Continuing his investigations of the
boundaries between fact and fiction,
Toronto-based artist Geoffrey Pugen’s
newest body of work Another Side of
You presents a series of masterfully
manipulated photographs and videos.
In an age of technological transformation,
Pugen’s modified prints blend
reality with mythology as a strategy
for social critique.

Using digital montage, Pugen
plays with the ambiguity of the photographic
medium. Staging scenes in
his studio or photographing them elsewhere,
Pugen then digitally combines
and reconstructs the imagery. What
appears to the observer at first glance
to be an illusion reveals as a convincing
construct, betrayed by the absurdity
of the narrative content. From a
swan caught in a meteor shower to a
fallen skateboarder’s poignant recovery,
Pugen imbues each image with a
sense of the surreal. Deftly blending a
futuristic aesthetic with a cautionary
perspective on what we perceive to
be true, his images offer thoughtful
insights into an increasingly mediated
world that is in constant flux.

A recipient of the K.M. Hunter Award
for Interdisciplinary Art, Pugen has
exhibited his videos, music and artworks
nationally and internationally
in Toronto, Berlin, New York, Chicago,
Miami, Australia, Poland and the UK.

Curated by Angell Gallery