Always wanted to enter a painting?

 

Here is your chance to “enter” a painting! York’s Glendon Gallery at 2275 Bayview Avenue presents “Générique (Generic)”, an intriguing computer-based installation by Quebec artist Alexandre Castonguay.

The installation works like this: the viewer is invited to participate via the transposition of his or her image onto the stream of images; the participant’s movements impact on the flow of images by changing its source and colours.

As a promotional write-up about “Generic” explains, red, green and blue respectively represent fire, nature and water – the three emblematic colours of the exhibit. They are also the colours that make up the virtual paintings into which wandering spectators find themselves absorbed, for “Generic” makes use of both motion-sensing and video footage.

Further away inside the gallery, a viewer will find a bench, headphones and a small monitor embedded in a wall. There he or she can gather information about the installation in French and English.

Artist Castonguay currently teaches at the University of Ottawa. Since 1994, his works have been presented in exhibitons in the United States, Mexico and other parts of Canada.

The exhibit, which runs from Jan. 15 to Feb. 15, is part of the gallery’s programming of the Biennial Quebec/Ontario cultural exchange, New Forms/New Work, in collaboration with Ryerson University.