Author: artoronto

Obscures (série no. 2) – 01, 2006Copyright:© Éliane Excoffier / Courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

February 25 – March 24, 2012
Opening: Friday, February 25, 5–9 p.m.
STEPHEN BULGER GALLERY
1026 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario M6J 1H6
T: 416.504.0575
E: info@bulgergallery.com
www.bulgergallery.com 
Hours: Tues – Sat  11–6 p.m.

 The gallery is pleased to present our second solo exhibition of photographs by Éliane Excoffier, which will feature an overview of her work to date. The exhibition will coincide with the launch of her new catalogue Éliane Excoffier: bilan 1996–2008, copublished by the Musée régional de Rimouski, Galerie Simon Blais and Stephen Bulger Gallery, and featuring an essay by Bernard Lamarche.

Over the course of her photographic career, Excoffier has focused on exploring the dark and physical links that bind the history of photography and its techniques with the representation of the female body. In her first series, Rituels (1996), Excoffier’s depiction of the body considers the model against which women judge themselves. Often anorexic in form, the moving and ghostly figures blend with their environment as a means of making their disappearance visible.

Excoffier’s second series, Dualité (1997) and her interest in the history of photography and how it informs interpretations of the female body. Reminiscent of Muybridge’s female figure studies in motion, Dualité was also created in reaction to Lexique de beauté by Cludette de Seves in 1935, which imparted the rules that women should abide by to maintain their beauty. Excoffier superimposes negatives to create dual image that illustrates the struggle between women’s personal aspirations and society’s expectations. In 1999, Excoffier continued her investigation into the rules of beauty in Petit lexique de beaute. In this series, her female subjects perform similar gestures to those in Dualité, but through the process of overprinting the effect of blurring, Excoffier undermines the appeal of traditional beauty.

Obscures (2004) is influenced by historical erotic photographs and also marks the beginning of Excoffier’s experimentation with historical techniques. Using a pinhole camera, Excoffier creates dramatic and crude images of the female body that imply an element of mystery; a fleeting and accidental moment captured for the voyeur’s gaze. In Obscures (série no. 2), she continues this exploration wirh a larger format Kodak Camera from 1914 and both film and paper negatives. The film negatives allow a more defined image, while the paper negatives have a richer tonality of imprecise details. Both invite the voyeur’s gaze without satisfying it.

The exhibition will also include work from her most recent series, Chambres (et autres histoires photographiques, 2011) which gives pride of place to objects and challenges. Excoffier by working outside of a studio setting for the first time. All small in size, the works, like those preceding it, evoke narratives tinged with an implicit mystery.

Excoffier (b. St. Jérôme, Québec, 1971) lives and works in Montréal. She graduated with a degree in Visual Arts and Art History from the University of Montréal in 1996. Her work can be found in the collections of Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Montréal; Banque Nationale, Montréal; Loto-Québec, Montréal; Giverny Capital, Montréal; Fondation MontMartFund, Paris; Prêts d’oeuvres d’art du Musée National des Beaux-Arts u Québec, Québec; amongst others.

 March 1 – 4, 2012
Queen Elizabeth Building, Exhibition Place – 180 Princes’ Blvd

The Artist Project is a contemporary art fair like no other. From March 1 – 4, this cutting-edge exhibition will showcase a juried selection of work by 200 young and emerging artists from across Canada and around the world. Thousands of young urbanites and art lovers are expected to flock to the Queen Elizabeth Building at Exhibition Place to see what some of the world’s most dynamic emerging artists have to show at the Artist Project 2012.

What makes the Artist Project different from other art fairs is that artists exhibit and sell their work directly to patrons without galleries and dealers to function as intermediaries. This model allows patrons to interact directly with artists, learn about their process, and gain fascinating insights into the work.

The four day event kicks off on March 1st with an energy-themed Opening Night Preview Party which will benefit the Canadian Art Foundation. Highlights of this year’s installment include the Art Chats Series, Installation Alley, and the UNTAPPED Emerging Artists Competition.

Daniel St. Germaine

Jordan Madeira, The Power of Rad, Meadowvalle Secondary School, 2011

February 16 – 25, 2012
Opening:  Thursday, February 16, 3 – 6 p.m.
Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 120

Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
T: 416.979.3941

E: sojin@gallery44.org
www.gallery44.org

CAMERALINKS 2012 – BE!
Photography Exhibition of Elementary and Secondary School Students

CAMERALINKS, our annual non-competitive theme-based exhibition, provides a unique opportunity for Elementary and Secondary School students from the G.T.A. The theme for our 25th Anniversary CAMERALINKS exhibition is BE!

