The Gallery at Queen’s Park presents:
“The Places We Can’t Remember”
by Garey Shergill
Exhibition Dates: May 1 – 26, 2019
Opening Reception: Wednesday, May 1 , 6-8pm
Artist Talk: Sunday, May 5, 3-4pm
Free Admission.
Exhibition Statement
In his abstract series, “The Places We Can’t Remember,” Shergill explores both the pull and play of form and the role of muted colour in conjuring memories of travel—and most significantly—fleeting impressions of place. His evocative oils distill these experiences to their very essence of perception.
When I think back to all the places we have travelled, what I remember most is you and the colours that surrounded us. I close my eyes; you are walking beside me, my hand in yours, and time stands still for a moment.
Artist Biography
Born in 1982 in Surrey, BC, Garey Shergill was the youngest, and only boy, of five children. At age 16, he began to explore art as a form of escape to cope with personal insecurities, using it as an emotional outlet and form of personal therapy. Art was the only thing that was truly his own, within the privacy of his sketchbook. Topics of gender and sexuality were present within his work—moving into the abstraction of shapes and figures became a way to disguise the inner conversation he was having within himself. Garey’s passion for art intensified when one of his sisters began studies at Emily Carr; he would watch her work, and soon after began to sit in on her classes.
Fast forward ten years: art was exclusively a highly personal expressive outlet for Shergill. This shifted when he joined a group in the Queensborough area of New Westminster called Artists in the Boro, where his passion and drive were encouraged. He was accepted to Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2012. During this program, Shergill investigated sculpture, woodwork, screen printing and photography. Having tried various media and subjects, he always found his way back to painting. During his schooling, Shergill participated in several group exhibitions in Vancouver and New Westminster, and in 2016 had a solo exhibition at the Gallery at Queen’s Park called “Foreign Gaze: Bollywood Eyes.” The latter ignited his passion to create paintings in series. Graduating with a BFA in Visual Arts from Emily Carr in 2018 was a “full circle” moment for Garey, one that began when he was a 16 year-old sitting in the classroom with his sister.
