Violante M.e. SparksVancouver, BC Size 51" x 20" Medium oil on canvas with metal grommets Violante reassembles figurative forms taken from the mid-20th century paintings of Balthus and Suzanne Valadon. This work emerges from a desire to reconfigure familiarized narratives within painting history. By cutting and perforating canvas, Sparks explores the contradictory flatness, malleability and flaccidity of the painted image. Violante M.e. SparksVancouver, BC About the artist About the artist M.e. SparksVancouver, BC M.E. Sparks lives in Vancouver, BC on unceded Coast Salish territories. Working primarily through painting, her work culls from western art history, found objects and childhood narrative. Recent paintings explore historical representations of the female body, ideas of obfuscation and tenebrosity, as well as false binaries of abstraction and representation. Sparks holds an MFA from Emily Carr University and BFA from NSCAD University. Recent group shows include Pleated Fingers Parted, Fifty Fifty Arts Collective, Victoria (2019), some body anybody, South Main Gallery, Vancouver (2019), Inside Out, SiteFactory, Vancouver (2018), Mother Tongue, Dynamo Arts Association, Vancouver (2018), near channels, Support, London (2018), and A Terrible Signal, Access Gallery, Vancouver (2017). Sparks was a finalist in the 2016 and 2017 RBC Painting Competitions. She has participated in residencies in Canada, Germany and Finland, and will be attending the Vermont Studio Center in 2020. Follow on social