currently showing

Ramp
Mark Prier

June 24, 2009 – July 18, 2009
Opening June 25, 2009, 6 PM

Red Head Gallery is pleased to announce Ramp by Mark Prier.  The show presents a single, immense sculpture: a sinuous pathway that begins at floor level and climbs to a height of over two metres.

Ramp evokes a number of images: a wonky yet controlled path launching into infinite space like a dock, a point of reflection at the end of a journey, an ascension to some other place. Flat yet curved, it takes the leisurely scenic route instead of the straight-on approach, winding its way gradually to the summit. It is an inclined plane: a simple machine with no moving parts evoking a minimalist playground like a tame roller coaster or waterslide. Ramp is a u-turn that fights against itself and eventually continues in its original direction, never resolving.

Made of wood derived from a number of local varieties—trembling aspen, balsam poplar, spruce, tamarack, and pine—and sourced from building leftovers and fallen trees, Ramp is a gesture-experiment in the psychogeography of the gallery.

Mark Prier has exhibited across Canada and internationally in Mexico, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.  He is a graduate of the Visual Studies program at the University of Toronto.