Dan Kennedy (Dr. Erosion)
Toronto, CanadaARTIST STATEMENT
Drawing
Time
Voices speak and sing:
“…This is a recording of the voice and these are the words…Oxygen is coming…Oh! Cambrian sea, I come from thee…I am a Trail of Fossils…(Did you come alone?)…The Head detected the vestiges of former creatures, underground…Transmutation! Transmutation!...He was a Stain in Time…I am an Electrical Signal…Creatures are singing!...Search for me…I was dreaming of a Mountain…(I'm floating inside now)…Is it Oxygen yet?...”
These are a few of the sounds that weave their way through these animated worlds, where disembodied voices and characters reflect on geologic time, biological origins and the journey of traveling in a body built for brevity.
The work explores the biological world with that of geologic, deep time, a kind of geosurrealism if you will. The animations, are composed as miniature narratives, constructed as phantasmagorical journeys of our evolving understanding of earth history and its relationship to cultural narratives. The intention is to construct a space of disorientation and uncertainty with the potential of generating new portals of meaning and relationships to our understanding of bodies travelling in time, art and scientific knowledge alongside a space of mystery and unknowing. These projections of light and sound, are their own possessed creatures, anxiously chattering away in the darkness.
“Gills...Flowers…Lungs…Momma…Poppa…Erosion (sung soft and low) …My voice is drifting away…”
BIO
Dan Kennedy (Dr. Erosion), is a painter and animator. His animated worlds, reflect on geologic time, biological origins and the journey of traveling in a body built for brevity.
He has exhibited his work across Canada and the U.S., past shows include “Kaleidoscopic Animalia” and “Through the looking glass” The Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, “Dust of Oblivion” Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York City, “Erosion of a Mineralogist”, Edward Day Gallery, Toronto, MOCCA, Toronto,Ontario.
His work has appeared in several publications including HEY!, Juxtapoz, Bordercrossings and Canadian Art. He has received awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. The artist’s work, is in the collection of the Glenbow Museum, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Canada Council Art Bank and private collections in Canada, USA and the U.K. He graduated from the Ontario College of Art and was awarded the Governor General’s medal.
Dan Kennedy lives and works in Toronto and teaches painting at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario.