific moment or place. The viewer is naturally drawn into a guessing game, trying to identify the settings or locations pictured: Canada or France? Paris or Toronto? John or Paul?

Measurements: 124.46 prints/épreuves : 27.94 x 35.56 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Niagara Falls STEP

Lakeshore: Niagara Falls STEP

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52742

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

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Lakeshore:  WORLD TRADE CENTRE

Lakeshore: WORLD TRADE CENTRE

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52755

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Red Coat Cup

Lakeshore: Red Coat Cup

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52749

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Niagara Falls SLOWLY

Lakeshore: Niagara Falls SLOWLY

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52744

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  more Lebensraum

Lakeshore: more Lebensraum

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52740

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Niagara Falls I TURN

Lakeshore: Niagara Falls I TURN

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52745

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  What is the matter

Lakeshore: What is the matter

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52754

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  WAYS OF SEEING

Lakeshore: WAYS OF SEEING

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52753

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Pompidou

Lakeshore: Pompidou

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52748

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Niagara Falls BY STEP

Lakeshore: Niagara Falls BY STEP

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52743

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Baghdad begins

Lakeshore: Baghdad begins

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52732

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  0.1

Lakeshore: 0.1

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52730

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Aurora Dixie Cup

Lakeshore: Aurora Dixie Cup

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52731

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Michael

Lakeshore: Michael

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52739

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  OUR WINDOW

Lakeshore: OUR WINDOW

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52746

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Renseigements Généraux

Lakeshore: Renseigements Généraux

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52750

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Look-out

Lakeshore: Look-out

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52737

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  BATH

Lakeshore: BATH

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52733

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  hotel

Lakeshore: hotel

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52734

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  I don’t buy it

Lakeshore: I don’t buy it

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52735

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  Kenya

Lakeshore: Kenya

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52736

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  mors ultima ratio

Lakeshore: mors ultima ratio

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52741

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Lakeshore:  M Wintrob & Sons

Lakeshore: M Wintrob & Sons

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 52738

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2002-04

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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forget about amerika

forget about amerika

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60736

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 68.58 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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khakireshaped

khakireshaped

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60743

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 86.36 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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PAIL-SEAU

PAIL-SEAU

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60742

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 83.82 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Niagara Falls (I TURN)

Niagara Falls (I TURN)

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60745

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 91.44 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Niagara Falls (SLOWLY)

Niagara Falls (SLOWLY)

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60744

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 88.9 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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par votre démarche

par votre démarche

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60735

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 66.04 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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armée du salut

armée du salut

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60733

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 60.96 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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OR

OR

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60748

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 99.06 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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four-banger grocery getter

four-banger grocery getter

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60731

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 55.88 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Niagara Falls (BY STEP)

Niagara Falls (BY STEP)

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60747

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 96.52 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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red wine glass

red wine glass

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60740

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 78.74 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Hearst

Hearst

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60737

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 71.12 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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Grumble

Grumble

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60739

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 76.2 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

Materials:

Virtual Collection:

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This Area is Alarmed

This Area is Alarmed

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60738

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 73.66 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

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red green yellow

red green yellow

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60729

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop t

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.2 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2005

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MIND YOUR HEAD

MIND YOUR HEAD

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 60741

Description: Lakeshore consists of an ongoing series of one hundred 50 x 75-cm colour photographs with short texts or images painted on them in oils. The photographs serve as supports for the painting, and depict landscape, architecture and a variety of other subjects. The texts are predominantly in either English or French (as well as in German and Latin), and all the photographs are taken in Canada, France, Germany or Kenya. The painted texts recall the traditional role that captions play in the interpretation of photographs, used traditionally to direct the viewer to a specific message conveyed by the photograph. In this work, we are attempting to upend, extend and imbricate some of the conventions in painting, photography and language.

For us, lakeshore refers to Ontario's myriad lakes in Ontario, and most immediately to Lake Ontario, the lake we both grew up beside. These lakes have served as motifs for important streams in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Canadian art; and, this is a backdrop to our work. Lakeshore also signifies an intermediary state, a space between two bodies, a space that has three possible reference points: a vanishing vista, a point of possible departure, a destination at the end of a voyage.

