Author: artoronto

A Brief History of Physics and Goya Masterpieces: Howard Podeswa

Beginning with personal history, the themes in Howard Podeswa’s recent series of paintings expand in one direction to Dante’s multi-layered Inferno, Art History, personal anxiety and existential speculations about the end of time, and in the other direction towards natural disaster, astrophysics and Stephen Hawking’s quantum theories. The format of the exhibition A Brief History – titled after Hawking’s book “A Brief History of Time” – at Artscape’s Koffler Gallery is concentric. In the central space and facing each other are his master works “Heaven” (2015) and “Hell” (2013). “Hell” is an enclosed circle swirling with fierce car burying, people engulfing waves like an epic Turner shipwreck. Skeletal and monstrous faces appear from the blackened, smoky background surrounded by guns and teeth. The work is composed of three panels forming a triptych.

David Podeswa, Hell (detail, one panel of a triptych), 2013, oil on canvas

“Heaven,” on the other hand is painted on one complete, large panel. Floating across the white space are small circles, bubbles, constellations or portals into beautiful dimensions. For the most part, the images encircled by white paint are abstracted details of what may be larger landscapes. Surfacing from behind white paint encircle the scenes as though to imply distance. The two year difference between “Heaven” and “Hell,” from one all consuming dark circle (or black hole) to a constellation of vibrant scenes insinuates the liberation from a dark fixation back into the world.

Howard Podeswa, Heaven, 2015, oil on canvas

Around the central space are five works titled “Study for Hell” in which the sources and details for “Hell” are more explicit. In “Study #1,” the figures are from a nightmarish carnival lead by an empty-eyed ringmaster. “Study #3,” is the tar-black cave of a bat-eared, skull-topped spider, and “Study #4,” seems to be a rendition of a natural disaster. Observing the studies in relation to “Hell” as portrayed by Podeswa and Dante, they not only feel like thematic layers of fear and despair, they also bring up relations to a process of grief.

Howard Podeswa, Study for Hell #1 (detail), 2013, oil on canvas

Howard Podeswa, Study for Hell #3, 2013, oil on canvas

Howard Podeswa, Study for Hell #2, 2013, oil on canvas

Acting as bookends to his studies are two small, untitled works, one across from the other. Painted in 2014 one work resembles a crumpled up ball of black paper on a white surface and the other, from 2015 resembles a dark tunnel with a shinning light at the end. Both inspire further metaphor of loss and hope. At the front of the space the only acrylic painting “Watching Goya’s Colossus in my Sorels” makes the most direct Art Historical statement and personal cameo. “The Colossus” (controversy of authorship aside) is documentation of suffering during Spain’s war of independence. Colossus is missing from the work, but as the largest figure with his back turned to us, Podeswa in his winter gear seems to walk towards the crowd of displaced huddled people, perhaps joining their pilgrimage. His presence in this work allows for his presence throughout the space. Not only are Podeswa’s references accessible and layered, the curation also successfully reflects the celestial duality of his subject including both the spiritual and scientific.

Text and photo: Alice Pelot

*Exhibition information: January 14 – March 27, 2016, Koffler Gallery, Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street. Gallery hours: Tues – Fri: 12 – 6, Sat & Sun 11 am – 5 pm.

 

Resource distribution has been an establishing factor in hierarchies and levels of poverty, a trend that is apparent within modern and historical time-frames. In every society, the polarization of wealth, income, property, and even basic amenities has forged internal societal divisions that often perpetuate civil unrest and regime changes. Likewise, the environmental strain put upon the integrity of the world further contributes to the implicit sense of desperation and the existent decline in quality of life. As a historical phenomenon, this has developed beyond mere chronological fact or an observable pattern; it has helped define our basic perceptions, our priorities and ideologies, and our culture, which artists, authors, and thinkers identify.

Installation view with Carol Wainio, And the small birds did sing #3, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 60″ x 100″

Carol Wainio, the artist behind the “Dropped from the Calendar” series, continues this exploration through the combination of literary and visual elements that display these prevailing themes as disseminated through folklore and popular imagery. Her work investigates “how material, economic and political conditions shape consciousness, how the magical transformations of peasant to prince in fairy tale reflect conditions of scarcity and hierarchy prior to social mobility, which gave birth to stories where it had to be imagined” (Wainio).

