Can You Pass the Acid Test?
Geometric shapes break the boundaries of abstract conception yet simultaneously create order. The fluctuation through order embraces an altered state of consciousness that seeks the literal and metaphorical illuminated path of enlightenment through geometry. Can You Pass the Acid Test? portrays geometrical patterns used in Islamic art and architecture that cater towards our natural ambivalence of pinpointing yet transcending our need for consciously visual organization and celebrates the contradictions of human nature as they are meditative yet trance-like, fluid but rigid, restrictive albeit suggestive of the infinite wonders and oneness with the universe. Through Middle Eastern geometric ornaments, reminiscent of psychedelic influences, this body of works also seeks to explore how traditions are created and how they inform our perception.
The Verant Richards Scholarship is awarded annually to an OCADU graduating student for excellence in experimental photography. Verant Richards was a graduate of OCADU and a founding member of Gallery 44 known for his innovative artistic practice that pushed beyond the confines of a self-limiting definition of photography. This award honours his legacy through supporting an emerging artist with a cash award along with a one-year membership, vitrines exhibition and a $500 production credit at Gallery 44, in the hopes of providing the means to make new work along with an introduction to an active artistic community.
Arma Yari is a Toronto-based artist. She received her B.F.A in Photography from OCAD University and holds an Advanced Diploma degree in Broadcasting and Film from Centennial College. Her works explore the connection between neuroscience and mysticism, while reconsidering the notion of “Psychedelia”. She is interested in exploring a deeper and more comprehensive reality, which is normally limited by capacities of human beings’ sensory organs. Arma uses light, mirror, and glass as her primary materials and focuses on the experience of deep oneness with the exterior world and a feeling of the self being one with an infinite universe.