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42 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday April 13, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com Artscene Oakville Beaver · FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2007 ARTISTIC VIEW: Adriana Kuiper (right) as seen from inside her artwork, Snack Bar Shelter, chats with Maureen Vagaski during the opening of Burrow at Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square. Burrow Artists explore humanity's desire to escape in latest exhibit at Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square Escaping contemporary life is at the centre of a new show at Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square. Burrow ­ a show featuring the art of Janice Kerbel, Adriana Kuiper, Liz Magor and Samuel Roy-Bois ­ investigates a universal human condition: the desire to escape. Kerbel's installment of a suite of floor plan drawings include areas marked for safe passage, which, as curator Shannon Anderson notes, might be used for theft, crime, survival or necessity. "But from what? Or whom?" Anderson asks. "Despite their quasiscientific approach and the illusion of utter seriousness and dedication, they are ­ in reality ­ decidedly absurd." Magor's photographs focus on the solitude and refuge of the woods. Her pictures of abandoned shelters and sculpture of a sleeping bag tucked into a tree trunk ­ entitled Burrow ­ try to show the "strangeness behind the human attempt to integrate into the natural environment," Anderson says. "Her sculptures entwine the fake with the real and play with the notion of illusory appearances and disguises." Kuiper's sculptures speak to the fallout shelters of the 1950s, looking at human self-survival in the face of disaster, Anderson says. "With a wry sense of humour, she explores the act of becoming overprepared or obsessively concerned with safety." Finally, Roy-Bois' works focus on conditions of urban living, and the impact on enclosures we make to define our privacy. His sculpture Ghetto "creates a state of discomfort between individuals," says Anderson. The works of these four artists combine to investigate what the curator calls "an individual attempt at refuge in the face of unknown threats." While the individual is the focus in all works, Anderson notes that all of the works are vacant. They "resonate from the character's absence, but an absence that is strangely familiar," she says. The show investigates a desire to seek comfort in isolation, Anderson says, but all of the art in the exhibition purposely fails. "In all of this search for safety and self-reliance, this is not a particularly pleasant existence depicted by these works. The mindset of Burrow represents a state of ongoing internal conflict at its most basic, human level." Burrow runs to June 3 at Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square, 120 Navy St. PHOTOS BY DEREK WOOLLAM / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL: Getting an inside look at Ghetto by artist Samuel Roy-Bois are (l-r) Alison Lindsay, Roula Partheniou, Dave Dyment, Mona Filip and Olia Mishchenko. Get on the Spring Sale starts this weekend... WATER this summer... April 14 - 22, 2007 Runabouts, Cruisers and more... Take advantage of manufacturer and dealer incentives from Carver & Regal CRATE MARINE SALES LTD. 290 THE QUEENSWAY SOUTH · KESWICK 905-476-4552 MAP AND MORE DETAILS AT: www.crates.com THE BOATING STORE Your one stop chandlery store