Kelly Mark’s new video work, 108 Leyton Ave, is the centrepiece of her third show at Diaz Contemporary entitled Nothing is Larger Than Everything.
"Strung between the twin poles of pathos and irony, 108 Leyton Ave is her most personally revealing work to date. It is built from common expressions relating to “everything” and “nothing” and was developed over a period while Mark was living in the social isolation of a quasi-suburban limbo on Toronto’s eastern edge. “Everything” and “Nothing” are constructed as opposite but asymmetrical roles that she performs for a split-screen projection, plumbing the contradictions of her own personality to reveal the bravura and insecurity of having no one to talk to but yourself. Everything and Nothing are also at the root of the balance of works in the main gallery.” – Christina Ritchie
On view in the back gallery the artist will be exhibiting three new time based works as well as new additions to her ever expanding Letraset Drawing Series and Graphite Drawing Series.
Mark received her BFA in 1994 at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. She has exhibited widely across Canada and internationally at venues including MASS Mocca (Massachusetts), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), The Power Plant (Toronto), Nuit Blanche (Toronto), Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), Musée d'Art Contemporain (Montreal), Henry Art Gallery (Seattle), Bass Museum (Miami), Ikon Gallery (UK). Mark represented Canada at the Liverpool Biennale in 2006 and the Sydney Biennale in 1998. She is a recipient of numerous Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council grants, as well as the KM Hunter Artist Award (2002), and Chalmers Art Fellowship (2002).
Kelly Mark would like to thank Christina Ritchie, Paulette Phillips, Brad Marcoux, Mark Robbeson, Josh Cleminson, Katie Bethune-Leamen, Dave Dyment, Matthew Varey, Christy Garland, Miles Stemp, Jose Andres Mora, Micah Lexier, Jon Sasaki, Paul Conway, Dian Carlo of Sodi Designs, Mitch Robertson & Superframe and The Canada Council for the Arts.
  
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