Carol Wainio, North Pole, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 78″ x 60″

 Wainio draws stylistic and thematic inspiration from numerous figures emerging from the Industrial Revolution – most notably Walter Benjamin, who himself alluded to Marx and Freud in his literary and cultural analyses. Reminiscent of an older time, Benjamin recognized the degradation of “experience,” a term he associated within a particular historical context and specified its production rather than its subject matter. With industrialism and urbanization came a fundamental “speeding up of life” that quintessentially blunted the memorability of personal experience. Fairy tales such as “Puss in Boots” and “Hansel and Gretel” evoked such strong sentimental attachments in parents and children because it appealed to the existing states of scarcity intrinsic to society and offered a temporary outlet. With this knowledge, the image of “Puss in Boots” was successfully appropriated through consumer culture, appearing in advertisements and product brands: what was once a narrative about humility and salvation was now a commodity appealing to the audience’s nostalgia and sentimentality. Consequently, individual experience became homogenized under a consumer culture where possessions equated with status and character.

Carol Wainio, The Wood, 2015-2016, acrylic on canvas, 44″ x 58″

The Fall is an aesthetically resonant series that engages the audience into visual chronicles that repeatedly contrast the pleasant with the dystopic. In these works, the images of playing children – inspired by the fairy tale illustrations of J.J. Grandville and popular imagery found in 19th century advertisements, cartes-de-visite, and publications – interact and explore these mysterious scenes that seem to continually decay and unravel around them. Wainio incorporates illustrative stylization, expressionistic brushstrokes, child-like drawings, and pictorial representations of technological and mythological subjects into complex, surrealistic worlds that invoke contradicting responses simultaneously: wonderment and uncanniness, comfort and angst, curiosity and suspense. It is as if the audience were immersed into the fairy tale directly, or into a wistful memory, witnessing its elegance and grandeur slowly fade away with only mere glimpses to its past.

Carol Wainio, Futur Proche, acrylic on paper, 2015, 30″ x 22″

Much like “Dropped from the Calendar,” Wainio’s overall style consists of a variety of different motifs, palettes, and aesthetics into something distinct. The broader landscape composed of dark and diluted colors to emphasize the fading realm, with intricate, seemingly codified patterns dispersed throughout. The trunks of the trees assume a more illustrative visage with thick crosshatching to suggest the rough texture of the wood while still maintaining its three-dimensionality. Hidden within the recesses of the canvas, in the picturesque fairy tale landscapes curious children peak from beneath the looming decay. Finally, simplistic, broad-lined drawings cover the painting that resemble the jovial manifestations of a child’s imagination.

Carol Wainio, Trail (detail), 2015, acrylic on canvas, 54″ x 66″

Wainio once again delivers a thought-provoking and powerful narrative that delves into important cultural and experiential themes with subtle political and environmental undertones. She offers a unique opportunity for the viewers to reflect on deeply personal connections as well as to apply these observations to external issues. She encourages the audience to consider how modern culture and technology dim the value of our experiences through an unrelenting stream of information and the commodification of our memories, most notably from our treasured childhood narratives.

Text and photo: Simon Termine

*Exhibition information: February 19 – March 19, 2016, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, 980 Queen St West, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat, 11 – 5 p.m.

Material Girls is an exhibition curated by women (Jennifer Matotek, Blair Fornwald, Wendy Peart) featuring works by women (twenty-five Canadian and International artists) that addresses aspects of being a woman (the feminized body, gendered space, capitalistic desire); and it couldn’t find itself in a better space. Currently showing at the all-female staffed Doris McCarthy Gallery in Scarborough — named after the late-great landscape painter and mentor to feminist art pioneer Joyce Wieland — Material Girls is a travelling show that recently left its roots at Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina for Toronto’s far east end.  

Installation view of Material Girls, Doris McCarthy Gallery

Described in its title panel as a horror vacui: fearful of empty space, the show is also self-admittedly “visually overwhelming” at times with works ranging from Sarah Anne Johnson’s small and intimate c-prints to Tricia Middleton’s expansive pastel-coloured wax-covered stalagmites emerging from the floor. And the show’s themes are just as plentiful as its visuals — a given, as Material Girls was put together by three curators with three different interests of study. Matotek looks at how pattern and repetition is utilized by various cultural perspectives, Fornwald is interested in the notion of feminine excess, and Peart finds fascination in the tactility of materials and how they consider the human body in various ways. 

Tricia Middleton, Ladder Buddies (detail), 2013-14, mixed media, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist and Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran

Marie Watt’s “Skywalker/Skyscraper (Axis Mundi)” is one work that checks each curator’s box. The installation is a ninety-six inch tall tower — a readymade of sorts — composed of reclaimed wool blankets that have been folded, piled upwards, and held together by a vertical steel beam. Made up of various pastel-coloured patterned fabrics, Watt’s work encapsulates the “material” part of Material Girls while also complimenting the room in which it sits: where standard white gallery walls have been painted lovely shades of baby pink, blue, and yellow. Conceptually, the work also speaks to multiple dichotomies such as “soft yet strong”, “domestic yet ambitious”, and “Indigenous yet Non-Indigenous”, as represented by Watt’s half-Haudenosaunee heritage.

