Steve Lyons is looking for a monster. Specifically, the elusive Loch Ness monster. Taking a found vintage postcard as a guide, Lyons attempts to re-create the scene of a “Nessie” hunting expedition – but not in two dimensions, but as an evolving, three-dimensional installation. The artist draws a parallel between the image manipulation which often (or, as I suspect, always) takes place in photos which appear to capture exotic creatures such as Nessie, the Sasquatch, or UFOs, and the challenges translating a three-dimensional space into two dimensions in general. The question is: how can we trust any image? Lyon’s installation piece at first blush appears to be a chaotic jumble of objects, but when seen from precisely the right angle everything lines up perfectly to recreate the image of the postcard. Just goes to show: it’s all a matter of perspective.

Centre des arts actuels Skol
space 314
Steve Lyons
Loch Ness
January 8 – February 13, 2010
www.skol.ca