dc3 Art Projects is pleased to present Firedamp, the largest exhibition by Edmonton-based artist Sean Caulfield to date to coincide with his recently unveiled Art Gallery of Alberta Manning Hall Commission The Flood.

Using traditional hand-cut printing techniques as a starting point for his work, Caulfield’s practice blurs the boundaries between the biological and the technological, embodying visions of both the past and future. Caulfield’s first solo exhibition at dc3 Art Projects will focus on work created over the last 5 years, informed by the artist’s visit to Fukushima, shortly after the disaster, and subsequent visit to Hiroshima.

The exhibition title, Firedamp, is taken from a mining term that refers to flammable gases that when released from their natural pockets and mixed with air create an explosive mixture. Firedamp embodies the potentiality for destruction created when environmental processes meet industrial ones. Considering implications of this merging, Caulfield’s recent work not only reflects an anxiety over the future, but also creates a future of possibility – as with fire and flood come not only destruction, but also rebirth.

Traditionally used as an intermediate in the print process, Caulfield has recently begun exhibiting his hand-carved woodblock panels as works themselves. In their direct relationship to the artist, these panels betray the hand of the artist, creating a sense of intimacy and a heightened tactility. In Firedamp, Caulfield will be exposing his process through not only exhibiting both woodblocks and prints, but also through a new experimental sculpture the artist will be hand-carving in the gallery space throughout the course of the exhibition.

Sean Caulfield is a Centennial Professor in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Alberta. and an internationally renowned printmaker. He holds an MFA from the University of Alberta and he has exhibited his prints, drawings and artist’s books extensively throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, and Japan. Caulfield has received numerous grants and awards for his work and his Manning Hall Commission, The Flood, is on view at the Art Gallery of Alberta until August 2016.

Photography by Blaine Campbell.