Monte Clark

November 2 to November 30, 2013

she casts a line into the bay window
through the gloss of demi-rotund panes
through slender philodendron necks
into a gray pantry charade
waxy visages pressed to the glass
leafy manes awaiting
the next vitamin rays of dawn
craning, tilting
a model of persistence
they channel rumours of toxic milk
strays clipped by venetian slats turn coy
and shiver into crispy recoil
descending into the potted black fodder
dirty nails comb mineral thoughts

she sits before another glass world
a gallon of fluttering sobs
wide eyed tetras
and black or spotted mollies
skirt bottom-wise
bursting into muted staccato designs
scuttling and drifting along
a wrinkled span of a lifetime’s mile
the weaving patrons of sunken ruins
unconcerned
with a new leaf’s unfurling
or the waning moon

convex walls tease
the dim light of torch lamps
and entice the countertop array
refracting
a silver cat brush
a blister pack
a pewter knob
their blush versions
shimmer and dance
in warm triangulation
a band of white crockery
muse on from melancholy tiles

outside dusk hugs sidewalk bends
invisible dock of sprinkler heads
spin a chorus of cool maracas
as secret anatomies rush past her periphery
in vinyl bags they hoard–
semi-glazed faience
and superchannels
rare coins
medium-strength passwords
and a brass egyptian votive
straining ears arrest
the percussive bundles
rhythmic against the silhouette of thighs in flight
an unmistakable zipper sound
then, the torso hum of a pale green cable box
as night curdles
in the bell curve of a clay chime

somber tones braid themselves
into every fold of the land
her eyes adjusting
catch a vision above the lattice wall
a suspended villa cut from stucco loaf
many-faceted and trimmed in faux viridian
a cubic hallucination
composed of low uphillian chants
unseen vibrations
rattle through water-stained windpipes
and make something like a wheeze!
the looming habitat
shifts into a mountain
and then back again
a rose-coloured fever
rises from her sternum
the seal of a new tryst
her wristwatch mutters
an alien dialect
pressing two fingers to her cheek
she asks how many fingers
and she answers two

sidling into a cool bed
she transforms into a lazy susan
and spinning with careless paddle foot
through strewn plastic ivy
finds the due hour
the warm click of a self-flipping tape deck
taps her eyelids shut

skeins of daydreams
around her ankles
towing curious moss
smear tender obscenities
on the napes of phantom trees
losing interest in a game of footsies
she sails into sequoia swathes
of half recollection

For the exhibition Footsie Chain, Alison Yip will present her most recent body of work which draws upon spatial memories, half-dreams, banal visions, and suburban motifs. A large linear wall painting, inspired from the decorative style of early Roman catacombs, will be made on-site in the days leading up to the opening. The exhibition will be accompanied by a sound piece by Justin Patterson.

Alison recently finished her studies at The Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf and presently lives and works in Vancouver. This is Alison’s fourth solo show at Monte Clark Gallery. Recent collaborative and group exhibitions include Spooky Tooth, Fiorucci Art Trust, Stromboli (2013), At The Indoor Pond, Parkhaus Im Malkastan, Düsseldorf (2013) and Brooding Chambers, The Storefront, Berlin (2013).