VIKI FRENCH
Animals dream too
Animals dream too
oil on canvas
12'' x 16''
Resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Viki French was born near Worcestershire, England. She studied art in Bradford and had her first solo exhibition in Malvern in 1995. From 1995 to 1998 she travelled extensively throughout Canada, Spain and England and, in 1998, decided to immigrate to Canada. Viki settled in Edmonton, Alberta, where she painted and exhibited extensively. In March 2000, the Edmonton Journal listed one of her shows at the top of their "must see" events.
While travelling, Viki became aware of varieties of bird and animal life that had gone unnoticed before. Differences in colour, light, texture and form were a newly inspired source for her art making. She also began placing animals in unnaturalistic contexts that mirror human dreams, where dreamers find themselves flying or stranded in strange places. What if animals were to have the same dreams or at least aspects of them? Would elephants experience dreams of weightlessness? Would giraffes find themselves beneath lush rainforest canopies? She has explored this idea for several years now, and has a growing backlog of ideas to develop.
With many relatives now living in Cape Breton, Viki relocated from Edmonton to Dartmouth in 2003. Presently, she is preparing her first Maritime solo exhibition at the Craig Gallery in February 2006 and will be participating in smaller venues in Halifax this summer. Viki’s upcoming activities can be viewed regularly on Gallery News.
Dartmouth, NS Canada
e-mail pipertrogg@hotmail.com