Bio

Anella Schabler is a multidisciplinary artist based in Canada who explores little details and intimate moments. They explore the delicate parts of everyday life- identity, culture, and sensitivity in their work. Through painting, sculpture, and textiles, they immerse the audience in reflection rooted in memory and sentimentality that allows the viewer to sit, stay, and converse with themselves. They are currently pursuing their bachelor’s degree of Visual Studies and Art History at the University of Toronto, they intend to pursue fine art as their career and lifelong passion.

Artist Statement

sold piece: for you challenges the multitude of ways in which art is exchanged, valued, and archived. Drawing on the precedent of  participatory events and multiples created by the Fluxus artists that circulated beyond traditional institutional boundaries, this interactive installation is a gesture of generosity wrestling within formal procedures.

A limited edition of cast plaster ears, symbolic of the emotional labour of listening, modelled on the artist’s own ear, await the audience’s arrival. The question of value arises as the pieces can either be considered as rarified objects, or as tangible manifestation of sentimental weight as an earnest intention to give freely. This attempted gift giving is halted by boundaries imposed by economic interest and the inherent limitations of art as commodity.

A structured yet tender contract is available for the visitor who chooses to keep an ear for themselves, unless they desire to leave the works on the wall for others to experience. The audience must consider themselves within an interwoven social fabric as they create a collaborative piece directly affected by their actions. The eventual dispersal and collective ownership of the individual ears render them simultaneously unreproducible yet assuress their continuity as a living artwork. These ‘pieces’ of the artist are either left alone or tenderly adopted within a circle of intimately connected strangers.

This piece embodies the complexities of an artist’s desire to give rather than exchange, exploring the boundaries within which art can be offered, acquired, and cherished.