Francisco-Fernando Granados: 1.Make a Line

Exhibition: June 17th – July 2nd

Opening reception and spatial profiling… performance: Friday, June 17th at 4:00 PM

Artist talk: Monday, June 20th at 7:00 PM

All activities will take place at the YMCA Newcomer Connections Centre, located at 191 Churchill Blvd. in Saint John, New Brunswick.

1. Make a line. is a solo exhibition of site specific works by Francisco-Fernando Granados, a Toronto-based artist working in performance, drawing and multidisciplinary critical practices. Working within the framework of Third Space Gallery’s spaceless operating model, 1. Make a line. has been developed in conjunction with the activities and services offered within the Saint john YMCA Newcomer Connections Centre, an organization that assists immigrants and refugees with their settlement needs and helps to facilitate their integration and participation in the community.

The title of this exhibit is lifted from an English language learning textbook published in the 1980’s. 1. Make a line. references the dialogue between a student and teacher, echoing Granados’ work concerning the civic and aesthetic education of immigrant and refugee populations in the Canadian context, and speaks to the artist’s conscientious wielding of appropriation and the readymade within his art practice. Embracing an opportunity for exchange and renewal offered by the non-traditional art space, Granados has responded to the educational context of the Newcomer Connections Centre. In every physical form and performative action, the works in this exhibition can be recognized as provisional methods and resources to train the imagination. 1. Make a line. mirrors the spaces of learning and writing within the process of integration.

This exhibition of Granados’ work in partnership with the Saint John YMCA Newcomer Connection Centre is the third and final installment of the three-part interdisciplinary project series, Conflicted State. In its entirety, encompassing new, site-specific interpretations of work by Michael D. McCormack, Roberto Santaguida and Francisco-Fernando Granados, Conflicted State examines the documentation of political, generational, and local histories through the lens of the individual. The series explores isolation and the artist’s role in creating correspondence between themselves and their subject. Ultimately, by balancing between the factual and the imagined, this series intends to expose the vulnerabilities of community and human connection.

Third Space Gallery gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Newcomer Connection Centre’s staff, volunteers and clients for welcoming us into their space. The artist would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. Special thanks to Cressida Kocienski, Basil AlZeri, and Kurt Kraler.