We have used the idea of lakeshore in a figurative and personal manner. Although some of the photographs do depict lakeshores, most have to do with our routine comings and goings, artistic and quotidian. The photographs are set in both rural and urban locations. We pointedly have not represented any lakes: this reinforces our metaphorical focus (and eases our task, as France has very few lakes). Our painted text passages are idiomatic and common expressions, maxims, and phrases from popular culture. The painted words do not serve as captions for the images, but rather further our exploration of the metaphorical idea of a lakeshore. The images painted on the photographs are of glasses, pails and basins of water, and offer the only explicit bodies of water in the artworks. The addition of the painted elements to the photographs creates a flicker effect between literal and figurative meaning, a semantic instability and indeterminacy.

By blue Ontario's shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd,
and the dead that return no more,
I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
I heard the voice arising demanding bards.

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownership,
I swear I perceive other lessons.

Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore, 1856

Lakeshore has a second component: one hundred one- or two-paragraph texts on the theme of lakeshore that accompany an exhibition of the actual photographs in the form of a PowerPoint Show set on a continuous loop to be exhibited on a computer screen.

Lakeshore's exhibition schedule is as follows: L'Hôtel Galerie d'Art, Caen, France, March 2003; Truck, Calgary, November 2004; Platform, Winnipeg, January 2005; Robert Birch Gallery, Toronto, May 2005. This project is ongoing.

Measurements: 81.28 x 76.2 cm

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Date Made: 2005

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Cache-misère: The Last Lakeshore

Cache-misère: The Last Lakeshore

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70812

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: A SLOW WAY TO GET RICH

Cache-misère: A SLOW WAY TO GET RICH

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70793

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: CHURGIEN EN GREVE

Cache-misère: CHURGIEN EN GREVE

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70794

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Betty Boop

Cache-misère: Betty Boop

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70795

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: The Last Vitrier

Cache-misère: The Last Vitrier

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70814

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Cache-misère

Cache-misère: Cache-misère

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70799

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Election night

Cache-misère: Election night

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70800

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Green Kitchen

Cache-misère: Green Kitchen

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70801

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Nouilleville

Cache-misère: Nouilleville

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70804

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Pleine lune

Cache-misère: Pleine lune

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70805

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Précedent sans suite

Cache-misère: Précedent sans suite

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70807

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: sans précédent sans # 590B54

Cache-misère: sans précédent sans # 590B54

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70808

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Water Supply

Cache-misère: Water Supply

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70815

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Répétition

Cache-misère: Répétition

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70806

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: BRIDELIGHT

Cache-misère: BRIDELIGHT

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70797

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Horta House

Cache-misère: Horta House

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70803

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Canard

Cache-misère: Canard

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70798

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: STRENGTH THROUGH JOY

Cache-misère: STRENGTH THROUGH JOY

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70809

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: The Ajax dwellers

Cache-misère: The Ajax dwellers

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70811

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: La Guardia

Cache-misère: La Guardia

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70802

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: The Last Pony

Cache-misère: The Last Pony

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70813

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: Thanjavur

Cache-misère: Thanjavur

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70810

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

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Date Made: 2007-2008

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Cache-misère: AB

Cache-misère: AB

Artist: John Armstrong

Work ID: 70796

Description: Cache-misère translates into English as 'band-aid solution,' and refers to a coat worn to hide shabby attire.

Cache-misère is the title of a series of colour photographs on which we paint images, text and swatches of colour. Our photographs and painted images record places, events and objects we come across in the course of our daily activities. The photographs are compositionally completed by the addition of painted elements that, to varying degrees, obscure the underlying picture. The painted images most often represent domestic bric-a-brac painted either from observation in the manner of a traditional still life or copied from illustrations. Our painted photographs are no longer seamless windows onto reality, but assume a new logic where any editorial narrative is complemented by the associative synergy found in abstract painting.

Measurements: 50.8 x 76.3 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2007-2008

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