Lot
25
Midnight Poison
Inkjet print on backlit film, mounted on LED lightbox, 2020
152 x 102 cm
2/3
Estimate
$4 250
Midnight Poison is part of a series of works exploring the language of advertising, design, and commodity fetishism – specifically the visual rhetoric that often imbues brand and product identities with notions of naturalness, freshness, tropical exoticism, and sensuality. Similar to contemporary depictions of products online, the objects and settings have been completely constructed using computer software. Midnight Poison depicts a number of consumer bottles in a photography studio in the midst of a shoot.
Biographical note
Juan Otiz-Apuy is a Canadian-Costa Rican artist living and working in Tiohtiàke/Montreal since 2003. He has a BFA from Concordia University, a post-graduate diploma from the Glasgow School of Art, and an MFA from NSCAD University. His research and art practice focus on materiality and commodity fetishism as viewed through the lenses of postcolonialism and environmental exploitation.
His work has been exhibited, among others, at Les Abattoirs (France), IKEA Museum (Sweden), Pamflett (Norway), DHC/ART Fondation pour l’art contemporain (now Centre PHI, Montreal), Owens Art Gallery (Sackville), Carleton University Art Gallery (Ottawa), MOMENTA Biennale de l’image (Montreal), Manif d’art — La biennale de Québec (Québec City), Truck Contemporary Art (Calgary), Museum London, Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography (Toronto), VOX Centre de l’image contemporaine (Montreal), and the McLaren Arts Centre (Barrie).
His work is included in the Colart Collection, the Cirque Du Soleil Collection, the Equitable Bank Contemporary Art Collection, and others. He has received numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and his exhibitions have been reviewed in publications such as Canadian Art, MOMUS, esse arts + opinions, The Gazette (Montreal), Le Devoir (Montreal), and Public Parking.
Ortiz-Apuy is an assistant professor in the Department of Studio Arts at Concordia University.