Peter Culley was born in Sudbury, Ontario in 1958.
PHILLIPE RAPHANEL
February 7–March 14, 1998
In previous work, Vancouver-based artist Philippe Raphanel explored the poisonous and medicinal properties of plants and their use in experiments to find a cure for illnesses, such as the HIV virus. In his recent exhibition Particles, he similarly draws from the Canadian West Coast, its landscapes and its indigenous flora and fauna to construct a suggestively interior landscape. This particular installation consisted of two large, multi-paneled paintings, one with a light background and the other dark, which were positioned opposite each other in the gallery. These formal devices were integral to the installation aspect of the work and to the conceptual exploration of the cultural construction of binaries. In Particles, Raphanel offers a complicated and troubled look at nature and the natural which is informed by a subtext of the human body. Through aesthetics and allusions, Raphanel presents an abstract microcosm of the beautiful and the abject, blurring the use of nature and the body as sites of cultural inscription. Canadian writer/poet Peter Culley presented a reading of his work in conjunction with this exhibition.
FRUIT DOTS
PETER CULLEY
2000
in May. As it unfolds
spores are discharged.
Tuft of rust wool
above the fruiting pinae,
shallow vase formed, flood
the woods with golden light.
Other osmundas, absence of the
fertile fronds. Erect,
curving outward,
oblong – lanceolate; obtuse divisions
taller than the sterile
entire or toothed.
Of the midrib, indusium delicate— —
little fronds, ecstatic presence
of the deeper woods.
Arched across the rock – broken
stream, carpeted with low;
where precious red – cupped mosses
stretch basswood overhead
cliff which forms.
Early meadow rue- —
lobed and rounded leaflet
crowds to the roadside
moist hollows: fronds
tremulous on their black
chance to be driving
by a bank overgrown,
possessed by a tormenting love
sadly state but firm;
aloofness which adds
haunts are dim.
Summit of the slender,
under margin of a lobe
dotted with fragrant heaps.
Entered the cool
shade, beauty and luxuriance,
rich green arched above
rigid fruit clusters.
Crown firmed rigid;
by means of underground runners
crawled under
a tight board fence -—
free veins with simple veinlets
do not reach
the midvein. Reflexed marginal
rows of bright brown sporangia
wedged in neighbouring
crannies, sprang from limestone cliffs;
so blended, with their rocky
self – assurance at variance.
Prostrate among the rocks
rise the firm
graceful crowns:
conspicuously marginal
fruit – dots, caudex covered by the bases —
apex and the tips
of its pinnules, plumes
of departing summer,
of the greenhouse.
above the black leaf – mould
immortal in the swamp herbage,
centre shades away
less chaffy stalks; mossy ledges
above star – like stumps of decaying.
A projecting shelf
of bluish green;
leathery, tapering,
decayed at its tip
a flower yet unnamed.
Day count.
Columbine flings out
just uncurled
roots of some great
nodding blossom,
among which the streams forces,
flavoured with the essence
once more.
Fastened underneath
into jagged, spreading —
were it not for the difference
twice to thrice – pinnate
finally appear naked,
early withering and exposing
beneath a reflexed portion.
Green takes on
a dark heraldic eagle
in a cross – section of the young stalk:
does not wither away,
grown by reason of the licking.
Shall shellfish
in the Andes at fourteen feet
widely spreading at the summit?
Reflexed edge, somewhat open
borne in a continuous line;
stout stalk, from the trunks
somewhat lustrous —
upward turning
on their upper
through the winter
In the rocky woods
having shiny scales
convex; persistent
along the roadside
and in the wet,
found in the tiniest
its creeping rootstock rise.
At times wear very light,
standing brown and dry
from early frosts —
form midway
in masses — in wet meadows
inappropriateness, wavy – toothed
divisions; berry – like bodies
usually heart – shaped.
Scattered on the lower surface
shale, and conglomerate
near limestone cliffs
sprays of the bulblet
turreted summits.
Rigid grace, slim in crowded ranks,
into moist ravines
necessitates the twisting
of its stalk. Shelves of shaded rocks:
surprise — combination of delicacy,
black stemmed
under groups of red, with blackish
and shining, silvery till maturity,
base auricled;
the tangle of wild
close to the roadside fence.
Of some amber – coloured brook
the wild bergamot
its swift noiseless flow.
Uncurl in May —
present a rather blotched
delicacy, scarlet cluster,
background. Of grain shine
between umbrella – like Brakes:
so recently unfolded texture
seems a trifle.
Close against the rails;
as the curves and dimples,
little undulations
of the August wood’s border —
Party, Catalogue Launch, Reading
PHILIPPE RAPHANEL, PETER CULLEY
October 16, 1998
Artspeak is proud to present the launch of Philippe Raphanel’s new catalogue “Particles” which features an essay and poetry by Peter Culley. In conjunction with the launch, Peter will be reading and we will be having a party.
Particles
Title: Particles
Category: Exhibition Catalogue
Artist: Philippe Raphanel
Writers: Peter Culley
Editor: Jacqueline Larson
Design: Roberta Batchelor
Publisher: Artspeak
Printer: S & T Stereo Printers
Year published: 1998
Pages: 28pp
Cover: Paper
Binding: Staple Bound
Process: Offset
Features: 7 colour images
Dimensions: 23 x 16 x 0.2 cm
Weight: 112 g
ISBN: 0-921394-29-2
Price: $4 CDN
Culley produces a parallel essay to Raphanel’s exhibition Particles. Both practitioners have used the rich landscape of British Columbia as a departure point in their respective mediums. Also included is the poem “Fruit Dots” by Culley.