2015
Douglas Udell Gallery – Edmonton, AB

With the obvious irony of such a named place becoming a tragic tableau, the new series of work by Kyle Beal is based on found images of Funtown Pier- a New Jersey amusement park destroyed in 2013 by electrical fire after largely surviving Hurricane Sandy.

Along with charcoal drawings, Electric Park is comprised of inkjet prints based on kitschy souvenir postcards and mixed media objects that can best be described as formalist interpretations of the visual language and material aesthetics of the amusement park. The site and the event at Seaside Heights’ Funtown Pier speak to the notion of favouring spectacle and leisure over maintenance and pragmatism, with error, neglect, and decay as passive paths to destruction.