Aidan Urquhart
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SUNSHINE THOUGHTS:
It's a vast, snow covered landscape with temperatures that drop to -30 C and below. The lake is frozen solid and as far as the eye can see, there is nothing but pure white vistas. It is a blinding, unforgiving landscape where one struggles to see in order to navigate the terrain. You squint your eyes and attempt to focus on some far off object in order to get your bearings. You are lost and can no longer distinguish between land and lake. Your eyes focus on something and you begin to walk slowly towards it. It's a beacon that calls you forward and your steps quicken. At 100 feet away you recognize it as a hut--- an ice fishing hut ! Yes, it is the real deal, but not just any old ice fishing hut. It's a marvellous blast of a multitude of colours, shapes, and patterns that melts into your retina, surrounded by a pure white canvas of snow. "Am I hallucinating ?", you might ask yourself. Upon closer inspection your see this hut enveloped in a vast cornucopia of cloth fabric and colour that leads your eyes in a myriad of directions. But you still manage to find the door. You open the door and inside at your feet is a beautiful , lush green carpet of Astroturf, surrounded by walls of a pale blue sky. On the walls are objects of a summer long gone--- beach towels, the makings of a pic nic, barbecue tongs, bug spray, garden hoses and images of sun soaked flowers, amongst many othr things. Come in, close the dorr behind you and pull up a lawn chair. The grass is indeed greener on this side of the fence......
Born and raised in London, Ontario, Aidan Urquhart was educated at both the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College in the visual arts. He has been exhibiting his work across Canada since the early 1990s. Fascinated by the dynamics of communication, Urquhart is recognized both fondly and with irritation for his numerous national and international mail-art and FaxArt projects. He has completed artist residencies at the McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario (1998), and the Banff Centre for the Arts (2000), and is the recipient of grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. His work is in numerous private collections as well as with the McIntosh Gallery, Museum London, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Canada Council Art Bank and the National Gallery Library Archives.