Ber Lazarus BFA

<< >>

Artist Statement

The Ex-Libris Series of artist books is a multi-layered work which explores the creation of visual imagery in three dimensional space at the boundary between text and visual vocabulary. The original text has been removed and objects and images have been inserted as installations. The content is viewed through a Judas (viewer) inserted in the spine of the book.

The result is a series of complex narratives arising from the relationships of the objects and images to each other, to the textual space within which the work exists and to the content of the original title and text itself.

Issues of visual versus textual, confinement and freedom, of solitude and community, surveillance, privacy and voyeurism, amongst others, can be found present. The viewer is transported to a space of “intimate immensity” (Bachelard) within, yet beyond text.

From an original idea I work intuitively toward a final result which is arrived at through an ongoing dialogue between myself, the material at hand, the developing forms and the emerging content.

As an artist I am here, in part, to re-new and invigorate the visual content of our lives – to quench our aesthetic thirst.

©Ber Lazarus 2006

Ber Lazarus is a visual artist living in Montreal’s Mile End district. His scultptures and installations have been shown in Canada, the United States and Europe. He uses a variety of forms, media and scales to bring a unique sensibility and originality to his art practice.

His current series of work, « EX-LIBRIS », explores the boundary between text and visual vocabulary through a series of installations housed inside found books.

Recent solo and group shows include: Maison de la Culture Mercier, Montreal (2006), Le CEG, Sorel, QC, LUZ Gallery, Montreal (2005) and Propellor Centre for the Arts. Toronto(2004).

He holds a BFA degree from Concordia University and is a member of the Association of Visual Artists of Quebec.

www.berlazarus.ca

<< >>