Marja-Leena Rathje

Installation photo of a section of Pnina Granirer’s exhibition “Synchronicity”, at Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery

For some time now I have been working on several larger works incorporating a layer of inket-printed clear mylar over prints on paper. I’ve been challenged over issues with fastening these layers together, and how to hang them freely without frames. Some of my Nexus/Blue prints were part of the early experiments.

Then I heard about our well-known Romanian-Canadian Pnina Granirer’s new exhibition where she uses life size drawings on Mylar, and hangs them freely from the gallery ceiling, along with mixed media works on the walls. So today, two artist-friends and I went to see her exhibition Synchronicity at Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery at the Jewish Community Centre, 950 West 41st Avenue in Vancouver, 604-257-5111. The exhibit’s last day is Wednesday, March 9, 2005.

This partial quote from the exhibition statement:

These experimental works are based on photographs taken during Ballet BC and Kokoro Dance rehearsals. Granirer’s mixed media paintings are textured, earthy works, which capture the movement of the dancers. Her startling life size drawings on clear Mylar are quite the opposite. They are installed in an innovative and engaging manner. Instead of hanging in a frame from the wall, the drawings are suspended from the ceiling, hovering, shimmering and moving in space; the lines defining the figures float with no visible support, within the open space of the gallery. The simplicity of the drawings and the fragility of the material allow the figures to move with the air currents as if they were alive. The dancing figures float in space unencumbered and free.

In this exhibition Granirer explores a new realm, taking art to the next level. The concept of live dancers interacting with static images, developed during an exhibition she had at the Yukon Arts Centre. There she collaborated with dancer/choreographer Gail Lotenberg who created a 15 minute dance sequence entering and exiting Granirer’s life-size drawings. “The dancer becomes one with the art.” Granirer says, “When the dancer entered the Mylars, there was a gasp from the audience. It was so dramatic and so unexpected.” It is really exciting to experience the interaction between a live body and an imaginary one, drawn by the artist. The visual works are a contained world by themselves. The addition of the dance transforms them into a new and different experience.

Some of her wall pieces incorporate a layer of painted or drawn clear acetate. There are several plexiglas boxed pieces containing flat and curved plexiglas each with her gestural textured paintings and drawings in layers. It excites me to see how she utilizes layering in so many ways, something that I have been working with. We were sorry we missed the dance performances but a video shows some of the dances, along with interviews of the artist and critics.

Please browse through Pnina Granirer’s extensive website. She has had a long and successful career as an artist.

So how apt and inspiring is this exhibition title “Synchronicity” for me at this time?!