Saskatoon artist Julie Oh to debut RBC Emerging Artist Series project
Saskatoon, Canada — Saskatoon artist Julie Oh is the 2018 feature artist for the RBC Emerging Artist Series at Remai Modern. Her project, which is on view starting August 31, will build on her exploration of the human relationship to common objects and animate the museum space in playful and surprising ways.
“We salute RBC for their support of emerging artists,” said Gregory Burke, Remai Modern’s Executive Director & CEO. “Their commitment enables Remai Modern to profile important new voices in contemporary art, in this case Julie Oh from Saskatoon. Julie works with a spirit of invention. Her unique vision invites us all to look at things differently, to bring creativity and thoughtfulness to everyday experiences.”
Oh’s projects often start with an overlooked object that is used to stage a series of questions, displacements and transformations. The results mix the intuitive and the illogical, teasing out notions of value, purpose and expectation.
For her new work at Remai Modern, titled lines (2018), Oh repurposes a wood moulding typically used for home décor. This unassuming material takes on new dimensions at the museum, soaring from floor to ceiling and gliding up or down in the elevator. The two lengths of wood mirror each other and call attention to how their surroundings are shaped, connected and moved through by visitors.
The installation is accompanied by a documented performance where Oh and several assistants transport the wood from the artist’s apartment into the museum. Set on opposite banks of the South Saskatchewan River, the journey between these locations spans only 650 metres. This transit plays with ideas of access and proximity, while underscoring how the status of an object changes according to its context. Oh’s project is curated by Rose Bouthillier, Curator (Exhibitions).
“The RBC Emerging Artist Series is a great opportunity to challenge not only the artist and the audience, but the museum itself,” said Bouthillier. “It’s not a standard exhibition format. Julie Oh is a great artist for this context because her practice engages with space and found objects socially, formally and conceptually. Her new project for Remai Modern is really mindful and curious. It humanizes the museum in a compelling way.”
Oh’s project will be on view at the museum from August 31 to December 9, 2018. It will be installed in multiple areas at the museum: the elevator alcove on Level 3, the north passenger elevator and the Cameco Play Area on Level 2.
About the RBC Emerging Artist Series
The annual RBC Emerging Artist Series provides support for the production of a new project at Remai Modern. Taking full advantage of the museum’s architectural spaces, the projects will be situated throughout the museum, and may include site-specific installations, new-media works, publishing initiatives, interventions or performances.
About Julie Oh
Julie Oh is an emerging artist from Saskatoon. She completed her MFA as a Fulbright Fellow at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012, and holds a BFA from the University of Saskatchewan. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions including: Living Architecture (2018), 6018 North, Chicago; Double Gaze (2018), ACRE Projects Gallery, Chicago; Punctured Landscape (2017), Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC; The New Normal (2017), Supa Salon, Istanbul, Turkey and The Hanger (an UMAM D&R Project), Beirut, Lebanon.
About Remai Modern
Remai Modern is a new museum of modern and contemporary art in Saskatoon. It aims to be a vibrant, imaginative and prescient museum committed to affirming the powerful role that art and artists play in questioning, interpreting and defining the modern era. Remai Modern is home to the world’s foremost collection of Picasso linocut prints, and aspires to be a leading centre for contemporary Indigenous art programming.
For additional information contact:
Stephanie McKay, Communications Manager
306.975.2242
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Remai Modern is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Traditional Homeland of the Métis. We pay our respects to First Nations and Métis ancestors and reaffirm our relationship with one another.
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