This non-juried exhibit offers students the chance to show their artwork in a professional gallery. It provides an opportunity for students to gain confidence and self-esteem while they explore their creative abilities.  A theme-based call for submissions is distributed each winter throughout Toronto area schools and students are encouraged to create photographic artwork in response. Participants embark on a creative journey that takes them from idea, through production, to an exhibition in a major Toronto gallery.

Come and celebrate the 25th Anniversary of CAMERALINKS!  We will also be showcasing works produced by students in the CAMERAreach: Be! A Photographer project.  Don’t miss the vitrines exhibit with featured schools from the TDSB.

You are cordially invited to share in this rare and inspiring experience—an exhibition of hundreds of photo-based artworks created by Toronto students!

Louise Robert, No 78 367 1377 366

February 18 –  March 14, 2012
Opening: Saturday, February 18,  2 – 6 p.m.
CHRISTOPHER CUTTS GALLERY
21 Morrow Avenue
Toronto, ON M6R 2H9
T: 416 532 5566
info@cuttsgallery.com
www.cuttsgallery.com
Hours: Tues–Sat 11–6 p.m.

Painter Louise Robert, a visual poet who uses canvas as her page and whose paintings, in the words of the French philosopher, Anne Cauquelin, are books in themselves. For his part, art historian Laurier Lacroix has lately written: “Contemplating a work by Louise Robert involves agreeing to take a stroll down memory lane and put our recollections, by their nature flimsy and misleading, to use once again. Memories of her own works have been stacked one upon another for close to thirty years. They have caught her compositions in the process of making and unmaking what have always seemed to be the same—both direct and palpable, leisurely and hurried, ecstatic and serene—gestures. The path her hand takes gives rise to surfaces that point to the play of colour and what its saturation, depth and mobility bring to mind.”

Born in Montréal in 1941, Louise Robert has been painting and drawing for thirty years. Her works have been shown in both solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries in Québec and the rest of Canada, as well as in France. For many years Robert has taken part in a mutually fertile interchange with writers from both Québec and elsewhere, her frequent borrowings of their words and phrases finding a proper place in her works, while authors in turn ask her to illustrate a cover page or provide images to accompany their texts.

March 1 – 4, 2012
TORONTO EXHIBITION PLACE
Queen Elizabeth Building
180 Princes’ Boulevard, Exhibition Place
Toronto, ON
T: 416.960.4513
E: amy@mmpicanada.com
www.theartistprojecttoronto.com/
Show hours: Thurs 7:00–10:00 p.m. (Opening Night, 19+ Event), Fri 12:00–9.00 p.m., Sat 11:00–9 p.m., Sun 11:00–6 p.m.
For admission tickets, click here.

From seasoned collectors and first time art buyers, to gallerists and interior designers, The Artist Project offers visitors a rare opportunity to meet and purchase work directly from Canadian and international artists. This face-to-face approach allows patrons to experience the thrill of discovering new talent and take home a great story along with their artwork. Special features such as Art Chats, the Untapped Emerging Artist Competition and expert-led tours also give visitors an insider’s view on new trends in the art world.

This March, The Artist Project marks its fifth anniversary with yet another exciting show featuring original works by a juried selection of over 200 independent contemporary artists. The fair has grown dramatically through the years – from 90 to over 200 artists, and more than 12,000 visitors are expected to attend in 2012. For four days (March 1-4, 2012), artists from a variety of geographic and creative backgrounds will converge and connect with patrons looking to get a glimpse of tomorrow’s Art Stars.

Mark Laliberte

Opening Night Preview Party

Thursday, March 1,  7:00–10:00 p.m. (restricted 19+)

February 4 – April 1, 2012
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN ART

Toronto’s unprecedented spring-like weather suits the atmosphere found inside at the MOCCA’s latest exhibition Spectral Landscape. With a dedicated focus on the great out-of-doors, this exhibition encapsulates the precarious and shifting relationships between humans and nature and evokes journeys through memories and nostalgia. Kicking off MOCCA’s 2012 season, Spectral Landscape opened on Saturday, February 4, 2012, alongside Tasman Richardson’s Necropoplis, and Daisuke Takeya’s God Loves Japan. Spectral Landscape, put on through the highly acclaimed National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, features the work of Peter Doig, Tim Gardner, and Sarah Anne Johnson.

