Our will to build and rebuild
Andrew O'Connor
Our will to build and rebuild is a mixed media digital collage presented as a two-panel diptych. Multiple layers of odd cut out shapes, liberated brush strokes, and fragmented images of residents, community groups, businesses and familiar architectural landmarks, are interwoven in an abstracted scenery depicting Barton St.’s evolution through the passage of time. Drawing from its celebrated commercial and industrial past, to its present and future restoration as a flourishing cultural and community hub, the imagery merges a dichotomy between a sense of nostalgia and sentimentality for auld lang syne, with a hopeful and optimistic outlook for what is yet to come
Andrew O’Connor is a multidisciplinary artist and designer. Born in Hamilton, he is known for his esoteric approach to optics and technology, expressive and improvised visual performances, interactive installations, and 2D collage prints. From concept to execution, O’Connor constructs enigmatic realms through a blend of digital and analog processes - coded generative design systems, live multi-camera feeds, various prisms and lenses, oils and inks. Andrew is fascinated with revealing the materiality through the process of deconstruction and assemblage, either performed live or in production. His works are primarily inspired by nature - from the moments of tranquillity to the emergent patterns and behaviours in natural phenomena.
310 Barton St. E
The ‘Anything is Possible on Barton’ exhibition is a neighbourhood wide art project that was selected for the Government of Canada’s My Main Street Community Activator program. This project is organized by the Barton Village BIA and funded in part by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario and the City of Hamilton. Thank you to the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario and the Canadian Urban Institute for supporting local communities and revitalizing our main streets.
Please check out the other 14 installations HERE.
