Statement

“In Urban Edge, I juxtapose images of trees and migrating crows against textured, tagged and graffiti covered surfaces - indicative of how both time and people leave their marks. I am also reflecting upon the crows' daily diaspora from their nesting grounds in Still Creek to various urban and suburban neighbourhoods in and around Vancouver. For me, this fusion of natural and cultural landscape embodies that “push” or a fascination for the city - shared by humans and birds alike - and that “pull“ that always draws you back home, to the family tree.

For Industrial Perspective, I scouted images of graffiti covered boxcars, mechanical cranes, smoke stacks, container ships and electrical switch-yards in order to narrate the present day stories of the ports and industrial sites dispersed around Vancouver and Toronto: honing in on the diversity of textures and colours found on the fringes of these zones. Back in my studio, I then began to layer these images into mixed media/painted surfaces. My aim here was to expose the brutal contrast between the beauty versus the grit of both urban and natural surroundings and to bring forward these often overlooked and under appreciated parts of the city. Through my mark making and image-manipulation I am essentially creating a new genre of landscape painting.”

- L.B.