Using the primitive charcoal stick, in combination with the latest in digital technology, Christine Redfern videotapes her drawings as they unfold. Through a process of adding and erasing marks, the resulting animation brings to mind the work of South African artist William Kentridge. Titled Who Knows, the piece is a haunting take on the human condition, whose tone is augmented by a soulful soundtrack composed by Scott McCullough (Doughboys, Rusty). Who Knows, will be visible each evening after dark from August 10th to 16th in the street level window of Galerie La Centrale (4296 St-Laurent).  

The human body is the starting point for all of Redfern’s artistic investigations. Past solo shows include the painting exhibitions Histology and the Erotic Fruit Series (Angell Gallery, Toronto) and the WW1 inspired Naked Soccer Game (used as a backdrop for Allen Ginsberg’s performance, Convocation Hall, 1996). The floral installation My Love is like a Red, Red Rose, marked the 10th anniversary of the Montreal Polytechnique Massacre (Bus Gallery, Toronto and Université de Montréal, 1999), which resulted in further contemplation of guns and culture in the drawing installation Shoot (Katharine Mulherin Gallery, Toronto, 2000). Most recently she turned her attention to clothing and the female form with performance collaborations with Carole Baillargeon (Sensation Mode’s outdoor stage, St-Laurent Blvd, Montreal, 2003) and with Lesley Dill (Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY, USA, 2003). Her video series of these performances, titled re-dress, was first presented in a storefront window (Galerie Diagonale, Montreal, 2005), as well as at other exhibition venues (Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, USA; Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia and INPORT International Video-Performance Art Festival, Tallinn, Estonia).

Redfern’s writing on the visual arts can be seen weekly in the Montreal Mirror, as well as in various arts magazines (Canadian Art, Border Crossings) and publications (Caught in the Act: an anthology of performance art by Canadian women, YYZ Press). She is the Montreal Contributing Editor to Contemporary Magazine (London, England) and editor of TAKE OUT: Performance Recipes for Public Space. For the past two years she has been writing a comic about artist Ana Mendieta entitled: Into the Void to be launched fall 2006. She holds a Masters of Science in Biomedical Communication with honours from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Ontario, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Arts with distinction from Concordia University, Quebec.