Aura
2010
These works began as a tangent to Mallett’s Self-Help work. In collecting second-hand self-help materials, she encountered a book entitled How to See and Read the Aura which fell under the category of parapsychology and new-age healing. This text became a key element to her research in self-help, which Mallett expanded on in this body of work centred around this book.
Mallett employs the use of UV-sensitive screen printing inks in these multicoloured works, which fluctuate with the daylight, causing the viewer to see more or less of the text depending on the time of day they encounter the work, mimicking the practice of aura-reading. Here the artist explores ideas of belief, and metaphorically alludes to the practice of reading and interpreting works of art.
(Photo-documentation of CAG Installation by Scott Massey, SAAG Installation by David C Miller and Petra Mala Miller, and Mercer Union by Toni Hafkenscheid)
Installation views: Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2010), Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge (2011), Modern Fuel, Kingston (2011), Ontario, and Mercer Union, Toronto (2013)
How to See and Read the Aura, 2010
44 framed screen prints with UV-sensitive ink and 1 lightjet print
each 11×14” / 33×50”
Have You Experienced the Auric Energy Field, 2010
Screen prints with UV-sensitive ink
40×30” each
Varied edition of 11
How to See and Read the Aura (Back Cover), 2009/2013
Inkjet Print
50×36” each
Edition of 3
Kyla Mallett
Associate Professor
Faculty of Visual Art and Material Practice
Emily Carr University of Art and Design
1399 Johnston Street, Vancouver BC V6H 3R9
www.ecuad.ca/people/profile/
email: kylamallett@gmail.com