Meirenyu
Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto
Exhibition Dates
January 18 – March 10, 2018
Daniel Faria Gallery is pleased to present Meirenyu, Steven Beckly's first solo exhibition with the gallery.
Meirenyu is a transliteration of the Mandarin word for mermaid [ 美人魚 ]. Found in the myths of many cultures, mermaids are aquatic hybrids: half-human, half-fish. Neither fully belonging to land nor sea, they are transitional figures with transformative abilities. Closely entwined in human affairs, they are beautiful and seductive, dangerous yet vulnerable.
Drawing on symbols and themes from Beckly’s favourite underwater tales, Meirenyu casts an intimate gaze on the mermaid mythos to re-imagine our contemporary relationships with the ocean and the unknown. Working with images of light, water, and skin, Beckly cultivates a visual language of colours and textures by revealing poetic links between image and object, surface and space. Beckly’s photographs delicately hang, suspended in the gallery space, taking on three-dimensional forms that twist the orientations of up and down, left and right, front and back. Straddling photography and sculpture, his images connect the hybridity and fluidity of mermaids to broader issues of gender and sexuality. Printed on iridescent, opalescent, and translucent materials, they reflect an ethos of light, glamour and transformation. In broader strokes, Meirenyu points to the power of myths in our understanding of the ocean and the unknown, while underscoring the need for new myths to reflect the global and environmental issues of today.
This exhibition is supported by the Ontario Arts Council.
Blue Dancers, 2017-18. Four colour transparencies with silver chains. Dimensions variable.
Installation view of Steven Beckly: Meirenyu, at Daniel Faria Gallery, 2018.
Under Six Feet Under, 2017. Colour transparency and pearlized pin. 9.5" x 8.5" x 3.5".
Soft Tissue, 2017. Inkjet print on tissue paper, sea urchin spines and plastic sequins. 22" x 16".
Soft Tissue (detail), 2017
Installation view of Steven Beckly: Meirenyu, at Daniel Faria Gallery, 2018.
Sea Elegy, 2017-18. Folded photograph on plaster leg. Dimensions variable.
Sea Elegy (detail), 2017-18
Deep Freeze, 2017. Face-mounted photograph. 40" x 30".
Deep Freeze (detail), 2017
Mood Ring, 2017. Burned transparency and pearlized pin. 10.5" x 8" x 3.5".
Mood Ring (detail), 2017
Ocean Glyph, 2017. Inkjet print on tissue paper and metallic pins. 21.5" x 14.5".
Undine Rising, 2017. Inkjet print on foil and metallic pins. 21.5" x 14.5".
Undine Rising (detail), 2017
Borderline, 2017. Inkjet print on iridescent transparency with plaster hand. Dimensions variable.
Untitled (O), 2017. Colour transparency. 28” x 20”.
Pool of Andromeda, 2017-18. Vinyl photograph and silver chain. Dimensions variable.
Pool of Andromeda (detail) , 2017-18
Pearl Harvest, 2017. Folded transparency, silver chain and pearl. Dimensions variable.
Pearl Harvest (detail), 2017