PAPER MACHETE 42' N / 83' W (2006)

Featuring: Jesse Harris / Shawn Kuruneru / Mark Laliberte / gustave morin / Ali Sunderji

Nov 09 – 12, 2006
— collage party: Sat Nov 11

:::::::::: Common Ground (Windsor, ON)

In early November of 2006, we brought together a group of artists for the first in a series of what 'Paper Machete' events. This inaugural project positioned artists Jesse Harris, Shawn Kuruneru, Mark Laliberte, gustave morin and Ali Sunderji, injecting them into a collaborative gallery scenario. This busy group notably shares a history rooted in zine & artist-book culture and a fascination with aging paper & material scavenging.

For the Windsor Paper Machete residency, our temporary collective gathered together (travelling from their homes in various Canadian cities) at our host space Common Ground on a sunny Thursday morning; they spent the following three days collectively haunting this checker-floored gallery space and taking in the lunchbucket community’s urban geography. Much of the material used to create the works in the exhibit were collected on the first full day of the residency on a trip across the river, scavenged from several abandoned spaces in the amazing ruins of ravaged inner-city Detroit. Indeed, many of the final works displayed here were created strictly from found materials. Over the course of a few days, the team decorated blank walls with countless collages and assemblages, exploring the limits of paper, listening to music, and having wicked fun in the name of art.

Throughout the residency, invited local guests were free to stop by, participate & collaborate. The finalized exhibition opened publicly on Saturday November 11, when the installation was declared complete, and where the 20th issue of CAROUSEL was launched to the Windsor area. Through the time-sensitive and process-oriented context that this 'Paper Machete' residency provided, the group collectively explored their interests in hybrid lit, drawing, and collage in various forms to create a playful and diverse collection of objects, images and ideas.