Name/Title
White CastleEntry/Object ID
2015.20.01Description
Les Ramsay (b. 1976, Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Métis artist. His artworks derive themselves from a longstanding fascination with everyday visual language and the recycling of domestic objects. Ramsay has played with the practice of painting working between oil or acrylic paint and textile. His works have been described as overpopulated collages of forms and symbols that comment on the excess of consumer culture.
In his textile works, Ramsay combines the practices of painting and textile. Building on the humour and absurdity of the DADA movement of the 1920s, the artist plays on art historical tropes and explores the different attitudes towards high and low materials His artworks reflect the manual labour associated with handicraft, merging both popular culture and handmade domestic kitsch to create abstract collages. To Ramsay, craft and painting are both disciplines that take time and decisions but are treated unequally. For example, if one rushes the creation of a fabric piece, the quality of work affects how it is appreciated. However, if one rushes a painting, it might be revered for its unexpected and novel approach. Through the use of domestic embroideries, fabrics, and bath and beach towels, Ramsay turns kitsch into art, bringing prestige to the medium.
Les Ramsay studied fine arts at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Universitat de Politecnica in Valencia (Spain) and completed his MFA at Concordia University in 2015. His works can be found in many private and corporate collections such as The Claridge Collection, Medcan, the TD Bank and the RBC collection. He has exhibited in Canada, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Germany, as well as in the US.Artwork Details
Medium
needlepoint collageDimensions
Height
155.5 cmWidth
127 cm