David
Hoffos: Scenes from the House Dream
January
20 to February 27,
2005
In
this multi-channel video installation Scenes from the House Dream,
Lethbridge artist David Hoffos constructed breathtaking optical illusions through
the ubiquitous apparatus of the everyday. With
low-end tv monitors, black masking tape, and inexpensive mirrors, Hoffos used
pre-digital tricks of illusion to reveal secretive model worlds peopled by
ghostly figures that drifted, paced, and paused before our eyes.
Hoffos’
multi-channel video installation evolved from the artist’s own dream
about a house and his discovery that a ‘house’ is a common dream motif.
In its second phase, Scenes from the House Dream was a
collection of suggestive scenes constructed from turn-of-the-century optical
techniques and miniature models. Hoffos
anticipates that the full narrative will be unveiled in five phases, each of
which features four or five scenes inspired by the genre of film noir.
With this body of work, Hoffos is both experimenter and storyteller,
weaving an enigmatic tale from the banalities of daily life.
The agitated figures in each scene appear to wait for some forecast event
that is never revealed. Hoffos
invites us into the story, but did not tell us if it is the beginning, middle,
or end. Like Hoffos’ holographs,
we must wait for the next scene to unfold.
The
exhibition and accompanying catalogue brochure with an essay by exhibition
coordinator Dawn Owen was supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada
Council for the Arts.
David
Hoffos discussed phase two of Scenes from the House Dream
in
an artist talk on Monday, January 17 at 2:30 p.m.
The
opening reception for Scenes from the House Dream was
on
Thursday,
January 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Images (video installations):
65 Footer, 2004
Airport Hotel, 2004
Airstream, 2003