During my time at NES residency, I have been trying to flesh out a personal understanding of the intertextuality of aesthetics in adornment. I’m interested in the influence of decoration on the purpose and perception of ordinary things. Having come with a limited set of tools I found myself with a sense of both restriction and freedom in my artistic practice. I have had fun finding my subject matter and sculptural materials in a mix of things from here in Skagaströnd (and surrounding areas) and personal artistic interests. During these early material experimentations, I have been recreating ornaments and embellishing objects from different temporal and geographical contexts which use aspects of adornment from a similar lexicon of material and form. I’m trying to uncover perceptible transformations in meaning and understanding which occur through dichotomies of hiding and revealing; this begins with an exploratory understanding of ornamental dialects in relation to one another. I want to unveil a sort of subconscious metamorphosis that takes place by combining materials and aesthetics. Reading these objects, we become less reliant on the distinction of truth and fiction which presents a playground for myth and fable staged upon the regular.
Grace Paraluch is an emerging visual artist living and working in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). She graduated from Concordia University with a BFA in Painting in 2020 and has continued to practice and show work both in Canada and internationally. Grace Paraluch’s paintings and sculptures take a diaristic approach to decoding social readings bound to objects and materials. She works in multiple disciplines towards deciphering the hierarchies and intentions within the visual language of self-identification to create persona through belongings. You can see more of Grace´s work on her website and Instagram page https://graceparaluch.com/ https://www.instagram.com/g.r.a.c.e_p.a.r.a.l.u.c.h/