Arena 4 (detail)

[introductory panel to the exhibition]:

Catharsis
Curated by Natalia Lebedinskaia

Doug Smith’s series of monumental drawings build on ideas of spectacle and transmigration. The Term catharsis has been used by Aristotle to describe the effect of purging social angst through evocation of pity and fear in tragic drama. However, it has since extended to further signify personal experiences of release, such as in revealing repressed emotions and memories.

Smith’s use of easily recognizable and ever-present images and symbols from visual and popular culture, such as commercial aircraft, military helicopters, human and bird figures, of references to architectural draftsmanship, create a simultaneous push and pull between accessibility of the drawings and absence of a fixed meaning. The sense of opaque familiarity brings into focus the space just below the surface of both personal and the collective consciousness, while a panoramic format builds a non-linear storyboard of repeated historic anxieties.

Smith’s sparse use of vibrant colour refers to a primordial state of chaos that exists outside the structures of organized power. The repeated elements in the rest of the drawings, however, present a familiar view: a world that is clearly ours, but whose logic belongs to forces beyond our control. The relationship between order and chaos plays out the scale of the drawings and the tiny stenciled figures swept up, released, and sent to march in formations. Are we being asked to follow, reflect, or resist these movements?

Measurements:

Collection:

Date Made: 2013

Materials:

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

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Catharsis, Exhibition installation view

Artist: Douglas Smith

Work ID: 78612

Description: Catharsis, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, 2013.

[introductory panel to the exhibition]:

Catharsis
Curated by Natalia Lebedinskaia

Doug Smith’s series of monumental drawings build on ideas of spectacle and transmigration. The Term catharsis has been used by Aristotle to describe the effect of purging social angst through evocation of pity and fear in tragic drama. However, it has since extended to further signify personal experiences of release, such as in revealing repressed emotions and memories.

Smith’s use of easily recognizable and ever-present images and symbols from visual and popular culture, such as commercial aircraft, military helicopters, human and bird figures, of references to architectural draftsmanship, create a simultaneous push and pull between accessibility of the drawings and absence of a fixed meaning. The sense of opaque familiarity brings into focus the space just below the surface of both personal and the collective consciousness, while a panoramic format builds a non-linear storyboard of repeated historic anxieties.

Smith’s sparse use of vibrant colour refers to a primordial state of chaos that exists outside the structures of organized power. The repeated elements in the rest of the drawings, however, present a familiar view: a world that is clearly ours, but whose logic belongs to forces beyond our control. The relationship between order and chaos plays out the scale of the drawings and the tiny stenciled figures swept up, released, and sent to march in formations. Are we being asked to follow, reflect, or resist these movements?

Measurements:

Collection:

Date Made: 2013

Materials:

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

Add to List

Catharsis, Exhibition installation view

Artist: Douglas Smith

Work ID: 78610

Description: Catharsis, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, 2013.

[introductory panel to the exhibition]:

Catharsis
Curated by Natalia Lebedinskaia

Doug Smith’s series of monumental drawings build on ideas of spectacle and transmigration. The Term catharsis has been used by Aristotle to describe the effect of purging social angst through evocation of pity and fear in tragic drama. However, it has since extended to further signify personal experiences of release, such as in revealing repressed emotions and memories.

Smith’s use of easily recognizable and ever-present images and symbols from visual and popular culture, such as commercial aircraft, military helicopters, human and bird figures, of references to architectural draftsmanship, create a simultaneous push and pull between accessibility of the drawings and absence of a fixed meaning. The sense of opaque familiarity brings into focus the space just below the surface of both personal and the collective consciousness, while a panoramic format builds a non-linear storyboard of repeated historic anxieties.

Smith’s sparse use of vibrant colour refers to a primordial state of chaos that exists outside the structures of organized power. The repeated elements in the rest of the drawings, however, present a familiar view: a world that is clearly ours, but whose logic belongs to forces beyond our control. The relationship between order and chaos plays out the scale of the drawings and the tiny stenciled figures swept up, released, and sent to march in formations. Are we being asked to follow, reflect, or resist these movements?

Measurements:

Collection:

Date Made: 2013

Materials:

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

Add to List

Catharsis, Exhibition installation view

Artist: Douglas Smith

Work ID: 78616

Description: Catharsis, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, 2013.

[introductory panel to the exhibition]:

Catharsis
Curated by Natalia Lebedinskaia

Doug Smith’s series of monumental drawings build on ideas of spectacle and transmigration. The Term catharsis has been used by Aristotle to describe the effect of purging social angst through evocation of pity and fear in tragic drama. However, it has since extended to further signify personal experiences of release, such as in revealing repressed emotions and memories.

Smith’s use of easily recognizable and ever-present images and symbols from visual and popular culture, such as commercial aircraft, military helicopters, human and bird figures, of references to architectural draftsmanship, create a simultaneous push and pull between accessibility of the drawings and absence of a fixed meaning. The sense of opaque familiarity brings into focus the space just below the surface of both personal and the collective consciousness, while a panoramic format builds a non-linear storyboard of repeated historic anxieties.

Smith’s sparse use of vibrant colour refers to a primordial state of chaos that exists outside the structures of organized power. The repeated elements in the rest of the drawings, however, present a familiar view: a world that is clearly ours, but whose logic belongs to forces beyond our control. The relationship between order and chaos plays out the scale of the drawings and the tiny stenciled figures swept up, released, and sent to march in formations. Are we being asked to follow, reflect, or resist these movements?

Measurements:

Collection:

Date Made: 2013

Materials:

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

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Artist: Douglas Smith

Work ID: 78598

Description:

Measurements:

Collection:

Date Made: 2013

Materials: graphite, pencil, coloured pencil on paper

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

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Arena 5 (composite)

Artist: Douglas Smith

Work ID: 78597

Description:

Measurements: 127 x 889 cm

Collection:

Date Made: 2013

Materials: graphite, pencil, coloured pencil on paper

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

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Catharsis, Exhibition installation view

Artist: Douglas Smith

Work ID: 78619

Description: Catharsis, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, 2013.

[introductory panel to the exhibition]:

Catharsis
Curated by Natalia Lebedinskaia

Doug Smith’s series of monumental drawings build on ideas of spectacle and transmigration. The Term catharsis has been used by Aristotle to describe the effect of purging social angst through evocation of pity and fear in tragic drama. However, it has since extended to further signify personal experiences of release, such as in revealing repressed emotions and memories.

Smith’s use of easily recognizable and ever-present images and symbols from visual and popular culture, such as commercial aircraft, military helicopters, human and bird figures, of references to architectural draftsmanship, create a simultaneous push and pull between accessibility of the drawings and absence of a fixed meaning. The sense of opaque familiarity brings into focus the space just below the surface of both personal and the collective consciousness, while a panoramic format builds a non-linear storyboard of repeated historic anxieties.

Smith’s sparse use of vibrant colour refers to a primordial state of chaos that exists outside the structures of organized power. The repeated elements in the rest of the drawings, however, present a familiar view: a world that is clearly ours, but whose logic belongs to forces beyond our control. The relationship between order and chaos plays out the scale of the drawings and the tiny stenciled figures swept up, released, and sent to march in formations. Are we being asked to follow, reflect, or resist these movements?

Measurements:

Collection:

Date Made: 2013

Materials:

Virtual Collection: Original CCCA

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Arena 4 (detail)

Work by Douglas Smith