Drew Mosley, Deimatic Behaviour & Dauma, Creatures Of Habit

Drew Mosley, Deimatic Behaviour & Dauma, Creatures Of Habit

Drew Mosley | Deimatic Behaviour 
Dauma | Creatures of Habit
October 8 - 27

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Drew Mosley, Deliverance, acrylic on panel, 36 x 36 in. 

Wall Space gallery is proud to present Drew Mosley’s Deimatic Behaviour and Dauma’s Creatures of Habit. These concurrent solo exhibitions explore evolutionary traits in nature and their metaphorical connection to human social and biological patterns.

Drew Mosley, Balance, acrylic on panel, 36 x 48 in. Framed by Wall Space

Deimatic Behaviour refers to startle reflexes produced by any creature that has a weak system of defense. These creatures rely on sudden illusory bodily transformations and vibrant, sometimes pulsating, surface pigmentation in an attempt to distract or scare away predators. Familiar instances of this survival mechanism can be seen in fake eye spots on butterfly wings and octopi’s undulating, multichromatic skin and ability to quickly enlarge their body to appear intimidating. Rich with symbolism, Mosley’s humanization of predatory creatures asks us to examine our role in the decimation and exploitation of the natural world and build empathy for the Earth’s most vulnerable.

Dauma, Way Out, porcelain, glaze, underglaze, 24k gold luster, 12 x 11 in.

While Mosley hones in on anthropomorphic characters, Dauma offers equal doses of anthropomorphism and zoomorphism – the tendencies to equate human characteristics to the non-human and vice versa. This intentional flipping of perspectives is at the heart of Dauma’s understanding of what it means to be human. She connects aspects of human experience to the structures and habits of the other-than-human to nod at the fact that we are not so dissimilar.

Dauma, Beetle #1, porcelain, glaze, underglaze, 24k gold luster, mother of pearl luster, ~4 x 3.5 in. 

Through darkly comedic human figures and otherworldly porcelain creatures, Dauma explores nature as a metaphor for the human condition and an avenue for escapism. Her hybrid flora-insect creatures are tethered to our world, but feel as though they originated in an alternate dimension. Humour is an underlying thread amidst the fantasy of Dauma’s world; ants adorned in party hats partake in human rituals and indulgences, beetles are frosted like cupcakes with spirals of icing sprinkled with toppings, and flowers look back at us through human eyes. Dauma artfully combines humour and the uncanny to suggest that humans, in all our elaborate emotions and societal structures, are not so far removed from our earthly roots.

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Drew Mosley, Eco Indicator, acrylic on panel, 10 x 10 in. 

Drew Mosley forms fantastical narratives inspired by the study of natural history, mycology, ancient civilizations and social evolution. His works tie together contemporary concerns of collapsing ecosystems, hyper-consumerism, and capitalism in a Dutch Renaissance style. Played out across Mosley’s canvases are stories of misguided notions of wealth and social status. In a world with an uncertain future, the characters populating Mosley’s fairytale environments offer examples of empathy, community and reverence for nature. Mosley’s overall oeuvre speaks to a desire for a shared existence with greater environmental and social consciousness.

Drew Mosley lives and works in Ottawa where he divides his time between an exhaustive studio practice, and various carpentry and woodworking projects in the Ottawa Valley.

Dauma, Heavy is the Head, porcelain, glaze, underglaze, 24k gold luster, mother of pearl luster, 7 x 17 in.

Daumante Stirbyte (Dauma) was born and raised in Lithuania and moved to Ireland in 2007. She graduated from the National College of Art and Design (Ireland) in 2016 with a Bachelor of Design, specializing in ceramics. Dauma was a long-term international artist-in-residence at the London Clay Art Centre in Canada from 2017 to 2020. She has taken part in numerous group shows, exhibitions, and fundraisers. Dauma is currently represented by galleries across Ontario, including The Gardiner Museum in Toronto. Since July 2020, Dauma has been working independently from her home studio in London, ON.

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