David Spriggs

Opening

Examining various icons and structures of contemporary surveillance, Spriggs exposes the relationship between optics and mechanisms of surveillance. The artist’s work consists of a succession of transparent acetate sheets inhabited by hand-drawn shapes. When superposed, these independent shapes create the illusion of three-dimensional forms. The exhibition features Regisole, a 3D layered painting based on a Roman equestrian statue, which was destroyed after the French Revolution and which has since been regarded as a symbol of monarchy. Spriggs combines this historical icon with a mounted anti-riot police officer, represented via coloured thermal imaging; hence, Regisole brings together notions of power, colour and vision. Correspondingly, Spriggs’ video work, The Visible Spectrum, uses thermal imagery to call attention to broader issues of surveillance and illegal immigration.

David Spriggs received his BFA from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 1999 and his MFA in sculpture from Concordia University in 2007. Spriggs’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including a group exhibition at the Louis Vuitton Gallery in Macau. His work is included in the collections of the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, among others.