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Gomez-Perales, Opposing Chairs, left
Gomez-Perales, Opposing Chairs, right
Artist: Juan L. Gomez-Perales
Title: Opposing Chairs
Date: 1984
Media: steel, two-way mirror, cables, chairs
Dimensions: 3.660 x 0.915 x 1.525 M
Collection: The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
"In Opposing Chairs a two-way mirror reflects the viewer's own image, superimposed on the image of the person sitting in the opposite chair; the mind constructs a single face from this dual image. The psychological implications are manifold. As an actual physical barrier, the mirror brings to mind the complex barriers to communication that can arrise between two people, such as the phenomenon of psychological projection that is embodied in the window-mirror image itself - one cannot see the other person clearly. In a more positive light, the piece can be seen as suggesting that the blurring of individual identity may be an inevitable and not unpleasant fact of human interaction, and that we are never as complete or self-sufficient in ourselves as we might like to think."
Ruth Gregory
1988
Excerpt from the exhibition catalogue:
Juan L. Gomez-Perales - Beyond Formalities
Gallery 111, Winnipeg, 1988