Good Atlas gallery hosting new exhibit from Cell Driver

Good Atlas in downtown North Bay has opened T.R.Y. (Tenter Recycler mes Yeux), a new multi-medium exhibition by bilingual queer artist Cell Driver that transforms discarded materials into contemporary art

Good Atlas in downtown North Bay is hosting a new art exhibition entitled T.R.Y. (Tenter Recycler mes Yeux). The exhibit is a multi-medium and new media contemporary series representing the process of reformatting trash into art objects.

The works are by Cell Driver, a bilingual queer new media artist from the Eastern Townships of Quebec, who recently served as the Near North Makerspace Artist in Residence at the Near North Mobile Media Lab.

Over Cell Driver’s 17-week residency, the artist developed pieces that would form the basis of the Good Atlas show. A release from the Near North Mobile Media Lab during Cell Driver’s residency noted these new works, “explore the determination to try something new and the idea of ‘recycling yourself’ as a metaphor for renewal: transforming into a fresh form while retaining the same material composition.”

See: Award winning artist returns to North Bay with new exhibition

Good Atlas noted in a release, “In their debut solo exhibition with Good Atlas Gallery, Cell Driver creates artwork out of waste: scrap from downtown North Bay and its waterfront, debris from the rail corridors, dumpster contents, and builder’s offcuts sourced from Rebuilt Resources. The artist treats each object as a record of the cyclical nature of material from consumer value to waste and, possibly, back to value.”

Those interested in viewing the artworks are welcome to stop by the Good Atlas gallery. The gallery has posted the works on its website, as they are also being sold online via silent auction. Bids close on October 17 at 7 p.m.

That’s when the show ends as well. To mark the exhibit’s conclusion, Good Atlas is hosting a talk with the artist on Saturday, October 17, from 5 to 7 p.m., which is free to attend. Good Atlas is located at 348 Fraser Street in North Bay. It is an art supply store, and the gallery is within the space.

David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.