Dionne Simpson
artwork
under $250
Dionne Simpson's current body of work combines tradition with contemporary content. Simpson pulls threads from large canvases using a traditional African technique. New materials are intricately interwoven into the spaces where the threads have been removed. She adds "found pigments" and further destroys and embellishes the fabric. By subtraction and addition the work develops into a contemporary piece embedded with tradition. Employing the canvas as a metaphor for the underlying fabric of Canadian society Simpson embeds fragments of our culture inside the windows formed within the canvas. The square is a reoccurring element in her work and is used as a symbol of growth , order and stability that has become the backdrop for Western living.