Mise-en-Scène is part of the 30th Anniversary Exhibition Program at the Elizabeth Leach Gallery. The exhibit’s title, taken from the French term refers to elements that create the mood and general visual environment of a theatrical space. Costumes, props, lighting, set design and framing are typical components used to convey information about a story and its characters.

Mise-en-Scène features the work of seven artists – Luke Butler, Noah Davis, Robert Hanson, Justine Kurland, Vik Muniz, John Sonsini and Pamela Wilson-Ryckman – who incorporate narrative elements in their individual artworks as avenues for visual storytelling.

Luke Butler shows us masculine pop-culture icons in unheroic moments to express vulnerability. The San Francisco artist is known for his painted recreations of scenes from the original Star Trek series, most often depicting Captain Kirk fallen or under duress. Noah Davis uses dream-like scenes and a personal exploration of fantasy to give emotional weight to his narratives. Robert Hanson’s expressive approach to figures and portraits, capturing specific moments of self-reflection, results from his work with live models in real time. Pamela Wilson-Ryckman’s watercolour and ink street scenes convey ethereal moments reminiscent of fleeting memories, underscoring the fragility of time.

A recent series by photographer Justine Kurland documents the remaining commercial rail systems in the American West and the transient life of street kids, hobos and train hoppers who ride the rails. New York-based artist Vik Muniz reproduces black and white photos of political or famous people using cut paper in a gray scale to examine their importance within contemporary culture. For his subjects, John Sonsini of Los Angeles hired Mexican day labourers whose hidden personalities are revealed in his thickly rendered oil paintings.

Allyn Cantor