Photo:  Mauricio Contreras-Paredes

Spectral Landscapes includes an array of printed, etched, and painted works which line the walls of the more western of MOCCA’s exhibition spaces. The age-old quest for becoming lost in a wilderness is set at play here, with each of the three artists offering engaging depictions of our more (or less) uninhabited environments. Idealized interpretations of landscape involve oppositions; we find the real, the sublime, the rugged, the fragile, the whimsical, and the surreal. Realism is interrupted by the ambiguous and the fantastical, lending a quality of sheer uncanny.

Peter Doig, Big Sur, 2001. Print. NGC Collection, Ottawa. © Peter Doig

Doig’s works, colour etchings on hahnemühle paper, come from his series, 100 Years Ago. The etchings are scenes of familiarity which reference past experiences and popularized culture. In these etchings Doig offers an acute awareness of the way that light affects perceptions and gives visual shape to objects. Almost impressionistic, this intentional focus on light is reminiscent of old photographs and renders the images as something from a memory. Echoes of “do you know this place,” linger as visitors point out details, responding to personal familiarity with the visual cues, and the similarities in experiences that we have all shared in our pasts.

Tim Gardner, Untitled (Bryan with Hot Dog), 2008 Watercolour. NGC Collection, Ottawa. © Tim Gardner

From a distance one would not guess that Gardner’s scenes of inhabiting the wild are created with watercolour paint rather than digital photography. Gardner’s depictions are especially significant to anyone who has spent time (childhood or otherwise) in the rugged hinterland of Canada’s backyard. Reminding one of days spent camping, skiing, or exploring, these paintings are similar to Doig’s and seem akin to personal memory. The elusive quality offered by the brushstroke, rather than digital clarity, emphasizes the fleeting nature by which remembered images are tinged. Gardner’s personal history is a shared one. Juxtaposing human object with nature’s starkness, Gardner poignantly reminds that “leaving it all behind” can have a double entendre (do we leave the city, or leave bits of it behind in the wilderness).

Sarah Anne Johnson, Circling the Arctic, 2011. CMCP Collection, Ottawa. © Sarah Anne Johnson

Johnson’s works in the series Arctic Wonderland date from 2009, when she sailed on a Norwegian schooner to Svalbard as a participant in the Arctic Circle program. Inspired by the sublimity of her surroundings, she captured these scenes, as well as her peers and their ship, in stark reality. Acknowledging the Arctic as a clear measure of the planet’s precarious health, Johnson manipulated her documentary-style photographs. Imposing post-production techniques such as etching and painting with photo-spotting inks, these works attest to an endless query of the shared uses of the environment. Although the bond between nature and human is unbreakable, we must question the impact of human involvement within our “pristine,” “untouched” and very fragile landscapes.

Sarah Anne Johnson, Explosions, 2011 Photograph CMCP Collection, Ottawa. © Sarah Anne Johnson

The featured works come together cohesively, creating a reminiscence: of summers and seasons past, of love and anxiety, of foreboding, of barren landscapes and familiar comforts. These are feelings which inherently prey on one’s inner sense of nostalgia, instigating musings and rememberings. What is lacking in this exhibition had nothing to do with the work itself, but ironically everything to do with the treatment of light. A tribute to experiences taking place out-of-doors, these cool images, in which depicted light figures so heavily, seem to crave cool, crisp, natural (or at least brighter) lighting.

Visiting Spectral Landscape involves a certain pensiveness; the works engage one in a time-lapsed journey through both the imagined and the experienced, causing one to wonder about the human desire to go off and ‘get lost.’ What is this yearning for solitude and separation from human civilization? Gardner’s watercolours remind that even when embarking on adventures of solitude and separation, we decide to bring the comforts of home along with us, and Johnson’s forebode that we will very often leave a destructive trail behind. Spectral Landscape takes into account the fact that memories do not preserve clarity or preciseness. Instead, it is in memory that images can bend and conform according to past experiences. Solitude surfaces as a subject to question, as one also wonders about the certain loneliness that accompanies the realization that memories, even those that are shared, are individualistic. Spectral Landscape points to the overwhelmingly historical and pervasive tendency to capture and frame our landscapes. People and the environment have a tenuous relationship, and they inherently impact one another. This tension reflects complexities that hold an ever-increasing presence in human awareness, as they form of our interactions with(in) the environments we inhabit—and as our environment becomes more and  more crucial.

