JADE RUDE

I use mirror as an object of the gaze and spectatorship - the mirrored image, the viewer, becomes the object. The chosen texts are self-reflective phrases that aim to heighten the viewer’s awareness of their participation.

Project 674 is a window project space on the 3rd floor of 674 Queen street west, which seamlessly blends into the urban landscape of the busy street while exploring and questioning the relationship between art and the community. Looking up to the top floor window one would almost pass it by without noticing the hidden message. Mimicking that of an outmoded independent business, the plastic signage exhibits muddled lyrics and other unrelated notions whose decoding only happens when read aloud. The work is viewable to the public 24/7 and changes on the 1st of every month.

Nice To See You is part of an ongoing series of text-based wall mounted mirror sculptural art works. I use mirror as an object of the gaze and spectatorship - the mirrored image, the viewer, becomes the object. The chosen texts are self-reflective phrases that aim to heighten the viewer’s awareness of their participation.

Hold Me Close is a sculptural installation that responds to the physical and atmospheric space of the gallery (historically a walk-in cooler) while exploring visual art’s ongoing engagement with language. Hold Me Close consists of oversized illuminated LED letters which overlap one another and spell the phrase H-O-L-D-M-E. The piece engages in a form of wordplay not unlike Symbol Simon, where everyday words and phrases are decoded through picture puzzles. While the type, size and materials mimic retail and advertising signage, this outward aesthetic is recontextualized, thereby playfully disrupting our familiar responses. In conjunction with the gallery’s historic, dark, confined space, the glow of the text aims to envelope the viewer, offering a quiet and contemplative environment. The notion of pairing an expression of desired intimacy within these isolated surroundings is influenced by Pamela M. Lee’s interpretation of the Kantian sublime, which she describes as “a question of the mind’s struggle to grasp the supersensible – a question of presentation and, hence, representation. It ‘may be regarded as quite formless or devoid of figure’ bringing about ‘a feeling of pain arising from the want of accordance between the aesthetical estimation of magnitude formed by the imagination and the estimation of the same formed by reason.’”

You Are Apart of Me That I Could Never Live Without is part of an ongoing series of text-based wall mounted sculptural mirrored art works. I use mirror as an object of the gaze and spectatorship - the mirrored image, the viewer, becomes the object. The chosen texts are self-reflective phrases that aim to heighten the viewer’s awareness of their participation.

Wish You Were Here is an illuminated portable billboard that was positioned outside in front of the Art Gallery of Ontario. The text reflects benign greeting card sentiments created at a scale that is relatively monumental. This project responds to the physical and atmospheric environment of the Art Gallery while exploring visual art’s ongoing engagement with language and it’s relationship between reason and imagination.

Space is an urban intervention that aims to challenge our perception of the public arena and create a dialogue between architectural intentions and the processes by which society occupies space. This project consists of large-scale posters illustrating an Anaglyph 3D pattern of the word ‘space’. These posters were wrapped around the street light poles on a main street in downtown Toronto. 3D glasses were attached to each pole. Through perspective illusion, this project offers an unexpected experience and subtle deviation from the usual day to day.

You Look Great is part of an ongoing series of text-based wall mounted mirror sculptural art works. I use mirror as an object of the gaze and spectatorship - the mirrored image, the viewer, becomes the object. The chosen texts are self-reflective phrases that aim to heighten the viewer’s awareness of their participation.