"The thing became independent of its "model" from the start."
Deleuze/Guattari

Collection of Winnipeg Art Gallery

"The "subjective" can and must persist as the sensation of itself accompanies any act of thinking the instant it occurs."
Jean-Francois Lyotard.

There are certain moments during a day that for whatever reason, we may stop however briefly and pause. Perhaps inside of such stoppages, we give in to seconds of self-indulgence. Within this selfish moment a simple, mindless gaze ensues. Opportunities like this seem to exist in order to help us grasp a "sense" of the present, place, and in particular, situation. Often inside of such instances, nothing is gained or lost... no particular insights or premonitions take place. However, a blurring and/or slippage of time may happen – a second, from where you are to what you may do next. Once beyond such a spell, we easily fall back into the daily routine of our activities.

This exhibition has more to do with posing questions than supporting answers; questions such as what kind of events provide moments of "temporary linger?" What things come into play that can cause a spatial hic-up in-between everyday events? There are endless physiological and psychological possibilities but what if something as simple as looking into a mirror, out a window, at a cloud or in this case, at an artwork has such an effect by placing you somewhere between a blending of the past and present. Occur(Blur) is an exhibition that addresses such a fusion.

Contemporary art, if nothing else, has always provided history with a litmus test of the present. Artworks themselves are always made from within the present, but when exhibited within the limitations of a collection, will always be shown in past tense. Occur(Blur) is a WAG collection show of artworks that were created in the recent past, but continue to speak robustly within the present-tense vocabulary of contemporary art.

Art galleries with collection mandates such as The Winnipeg Art Gallery, conjointly work with their curators to identify issues of what defines art of the 'past' from the 'present' within the context of a gallery collection. The Curator of Contemporary Art and Photography overseas art created from 1971, the Curator of Art History curates art that was created up to 1970. These timelines are established in order to clarify timelines. Institutions require such boundaries as they work towards a manicuring of the collection. However, with the confusion of today's post-modern confluence, timelines are blurred and have become fragmented. Standing firmly on enthusiastic shoulders of hindsight, Occur(Blur) challenges this assumption by bracketing an individuals gaze inside of the problem of contemporary, collected art as something that is in fact, historic.

The posthumous and postmodern artist, Marcel Duchamp, stated that paintings (art in general) contain actual shelf lives (the idea itself is ironically dated). What he was referring to is that the moment a painting is painted, a book is written, a web page posted or a cake is baked, both the freshness and originality enter into an irreversible aging processes. Occur(Blur) is an idea and exhibition that regards the significance of this process and how these artworks fit the context of the current moment. Do they speak about a particular time and do they continue to have a specific relationship to the present?