Untitled (where we're at)
2011
Part of the group exhibit "Domestic Queens"
February/March 2011 FOFA Gallery Montreal
Vinyl strips on the wall and window

Jim Verburg’s Untitled (where we’re at) presents two geometric circles formed by narrow bands of black vinyl: the first circle is adhered to the vitrine glass, and the second to the gallery wall behind. The result is a pair of shapes that change position relative to one another depending on the perspective of the viewer. While not a portrait in the conventional sense, Verburg’s piece gives a set of variable perspectives on the nature of relations between two persons – and is suggestive of romantic or erotic relations between humans, or at the very least, the physical intersection of two bodies. Like the navigational technique of parallax, where the trajectory or location of an object (or subject) seems to change according to the observer’s position, Verburg’s piece suggests the shifting arrangement of two people in a relationship. It also shows the shifting perspective of the viewer in evaluating that relationship. While the piece does not literally represent any architecture or activity of the domestic sphere, it does convincingly evoke the situation of sharing a domestic space with another person. It uses a small architectural space – the FOFA vitrine – to parallel the close space of a domestic environment. Untitled (where we’re at) uses modernist geometric aesthetics to offer a poetic view on the way that individuals do or do not relate, do or do not align. - Mark Clintberg