Joshua Kennington

Containment

This work is an alternative interpretation of the conventional painting tackling representation of nature after being disassembled and recreated in a pictorial space. Working with grape vine, a species of vine native to Toronto and surrounding regions, and harvested while stewarding during the summer, I sought to create a painting-like object which relied solely on the frame to give form and structure to this installation.

“My work, Containment , is a re-interpretation of the framed and hung painting, using materials which rely on these two pictorial conventions to give form and structure to this installation. I approached this project with a desire to work with materials in my possession, specifically thinking of how to incorporate two pieces of grape vine stems I harvested from the Don Valley a few months ago, during one of my weekly group stewardship meetings. I wanted to whittle down these woody vines, using the shavings to create a composition. Initially, this was to be applied to a canvas with gesso, but I decided to use an existing picture frame in my apartment, as a way of creating a painting that relies on its frame to support itself. At first, I was hoping to emulate the microscopic fibre structure of a hardwood, not unlike the Grape Vine wood I was using within this frame, but I decided to instead make a more abstract interpretation of a tree, partly due to the realities of installing this piece around this frame. Another factor was due to my realization while whittling, that this specific wood is not ideal for carving, and resulted in a work containing many small pieces of wood. I developed a metal frame behind the physical frame, and from there built up this work, layering first with longer (one to two inch) strips of heartwood I gather from this vine, linking the metal frame together so I could create a composition that would be sufficiently supported.While making this work, I acknowledged the wire frame would still be visible upon completion, but this material choice reinforces the notion that this is not a natural representation of a tree or a woody plant, but this is a construction, contained within a frame. The titled refers to both this, and the fact that the grape vine, which makes up most of this work, is a species of vine known to occupy space over and even contain and constrict trees, shrubs and various landscapes if given the chance. So while it’s a native species, it can be very disruptive without management. I wanted to play with this aggressive tendency by showing remnants of this vine, now fragmented and re-imagined within the confines of a picture frame.”