Blueberry Hill
Cross-Canada Billboard Locations
April 25–May 28 2017

For Seth Fluker, Blueberry Hill is a private reckoning with the Canadian landscape. Comprised of photographs made between 2013 – 2017, this body of work is shaped by his personal impression of contemporary Canada. Each photograph contains the quiet discourse of time passed, a visual reflection on the vagaries of memory and self discovery.

Located on billboards in downtown Toronto and across the country, Fluker’s photography provides a respite from advertising, and an opportunity for viewers to meditate on notions of land, national identity, and sense of place.

Framed within black borders, singular photographs are accompanied by simple captions disclosing the landscape’s location, and reflect the style of his photo books, which are similarly minimal and refined. Horizontal and vertical orientations are placed adjacent to one another, creating diptychs with beautiful filmic effects. The placement of Fluker’s billboards defy locality, allowing viewers to visually access distant and sometimes remote spaces of the country. Their visual displacement creates a dissonant dialogue with their urban surroundings yet speaks to their site specificity.

Sculpted figures of the Drumheller Hoodoos and the Hopewell Rocks— naturally eroded rock formations captured in the Alberta Badlands and Bay of Fundy—are placed above a car wash in Toronto, providing a playful metaphor on the effects of water and erosion. Fluker’s photograph of tire tracks left behind on a melting snowbank in Toronto is placed above a tire shop in Vancouver, revealing his interest in textures and topographical forms. In Ottawa, three photographs of icicles attached to a cliff in Whistler are placed within the space of two billboards, creating a scene that exposes Fluker’s movements and documentation process. Hail ricocheting off of the Elbow River in Calgary is captured in a sequence of five photographs; their placement together allows for a nuanced look at the river’s currents and subtly changing colours. Located above the AKA Artist Run Centre in Saskatoon, the quintet is flanked by four other photographs of Alberta’s diverse terrain.

Transit is a consistent theme within Blueberry Hill, with highways and roads making frequent appearances. In downtown Toronto at Landsdowne Ave and Dundas St, above a car dealership, Fluker placed photographs taken from the vantage point of a vehicle while driving past agricultural fields in Alberta. A sense of movement and immense solitude lingers in his triptych of a semi-opaque sun glowing through the plain’s curtained sky. The three billboards in Winnipeg are a nod to the city’s nickname, “Gateway to the West,” by featuring various western-leaning mountains along the Trans-Canada Highway.

Throughout nine cities, thirty-two unique billboards provide a glimpse into the ongoing relationship between the artist and his country.

Supported by PATTISON Outdoor Advertising and Nikon Canada

Curated by Heather Rigg

---

C V

Solo Exhibitions

2015 Seth and Sheila Stayed Behind – Art Metropole – Toronto ON

2013 Earth People – Working Title – Toronto ON

2009 The Blues Are Still Blue – Exit Gallery (Claire de Rouen Books) – London UK

2007 Strange Days Indeed – Antisocial Gallery – Vancouver CA

Group Exhibitions

2016 Strange & Familiar – Curated by Martin Parr – Barbican Centre

2013 GSB Group Show – Gallery Steinsland Berliner – Stockholm SE

2011 Bookmakers – Le Bal – Paris FR

2010 Bookmakers – Galerie Le Chateau d’Eau – Toulouse FR

2010 Le Garage – 9 Rue Raillon – Arles FR

2008 Various Photographs – New York Photo Festival – New York US

2007 Tiny Vices – White Flag Projects – St. Louis US

2007 Tiny Vices – Proyectos Monclova – Mexico City MX

2007 Tiny Vices – Studio B – Tokyo JP

Publications

2016 Local, Live and Breaking – Self

2015 Seth and Sheila Stayed Behind – with Sheila Heti – New Documents

2014 High Tails – Various Contributors – Capricious

2014 Dressed for Space – Art Metropole

2013 Earth People – Working Title

2010 Before Things Change – Self / Schnauzer

2010 Smoke Bath – Various Contributors – Seems Books

2008 Various Photographs – Various Contributors – TV Books

2007 Strange Days Indeed – Self

Bibliography

2015 Tell Mum Everything Is OK – Issue 6

2013 Before Things Change Portfolio – The Gourmand – Issue 03

2012 The Water Issue – Capricious – Num. 13

2010 The Photo Issue: Still Life’s – Vice Magazine – Vol.8 / Num.7

2009 In Conversation: Tim Barber & Seth Fluker – Bad Day – Issue 5

Portraiture

2017 Linda Catlin Smith - The Wire - #397

2017 Isaiah Ceccarelli - The Wire - #397

2016 Wolfgang Tillmans – The Globe and Mail – Nov. 17th, 2016

2016 Takashi Homma – Sneeze – The Truth is Out There

2016 Ayr - Ecocore #5

2016 Majid Jordan – Sneeze – In It

2015 Thundercat – Wire – #381

2015 Kara-Lis Coverdale – Wire – #376

2014 Antoine Olivier Pilon – Dazed & Confused – W 2014

2014 David Cronenberg – Dazed & Confused – A/W 2014

2014 Sarah Gadon – Dazed & Confused – A/W 2014

2014 Robert Alfons – VMan – Issue 31

2014 Sheila Heti – Hobo – Issue 16

2013 Shary Boyle – Dazed and Confused – Vol.III / Num.23

2013 Sheila Heti – Dazed and Confused – Vol.III / Num.18

2012 Grimes – i -D – Num. 322

2012 Sarah Polley – Dazed and Confused – Vol.III / Num.12

2012 Hugh Scott Douglas – Bad Day – Issue 13

Residency

2009 X-Marks the Bökship – Donlon Books – London UK

Artist Talk

2015 Sheridan College Institute of Technology – Toronto ON

Website by Schnauzer