Ian Verchere
Plein Air, Street View, 2023
My recent work explores the pervasive influence of technology in our everyday lives. At first glance, Plein Air, Street View presents as a traditional plein air landscape, a genre deeply rooted in capturing the natural beauty of our surroundings. However, a closer inspection reveals an unexpected element: the shadow of the Google Street View car imprinted in the foreground.
This juxtaposition of the natural and the digital invites viewers to reflect on how technological advancements have infiltrated even the most serene and untouched environments. The presence of the Street View car's shadow is an unwelcome intervention in the landscape that reminds us of the omnipresent surveillance and data collection that characterize our digital age. The work seeks to raise questions about privacy, and the invisible yet constant observation we are subjected to, even in moments meant for solitude and reflection.
I hope to provoke thought and discussion about the trade-offs between technological convenience and our expectations of privacy. How do we reconcile the benefits of digital mapping and global connectivity with the erosion of personal space and the commodification of our daily lives? My recent work, seated firmly in the landscape tradition, seeks to capture this tension, encouraging viewers to consider the complexities of our digital age and the subtle (often unseen) ways in which technology shapes our perception of the world around us.
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Ian Verchere is a long-time video game producer, director, writer, and visual artist. He graduated with honours from the Emily CarrUniversity of Art and Design (ECUAD) in 1989. On the 75th anniversary of the Vancouver School of Art (VSA), he was presented with an Emily Award as one of 75 distinguished alumni of the VSA/ECUAD. Before committing full-time to video game development, his paintings and printmaking appeared in selected solo and group exhibitions at the Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Artropolis, Chernoff Fine Arts, and the Charles H Scott Gallery. Verchere has also curated two contemporary exhibitions: "Flow" at the Presentation House Gallery in 2014, and "By Sea, Land & Air, We Prosper" at Art Labor in Shanghai, China.
With his wife and partner Germaine Koh, he is co-programming and collaborating on an artist’s residency program (Hemlock Micro Studio), and they collectively operate allthingy, a multi-functional "produce" stand that challenges the expectations for the island’s ubiquitous roadside farm stands.