Interview with Andrew Mcphail
Andrew Mcphail is a Hamilton artist who works with performance and intimate, everyday materials such as band-aids, tissues, pins and latex gloves. Part of his practice involves texts and cities. He is also a co-founder with Stephen Altena of the Hundred Dollar Gallery, an art gallery in Hamilton whose price point is firmly maintained at $100. It features a curated selection of work as well as pop up openings and events. All photos below are from Andrew's Texting Hamilton series.
I'm not much of a wanderer, at least not in Hamilton. Mostly I walk to get somewhere but I like to meander to my destination and i enjoy looking at things along the way. I have given myself the project of paying attention to text in the environment, particularly handmade or somewhat accidental signage. As though the city was sending you a text. I have been doing this for a couple years in various cities in Canada and Europe. I post the text pictures on facebook, but have not made them into material prints at all.
I like to vary my route but i like to have a destination- home, the studio, library, shopping. I like to notice changes and see things i may have overlooked before, or to see familiar things in a new way. I use to write in my head while i was walking, the pace of walking is good for poetry, but my ipod has put an end to that. Now i just hum along and look for messages.
I've always been a walker, or a passenger in cars and on transit. I've never owned a car but for a few years in Hamilton I did ride a bike a lot, until an accident flew me over the handlebars and knocked me out. Now I figure i should wear a helmet but that takes all the fun out of a bicycle so instead I'm back to walking.
I like to vary my route but i like to have a destination- home, the studio, library, shopping. I like to notice changes and see things i may have overlooked before, or to see familiar things in a new way. I use to write in my head while i was walking, the pace of walking is good for poetry, but my ipod has put an end to that. Now i just hum along and look for messages.
I've always been a walker, or a passenger in cars and on transit. I've never owned a car but for a few years in Hamilton I did ride a bike a lot, until an accident flew me over the handlebars and knocked me out. Now I figure i should wear a helmet but that takes all the fun out of a bicycle so instead I'm back to walking.
Two years ago I had the good fortune to attend a residency in Paris for four months. I walked everywhere in Paris, but with much more wandering as the city offered so much spectacle. I wore through two pairs of shoes. I lost ten pounds.
When I'm in Toronto I walk a lot, mostly to see whats new. Watching the city's changes is like telling time. We moved away from Toronto 10 years ago and now when I visit there it seems like a different city than the one I lived in.
Walking is my workout, so I can exercise and get somewhere at the same time. Sometimes I think I just have a studio just so I can walk there and back and see things along the way. Walking, like riding the train, is good in between time, which is good for the kind of day dreaming that leads to new ideas.
One of my favorite walking memories is of being a child and walking fast between my parents holding their hands and then them pulling my up off the ground and seeming to fly along between them.
Find his work at:
www.andrewmcphail.com
When I'm in Toronto I walk a lot, mostly to see whats new. Watching the city's changes is like telling time. We moved away from Toronto 10 years ago and now when I visit there it seems like a different city than the one I lived in.
Walking is my workout, so I can exercise and get somewhere at the same time. Sometimes I think I just have a studio just so I can walk there and back and see things along the way. Walking, like riding the train, is good in between time, which is good for the kind of day dreaming that leads to new ideas.
One of my favorite walking memories is of being a child and walking fast between my parents holding their hands and then them pulling my up off the ground and seeming to fly along between them.
Find his work at:
www.andrewmcphail.com
