Main Gallery
Three-Dee Realms Plus
Yorodeo (Seth Smith & Paul Hammond)
September 16, 2010 – October 10, 2010
From September 16 to October 30, 2010, Open Studio presented Three Dee Realms Plus, by Yorodeo, Halifax-based collaborative printmaking duo Paul Hammond and Seth Smith. Hammond and Smith create screenprinted images that can be viewed with anaglyphic (red/blue) 3D glasses. Hammond and Smith explore the potential of the 3D medium, creating works with layered depth that requires time and attention to fully investigate and appreciate. The Three Dee Realms Plus series features fantastical landscapes incorporating imagined architecture, roads, animals and geological formations that the Yorodeo have been working on for the past few years, as well as newer prints created this year featuring portraits of mysterious characters. As Laura Kenins writes in the accompanying essay, these characters resemble “something from a sinister deck of playing cards.”
The exhibition creates a truly immersive experience, and sets the work apart from the bulk of 3D art, which is often found in comic books. Screenprinting the anaglyph 3D images by hand lends a low-tech element, creating variation and giving the images a warmer, antiquated quality. Viewers will be provided with an extended printed map depicting the world of Three Dee Realms Plus, which will correspond to the layout of the prints on the gallery walls. By following the map, viewers can navigate the expanding world, stopping at each mapped point to glimpse into that particular land. During the exhibition, 3D glasses will be made available to viewers to explore the work.
Three Dee Realms Plus was reviewed by Leah Sandals in the National Post on September 24, 2010. It was also featured in the Nuit Blanche 2010 episode of ArtSync (at about 5:40).
Yorodeo is the name of Halifax-based screenprinting art team Paul Hammond and Seth Smith. The two partnered in 2003 primarily to design and create screenprinted show posters for local events. Over the last six years they have focused their collaborative energy on fine art prints and posters, among other projects. They draw inspiration from comic books, science fiction, fantasy and unintentional mistakes. Their work fuses collage, doodles, carefully rendered illustration, pattern and texture.
Laura Kenins is a writer and artist based in Halifax. She studied printmaking and art history at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and writes for Halifax’s weekly newspaper, The Coast. She recently curated the exhibition White Night Comics: Comics from the Baltic States and Finland at Vancouver’s Lowercase Reading Room and Halifax’s Eyelevel Gallery.
Exhibition Brochure: Download Brochure Here