Jennifer Carvalho
Home: Vancouver, British Columbia
Title: 2 or 3 things I know about her
Media: Oil / huile
Dimensions: 122.5 x 61 cm
Directed by an interest in how preconceived notions of gender and sexuality shape the act of looking, my paintings are an investigation into how the individual subject performs their gender without the aid of clothing. I don’t want to paint someone dressed in a certain way, then it would be about fashion, subcultures, narrative. My paintings are nudes of myself, friends, and family. I am interested in questioning what is appropriate in terms of nudity. Who is allowed to see who naked and why? When clothing is removed and one is left with only their skin how is identity constructed or performed? Presented with a nude figure the viewer must acknowledge and navigate their inherent assumptions, desires, and stereotypes. Through the questioning of accepted norms the work becomes an investigation of difference. By exploring exactly what, if anything, can be deduced about gender and sexuality from an unclothed body, I hope to make apparent the scope of representation possible within the seemingly narrow field of gender binaries.
EDUCATION:
2006 McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, B.F.A., Honours Fine Arts Dean’s Honours List 2004, 2005, 2006. Graduated with distinction.
2003 McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, B.A., Honours Art History and English Literature
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2009 Undress, Concourse Gallery, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC
2006 SUMA, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON
2006 Paper Walls, The Print Studio, Hamilton, ON
2006 Y.E.A.H! Young Emerging Artists of Hamilton, Hamilton Artists Inc., Hamilton, ON
2006 First Annual Winter Salon, The Loose Cannon, Hamilton, ON
2005 Un/Subtle, MAC Art, Hamilton, ON
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2006 Of the Body, Praxis Gallery, Toronto, ON
2006 Reflective Self Portraits, Hamilton Central Library, Hamilton, ON
GRANTS AND AWARDS:
2007 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant and bonus, Montreal, QC
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Douglas Coupland, Vancouver, BC. Studio Help August 2008
McMaster University, Hamilton, ON Teaching Assistant (Level II painting) Sept 2005-April 2006