Vanessa Maltese | Crowd

 

Vanessa Maltese

Crowd

Dufftown, Scotland: Glenfiddich, 2023

8.5 cm diameter 

Edition size unknown

Last week I was in Toronto to host an event for the Glenfiddich Artist-in-Residence program, at the Gladstone Hotel. This was the first in-person event in three years as Covid caused the program to be cancelled for 2020, and the last two years were held over Zoom. 

Participants in the Zoom event were sent parcels in the mail that included whisky, Glenfiddich swag and and an artist multiple. The first year included an etched glass by Christof Migone & Marla Hlady, and a coaster by Dean Baldwin Lew. Last year was a second coaster project, by Lee Henderson. 

This year former-resident Vanessa Maltese was invited to produce the third coaster project. She returned to her 2018 project, which explored the subject of pareidolia - the phenomenon in which the human brain perceive familiar shapes in unfamiliar surroundings. Titled Crowd, the set of three coasters depict drink stains which suggest faces. 

The selected artist for the summer of 2023 was announced at the event: Derek Liddington. Derek's proposal was that he was going to hunt for giants in the Scottish landscape, a logical continuation from his current exhibition at Daniel Faria Gallery.