September 12 to October 17, 2014
“Chasm Drifter” is a project by Jon Vaughn, that began developing in 2010 with the exhibition Rainbow in the Night, followed by Crypt of Life I-III and Crypt of Life II: Appendage, that seek to break down the boundaries between drawing, digital and analogue collage and found art. Pulling together disparate areas are the artists superstitious and naive belief that all encounters, whether chance-based or intentional, are the result of supernatural and/or magical guiding forces. Both an obsessive collector and curious explorer, the objects involved in Vaughn’s practice arrive at that destination through a multitude of origins and processes. Things he finds randomly or seeks high and low to find, ideas that he develops over long and short periods of time using any means of production, and even gifts he has received become the fodder for his practice. Vaughn perceives his own being like a shadow being reflected upon itself with the ability to endure endless becomings. He finds joy drifting through his cultures chasms collecting fallen debris, discarded half-creations, unwanted gifts, repressed memories, crashed lines of flight, abandoned iconography, printed graphical excess, and forgotten truths.
Chasm Drifter was developed during an open studio in collaboration with the two week installation of Dominique Petrin’s The Living Room and Other Displays, following which the artist continued to interact, document and develop in an experimental process in combination with music events.
Jon Vaughn is a visual and audio artist born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1981. He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Art History. His visual artwork has been featured in many publications and group exhibits around the world including France, Germany, Italy, Beligum, Japan and Argentina.
Vaughn is currently one of the two curators of the online exhibit Guardie which has roots in Italy but has tentacles stretch that across the globe, and continues to operate his publishing house Ecstasy Editions, his video store Videonomicon, and record label Pop Quiz Records. He releases, performs and DJs experimental and electronic music as VC Vibes and Phlegm Gadget, as well as playing in the noise band Slime Street with his friend Dallas Kruselnicki aka Greenmist.
