Stationery Object
on view at MKG127, Toronto
May 28 to June 25, 2022
A book shop in a fixed spot is where ‘stationery’ derives its name – referring to any products sold by a ‘stationer’, rather than an itinerant bookseller. For her sixth solo exhibition with MKG127, Roula Partheniou uses the term Stationery Object as a stand in for ‘still life’, with the inanimate objects that make up her careful compositions consisting entirely of replicated office supplies. A still life is one of the first lessons a student will be tasked with when learning to paint – the objective of the exercise being to detach the idea of the humble object from its formal properties and translate it into pure colour, in a way that somehow describes its essence. Fundamentally, it’s an exercise in learning to see.
Often deconstructing art tropes, Partheniou’s practice employs the replica as a tool for evoking the experience of perception through the deconstruction and contemplation of common everyday objects. Rendered mostly in acrylic paint on wood, compositions exist in three dimensions functioning as tromp l’oeil in the round. Yielding to found formal properties such as shape, size, pattern and colour, each composition is led by the constraints inherent to the object itself, while drawing out visual puns and revelling in material play.
Untitled (Magic Markers), acrylic on wood, 2022
Various Small Labels #1, acrylic on wood, 2022
Various Small Labels #2, acrylic on wood, 2022
Various Small Labels #3, acrylic on wood, 2022
Various Small Labels #4, acrylic on wood, 2022
Various Small Labels #5, acrylic on wood, 2022
Untitled (Tape Stacks), acrylic on wood, drywall mesh, 2022.
Untitled (Caution Tape), acrylic on wood, 2022. Edition of 15.
Untitled (Fragile), acrylic on wood, 2022. Edition of 15.
Circle Template (For C. Floyer), 2022
Acrylic on wood, polymer clay, pencil crayon & marker on paper, silver leaf, Twoonie, cellophane, tissue paper, wire, plaster, metal, pill casing, 977110 Staedtler Circles Template.
Objects were found to match each of the diameters of the 45 cut outs on the '977110 Staedtler Circles Template'. The 45 objects were then replicated using the materials listed above.
Untitled (UHU), acrylic on wood, open edition, 2022
Untitled (Post Its), #2, acrylic on wood, 2022