Miriam Arbus

January 21 – April 1, 2012
ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

The Now service bureau kicked off 2012 inside AGO’s Young Gallery with a collaborative installation by Sean Martindale and Pascal Paquette. On January 20th, behind the NOW logo on the vindows, an extremely large crowd filled the gallery to capacity with radiant young energy.

The project’s goal was to provide a place of  “artistic creativity that encourages mindful actions on local issues.” They also stated that, “This projects reflects the artists’ interest in the tension between the rush and impatience of our current lifestyle and the benefit of slowing down.” Now, they got that part – the slowing down I mean.

Going back to the exhibition on the next day all that remains is a very small installation with a  video screen, an empty room, and a big wall with some names – a strong contrast between the opening celebration and the actual show.

 Gift Shop Gift Shop fares better. It was a good idea to put it in the actual  AGO gift shop, a place where the featured show usually exhibits mementos. Its predecessor was the Chagall show.

It features Toronto-based artists, designers and illustrators and many of the works reuse street and everyday materials, transformed into valuable objects. It is a neat  idea and some of the objects are unique while the others  just blend into the usual museum gifts. The life-size  “put-your-face-in” wood cut-outs are really cool.

Text: Emese Krunák-Hajagos, Photo: Mauricio Contreras-Paredes

Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
DRAKE HOTEL UNDERGROUND

In the Drake Hotel’s Underground bar on Tuesday night, Brooklyn – based artist Jayson Musson was screening a new instalment of his online video work. He had the at-capacity venue, plus the overflow in the bar upstairs watching a live feed of his talk, laughing out loud for most of the 2 hour presentation. “Damn, Toronto, you really like slideshows,” he said to the applauding audience when he took the stage.

Photo: Yoojung Mia Kim

His series which can be found at www.youtube.com/hennessyyoungman, originated from his fascination with language, humour, and reverse anthropology. His character, Hennessy Youngman, aka Mr. Museums, aka the Pedagogical Pimp, aka Hennyrock, has become very popular online amongst art students, artists, and anyone even loosely connected to the art world, since he began this project, mostly as a personal joke, in May 2010. Youngman hosts a series of ‘webisodes’ called Art Thoughtz, where he tackles many contemporary issues in art and culture like beauty, institutional critique, and how to avoid the pitfalls of repeating the media and gestures of Bruce Nauman. Most are heavy topics to approach for any critic, but Youngman is confident in his delivery of articulate, searing and mostly comical insights into art history and culture criticism. Youngman is a hip hop loving, ridiculous bling sporting, Bronx- bred character which is meant to operate as juxtaposition with the content of his videos. It has a clever humour and it works well.

Keltie MacNeill

February 9 – 26, 2012
Art Party: Thursday, February 9,  7 – 9 p.m.
WELLINGTON STREET ART GALLERY
270 Wellington Street West, Suite 105
(between John Street & Blue Jays Way)
Toronto, ON
T: 647-352-3463
wellingtonstreetartgallery.ca
Hours: Tues-Fri 12–6 p.m., Sat 12–4 p.m.

WSAG’ is pleased to announce its 1st Art Exhibition for 2012:   “Silences and Mysteries”: Paintings by WARREN HOYANO.

Warren Hoyano said in his artist’s statement, “My goal as an artist is to create work that is visually striking and intellectually and emotionally challenging. The paintings I produce are an expression of a personal aesthetic involving line, form, texture and colour.

Watercolour is my chosen medium because of its ability to make both dense, opaque marks and transparent, stain-like marks. Once applied to the paper, I can manipulate and erode the paint with water. This creates deliberate effects and random, found effects. I hope that after seeing my work viewers have an expanded idea of what watercolour can be.

As an abstract painter I take my inspiration from the ephemeral such as shadows, stains, marks on flat concrete and aleatory patterns. A further source of inspiration has been the way x-rays, ultrasound images and photographic negatives portray reality. From the world of art, I have been influenced by Abstract Expressionism, East Asian ink painting and Japanese ceramics”.

Ella Day, X – ray couple

February 8 – 19, 2012
Opening: Thursday, February 9,  7 p.m.
GALLERY 1313 
1313 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON, M6K 1K8
T: 416.536.6778
E: director@g1313.org
www.gallery13131.org
Hours: Wed–Sun 1–6 p. m.

