Bottled Faces

October 4th, 2009

Meghan Paterson has brought new meaning to portrait artistry: painting faces on to glass bottles. The daughter of a pirate and art teacher, and one of the co-curators behind Vancouver’s most anticipated art show, The Cheaper Show (an annual one-night art sale), Paterson celebrated her opening reception – Empty Bottles Broken Hearts – Thursday night at Gravity Pope Tailor Goods in Vancouver, and The Block was there to support.

Paterson’s first solo show in five years, Empty Bottles Broken Hearts features 39 painted stout glass bottles; a scaled-down medium for Paterson, who typically paints on larger-than-life canvases. Captured on the exteriors of the bottles – glass Antipodes water bottles to be exact – are acrylic painted portraiture of friends, friends of friends, and strangers. The subject matter explores identity: the bottles are empty, but are full of life; the bottles are identical, yet each piece is different.

So before you start singing “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,” we suggest you check the 39 bottles painted by Paterson instead. Just don’t mistake these faces for any missing persons. Empty Bottles Broken Hearts can be found at: http://www.meghanpaterson.com.