Colin Carney, Cinnamon, Cigarettes, and Coffee, 2013, archival digital print, 30 x 45 inches
January 30 – February 23, 2013
The Red Head Gallery
Departure means leaving but Colin Carney’s work gives me the feeling of arriving as well — arriving to some of the most boring places in Toronto such as Pearson Airport, Union Railway Station and a subway tunnel. But Carney, by some magic, is able to bring out their hidden beauty. In Unnoticed – a good title given the many times we don’t really look at the ugly thing — a subway train goes through a metamorphosis that turns it into a futuristic image of golden light and movement.
The photographs are composed of layers and layers of the images Carney’s captured of these locations. Many of the works have elements of printmaking (Good Place For Goodbye) or a painterly outlook (Gone). The presence of the architecture is central to the power of these images, but it is the way Carney treats the architecture that is so innovative. His images represent a particular place or environment but he also includes his physical and emotional memories connected to that place. Sometimes it seems an unreal backdrop for unreal things like the whispers and worries of travelers or the sweet smell of the cinnamon buns and coffee they consume and the smoke of their cigarettes – so it becomes almost metaphysical.
Emese Krunák-Hajagos