Paul Griffin: Signs

Opening Reception 12 August at 8:00 pm

Large, spare, black and white images by New Brunswick-based photographer Paul Griffin centre on that ubiquitous symbol of urban commercialism: the advertising billboard. However, Griffin’s billboards and oddly-shaped signs are blank — either viewed from behind or lacking their usual advertising content, they become gesticulating silhouettes communicating in a strange post-industrial language. At first seeming empty and forlorn, these images hold our attention through their formal elegance and subtle poetic resonances. The accompanying catalogue features an essay by photographer and NSCAD professor Robert Bean. This exhibition is presented as part of “Photopolis” the Halifax-wide festival of photography taking place in September and October 2004.

The Gallery is also one of three sites hosting the exhibition Future Perfect, curated by Robert Bean for the Centre for Art Tapes. Excerpts from Stan Denniston’s video installation Five Minutes of Geological Time will be on display in the Gallery’s Reading Room from 14 September to 2 October. This exhibition is also presented as part of PHOTOPOLIS II, the Halifax -wide festival of photography