MKG127 is pleased to present Works on Paper an exhibition of new work by Roula Partheniou

Opening Saturday, May 25 from 2:00 – 5:00PM

In Works on Paper, Partheniou’s 5th solo show at MKG127, she disrupts the audience’s assumptions with a bait-and-switch, swapping out a well-worn title trope with a tongue-in-cheek double-take. The title itself becomes a readymade material to be manipulated by honing in on the flexibility of language:  taken as a set of parameters (works relating to paper) and taken as a directive (physical proximity to paper). Paper is so familiar that it’s often invisible – with this new body of work, what is usually a backdrop becomes foregrounded, and the medium becomes the subject.

Roula Partheniou’s sculptural practice centres on an exploration of the replica, often turning her attention to household objects and materials. The act of replication becomes an exercise in both attempting to describe-every-inch-of something, while simultaneously creating enough distance to render moments of uncertainty, and to sever previously held assumptions of materials so common they become invisible.

Roula Partheniou has exhibited across Canada and internationally including shows at Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo (Mexico), The Museum of Bat Yam (Israel), Tanya Bonakdar (USA), Fundacion Calosa (Mexico), Wu Gallery (Peru), Oakville Galleries, Musee regional de Rimouski (Quebec) and the Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina). Her work is held in numerous private, corporate and institutional collections including the Bank of Montreal, TD Bank, MunichRe, the Royal Bank of Canada, Fundacion Calosa, Blackwood Gallery, Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Hyundai Corporation, Fidelity Investments, Musee d’art Contemporain de Montreal and the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives. Her large-scale installation Cup and Ball, commissioned for the Bank of Montreal Project Room, was recently purchased by the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Roula Partheniou: Index is a monograph covering ten years of her practice. It was published earlier this year by the Dunlop Art Gallery, in collaboration with Oakville Galleries, the Art Gallery of Peterborough, University of Waterloo Art Gallery and Contemporary Calgary. Copies of the publication are available online and at MKG127.

Review: MOMUS: The Totemic Quotidian in Roula Partheniou by Ulysses Castellanos