Held together by a common water level – a dialogue around the language of painting and the nature of the human psyche playfully unfolds in this installation of large-scale painted objects. In Deep is a painting installation that uses underground imagery as a metaphor for the human condition. Utilizing a narrow range of visual logic that hovers between pictorial illusion and abbreviated sign, a subtle, dark humour guides the viewer through a landscape both physical and psychological.

Exhibited at Harbourfront Centre in the fall of 2011, this room sized installation takes imagery from underground spaces – mining and industrial tunnels – and transforms them into an arena for the subconscious. Large-scale shaped constructions that hover between visual illusion and painted object present ambiguous depictions of tunnels, holes, and signs.

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In Deep, Harbourfront Centre installation Toronto, 2011, photo: Tom Bilenky

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In Deep, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, 2011, installation (west view), photo: Tom Bilenky

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In Deep, Harbourfront Centre installation 2011, (east view), photo: Tom Bilenky

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In Deep: the evidence builds, Harbourfront Centre 2011, oil on panel, 60″ x 60″ x 76″

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In Deep, detail – Tunnel Vision: A Cautionary Tale, 2011