Gallery 1313 is pleased to present the SEX SHOW a group curated exhibition of photography, painting and mixed media works. The exhibition has been a regular event at the gallery for a number of years.

The exhibition was curated by Phil Anderson.

The definition of sex and sexuality has and always will be open to interpretation. Each individual has his/ her own definition of what is considered sexual. What factors are recognized in the process defining something as ‘sexual’ or ‘erotic’ .

The Sex Show attempts to push the boundaries of the definition of sex. It approaches the topic of sex from all angles, exhibiting works that vary on a broad scale, from art that is more explicit to art that is more elusive in content. Not only does The Sex Show contain a wide variety of sex-related themes and contents, it also exhibits the use of abundantly different mediums such as film, sculpture, collage and paint.

Participating artists: 

Christopher Arnoldin, Micheline Durocher, Valeria Rzianina, Chloe Norman, Ella Day (X Ray Couple), Bob Morouney, Alison Short, David Folk , Olivier de Bree (Constructed Reality 2 #2), Ginger Scott, Katrina Pruss, Ashley Toye, Zachary Fish,  Audrey Smith, Neil Harrison, Nikki White, Mihaela Dirlea, Adelaide Lo, Chloe Norman, Nicole Malbeuf, Sarah McGraw, Grace Atkins, Marianne Collins, Jackie Carter, Sarah Boothroyd, Peter Kusher,  Christopher Mason, Bernice Liu, David Roddis, Arash Akagari, Annie Wong,  Karen Grosman and others.

Rhythms the Garden of Your Embrace

January 30 – February 18, 2012
Opening: Saturday, February 4, 2–4 p.m.
BAU-XI GALLERY
340 Dundas St. West
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1G5
T: 416.977.0600
E: toronto@bau-xi.com
www.bau-xiphoto.com
Hours: Mon-Sat 10-5:30, Sun 11-5:30

For the last several years, Tarling has been working on a series of paintings and monotypes that reflect her interest in transformation, passages and regrowth. Using oil and plaster on wood, in an age-old technique, her surfaces suggest ethereal landscape of trees, leaves and rock… life cycles and watery curves. Fragile botanical fragments float and decay in the process of rejuvenation. Black marks heavily weighted in charcoal and graphite are sanded and scratched, with reference to process, struggle, and hope.

Tracey Tarling studied painting and sculpture at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design.

February 4 – 18, 2012
Opening: Saturday, February 4, 2 – 4 p.m.
BAU-XI PHOTO
324 Dundas St. West
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1G5
T: 416.977.0400
E: info@bau-xiphoto.com
www.bau-xiphoto.com
Hours: Mon-Sat 10-5:30, Sun 11-5:30

A continued fascination with the places people construct for the purpose of leisure has led Elliott Wilcox to photograph empty climbing walls for his new series. The artist’s lens transforms these artificial landscapes into beautifully composed abstract works of art.

Wilcox is an accomplished young UK photographer. He was most recently winner of the London International Creative Competition in 2011, a prestigious prize awarded by a jury of art critics, curators and directors from international museums and galleries.

In his previous series, Courts, Wilcox photographed racquet, squash, and traditional Real Tennis courts absent of any games or players. With an interest in “exposing the unnoticed,” Wilcox has focused on the graphic qualities of the open spaces with an emphasis on bold, flat colours and formal, linear structures. The resulting images revision modernist painting traditions in a contemporary scope.

About the Artist: Elliott Wilcox has quickly gained prominence on an international scale. His work caught the attention of Charles Saatchi when the famed collector shortlisted Wilcox for his BBC documentary television show, School of Saatchi. Additionally, his work was selected to be part of the exhibition PRUNE – Abstracting Reality, which included work by Lisa Oppenheim and Thomas Ruff, at Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam (FOAM), guest curated by Kathy Ryan, editor of the New York Times Magazine.

In the past few years, Wilcox has exhibited at Singapore’s first International Photography Festival and was selected for both Catalyst Arts Belfast and the Crane Kalman Gallery showcase exhibitions of Brighton’s Graduates. He has been the recipient of several awards including a Judges Award at the Nikon Discovery Awards, a New York Photo Award in 2009 and the prestigious Lucie Award for the Discovery of the Year at the International Photography Awards. Publications include the Magenta Foundation’s, Flash Forward- Emerging Photographers 2009, the New York Photography Festival and in the New York Photo Awards Annual 2009. Wilcox was also featured in Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam (FOAM) magazine’s Talent issue