JIM RILEY: COMMUTE
January 10 – February 15, 2009
Reception and artist talk: Sunday, January 11, 2009 2 p.m.
Burlington Arts Centre
In our age, the idea of commuting raises certain societal issues. How a person commutes to work is now being questioned more and more for a variety of environmental, psychological and economical reasons.
This installation consists of a looping video projection and four video paintings examining the daily routine life of the commuter. Jim Riley documented the view seen through the train window by a commuter travelling between Burlington and Union Station, Toronto over a three year time period. He used these images to illustrate the commuter’s dilemma. Riley’s aesthetic investigation examines the connection between time and perceptual memory. With this installation, he continues his exploration of the relationship between painting and video. Riley uses both media as perceptual, philosophical instruments for questioning reality and the way we relate with the world.
“The effect of Riley’s stated emotive rather than linear narrative is that at some point the trans-like monotonous routine of the commuter overtakes the viewer. In the vicious loop of getting to the train and getting off the train, going to work and home again, on again, off again, home again, day after day, season after season, we have removed the final particle of mystery. In compensation for the perpetual neurosis of post-industrial commodification, we sympathize with the anonymous and generic commuter who is both a victim and a perpetrator of the surburban distopia.” — Ingrid Mayrhofer-exhibition publication essay
Jim Riley is a video artist and curator based in Burlington, ON. He has exhibited in Canada and the United States. The artist wishes to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council and Paul Rak & Rhona Tai of Veriform Inc., Cambridge.
Contact: George Wale, Director of Programs at 905-632-7796 or info@jimriley.ca
Burlington Arts Centre, 1333 Lakeshore Rd (at Brock Rd.) Burlington, ON, L7S 1A9
Hours: Monday – Thursday 9:00am – 10:00pm, Friday – Saturday 9:00am- 5:00pm, Sunday 12noon – 5:00pm
