Fenti Nod
$1,850.00
SOLD
Artist: Shelly Rothenburger
Medium: Charcoal and Acrylic
Artist Statement:
I was sitting in a coffee shop looking outside at the area where one buys transit passes for the Sea Bus in North Vancouver when I notice a woman stooped over enough to touch her toes. She was wearing a hoodie, no pants and Nike shoes. I could see her underpants as she crouched in this position not moving. I immediately realized that she was an addict in what’s called a “Fenti Nod”. She was very vulnerable deep in a powerful fentanyl high. In this series I am working on a representation of addicts I have observed all over the lower mainland of Vancouver (mostly in the east side) in different stages of drug highs. This issue is commonplace in many cities and small towns across North America and beyond and I am compelled to address this visually and blatantly as I see the effects on people regularly outside my studio. It’s a subject and sight that most do not want to acknowledge. I have painted these images, I have documented by photograph, on Mylar. I have painted them in a raw fashion on an unstable transparent surface. In this context I hope to perhaps to bring a sense of humanity to these suffering people. My work offers a raw, unfiltered look at mind and body addiction in the land of an urban community. Understanding these perspectives can help users engage more deeply with the realities of addiction and the power of art to provoke social awareness.
Artist Biography:
Shelley was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario and now resides in Richmond, B.C. She began formal studies in art in 1989 at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Fine Art in 1995 majoring in painting. She continued her art education in 1997 upon entering Graduate School at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and completed her formal studies with a Master of Fine Art degree in painting in 2000. She has had multiple solo, juried and group exhibitions nation wide, most noted being a juried exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto in 1996, a solo exhibition at the Nickel Museum in Calgary in 2000 and an invitational exhibition in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2014. Her work is represented in the West Vancouver District Art Collection, University of Alberta Master of Fine Art Collection and The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Collection. And, in private regional, national and international collections. Shelley’s work has also been featured in Artists Talk Magazine and Wotisart out of the United Kingdom and Art Reveal Magazine in Finland. Her professional experience includes teaching, giving lectures and doing demonstrations and workshops. She is a court room artist and she has served on art gallery committee board of directors and as a jury member. She has co-founded and organized an annual art collective event, and exhibition design for various galleries. Shelley has been awarded the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Graduate Scholarship Award, The Mary Louis Imrie Graduate Student Award, three Lakehead University Juried Exhibition Awards and several provincial Exhibition Assistance Grants.
