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Artists   Erica Eyres   
 
Erica Eyres is interested in the human condition; through video and drawing, the artist utilises humour and narrative to examine the psychology behind human behaviour.

In her videos, the artist has historically utilized prosthetics, costume and methods of disguise to transform herself into numerous different characters within any one work. In more recent Eyres has moved away from using herself and employed actors to play the roles she creates often borrowing from the aesthetic and artificiality of low budget television or film.

Most recently Eyres has utilised archival footage from the 70’s and 80’s, from self-help tapes to TV documentaries, to create cinematic collages that incorporate biographical details and narratives. Her current films experiment with a documentary style to investigate the viewer’s subjectivity as much as their involvement in her characters representation. This development in her practice combines previous elements - the awkward and revealing personal narratives; a wry understanding of human fallibility and her knowledge of tv and how it is consumed - in a succinct fashion.

In her drawings Eyres distorts images from magazines and textbooks to form disquieting characters that pose self-consciously for the viewer, appearing awkwardly clumsy and vulnerable. In each instance the viewer is persuaded to engage in the power games instigated by watching and being watched, though the experience is never wholly satisfying. Rather, through identification with the character, one is left with a sense of fracture, conscious of ones own flaws and deficiencies.

Eyres is interested in psychology and the study of human behaviour and is particularly fascinated by personality disorders, compulsive behaviours and states of desperation. The artist often revisits co-dependent and predatory relationships, especially between parents and children, in an investigation of why such relationships function, where behaviours stem from and how they are perpetuated by the patterns of day-to-day life. The roles of females in these situations are also of particular importance in the artistís work. Eyres questions the commonly perceived notions of women, and offers a critique of the construction of female identity.

Erica Eyres is a Canadian artist from Winnipeg living and working in Glasgow having graduated with a MA from Glashow School of Art in 2004. She has had solo exhibitions at The Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow and the Kunsthaus, Erfurt, her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions at PS1 New York, The ICA Winnipeg, The Akureyri Art Museum, The Collective, Edinburgh and more. Her work is in important international collections including The Rubell Family Collection, Miami and The David Roberts Collection, London.
 
  Biography

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Education:
MFA, Glasgow School of Art
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
BFA (hons), University of Manitoba

Solo Exhibitions:
Space, Open Studios, London
Pam's Dream, Rokeby, London
I am what you think I am, Samson Projects, Boston, MA
The Lunatic Box, Prussian Projekte, Nottingham
Haas/Fisher, Zurich
Rokeby, London
Kunsthaus Erfurt, Erfurt
Shut Up Shut Up Shut Up Shut Up, Fette's Gallery, Los Angeles
I love to hate you, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow
Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever, G+ Galleries, Toronto
Rokeby, London
It's for the Best, Dwarf Gallery, Reykjavik
Beneath the green green grass of home, Mary Mary, Glasgow
hang in there feral kitty, Glasgow Project Room, Glasgow

Selected Group Exhibitions:
Terminal Jest, Delaware County Community College in Media, PA
Winter Kept Us Warm, Produced by Plug In Institute for Contemporary Art, NAC Prairie Scene, Ottawa
My Winnipeg, Maison Rouge, Paris
Group Show curated by Beagles and Ramsey including amongst others Terry Atkinson, John Bock, Fischi & Weiss, Glue Factory, Glasgow
Brooklyn is Burning, PS1, New York, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley
FAX, Plug In ICA, Winnipeg
Showreel, Collective, Edinburgh
Awkward: A New Media Exhibition, AVA Gallery, Chattanooga
Video_Dumbo, Dumbo Arts Center, New York
Between Tracks, The International 3, touring to Manchester and The Badhaus, St Gallen
An Uncomfortable Fascination, The WFG's Cinematheque, Winnipeg
Salem, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
No Borders (Just News), The Elektriciteitscentrale, European Centre for Contemporary Art, Brussels touring to the Museum for Contemporary Art, Thessalonica, Greece
Rythum Decay, Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland
Geisai Art Fair, curated by Takashi Murakami, Miami
Group drawing exhibition, Jack Hanley, San Francisco
Group exhibition, I Gave You Life, Cooper Gallery, Dundee
Two-person exhibition with Melanie Rocan, Glasgow Project Room, Glasgow
Group sculpture exhibition, 798 Space, Beijing
Group exhibition, Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland
Graphology, Triple Base, San Francisco
Bizarre Love Triangle, Fetteís Gallery, Los Angeles
Marcel Dzama and Erica Eyres, The Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow
newcontemporaries 2005, touring, Cornerhouse, Manchester, LOT & Spike Island, Bristol, Barbican, London
Artificial Light, Film Screening, SAW, Ottawa
Gifts of Sound and Vision, Glasgow International, 20 St Andrews
Up and Coming Video Screeing #1, Galerie Adler, Frankfurt
Bloc, County Hall, London
Herald Feminist Film and Video Festival, Calgary
Cardboard Factory, The Leisure Club Mogadishni, Copenhagen
International Contemporary Drawing, The Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou and touring Beijing and Xiían, China
Split Film Festival, Split, Croatia
Garage Film Festival, Strasuland, Germany
Film Independent Festival des Arts, Montreal, Canada
 
 
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  Biography
 
 
Exhibitions