Marie Watt, Skywalker/Skyscraper (Axis Mundi), 2012, reclaimed wool blankets and steel, 96” x 22” x 22”, collection of the artist

Perhaps one of the most notable aspects of Material Girls is the attention it pays to women artists of culturally diverse backgrounds, importantly including all women — and not just some women — in the continuing dialogue about female artists in the contemporary art world. Works are included by artists from Indigenous, Asian, and Middle Eastern backgrounds like Christi Belcourt, Ying-Yueh Chuang, and Morehshin Allahyari.

From left to right: Ying-Yueh Chuang, Strawberry Banana Cup Cake, 2014, ceramic with Retro Medalta pottery, 6” x 6”, collection of SLATE Fine Art Gallery; Chicken Vegetable Plate, 2014, ceramic with Retro Medalta pottery, 6” x 16”, collection of the artist; Okra Star Plate, 2014, ceramic with Retro Medalta pottery, 3.5” x 11.5”, collection of the artist

Allahyari’s “Like Pearls” is a work that caught my interest right away. Viewed on an iMac in the first room of Material Girls, the piece is a Geocities-style Internet installation decked out with all of the glittering rose GIFS from 2005 you could imagine. Reflecting on objectified images of female underwear models, found in email spam and online underwear stores based in Iran, “Like Pearls” has a quality that is nostalgic yet disturbing; reminding me of what it was like to be twelve years old and mindlessly collecting (and idolizing) similar images of objectification for my own personal webpage. Allahyari’s quirky Internet art perfectly captures the absurdity of this problematic twenty-first-century self-making process that exists across cultures.

Morehshin Allahyari, Like Pearls, 2014-15, website, collection of the artist.

An exhibition full of various materials, cultures, colours, and concepts; Material Girls may well be a horror vacui in the very best way. Most importantly, the show finds unity in its overarching theme of women taking up space, both literally and figuratively.

Text and photo: Emily Lawrence

*Exhibition information: February 3 – April 9, 2016, Doris McCarthy Gallery at University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail. Gallery hours: Mon – Thur: 11 am – 4 pm, Wed: 11 am – 8 pm, Saturday: 12 – 5 pm.

The works of nineteen North American, pop-culturally sensitive artists hang on the walls of their collector’s study at Nuvango Gallery. In Our Veins is a curious collection of pop-cultural references displayed as an installation in the house of a someone who stuck in a world of kitsch nostalgia with a taste for décor that often features in pop-vampiric scenarios.

Installation view

Some of the works make direct references to films such as Bruce White’s velvet interpretation of the Bride of Frankenstein, or an oil painting by Isabel Samaras titled “Planet of the Drapes” in which a lady ape stands confidently in front of some 70s drapes. In a drawing by Rob Jones, the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz is given a new cultural context as “Tin Mandoza”. The artists in the exhibition reference new television series, movies, and characters who were popular generation ago, or were recently re-popularized such as Camilla Errico’s cutesy rendition of Shakespeare’s fantastical protagonist Puck.  

Bruce White, Bride of the Monster

Installation view with (from left to right) top row: Alex R. Kirzhner, Poserpina; Isabel Samaras, Planet of the Drapes; Kevin Tong, Target Practice; bottom row: Justin Hopkins, No Sleep; Paul Jackson. The Lurker

Rather than explore the potential of movie scenes and the possibilities of character development, Jason Edmiston painted the subjects of the modeling process used to produce moments of great drama. Edmiston’s “Model as Subject: Daenerys” gives one reference photo for his Game of Thrones painting. His works are not only a reminder of the people involved in producing the popular culture, but also draw attention to the complimentary niche cultures that build up around deleted scenes, extra commentary and co-splay. Of the sub-cultures, zombies are strongly represented at In Our Veins. The zombie drawings by Alex Pardee titled “Mr. Birthday” and “Mr. Fourhead” seem to be inspired by the Mr. and Mrs. Book series by Roger Hargreaves with a twist of horror. Pardee’s zombie titles also seem to belong to the villainous traditional categorization of zombies in video games. 

Jason Edmiston, Model as Subject: Daenerys(left) and Mother of Dragons (right)

Alex Pardee, Mr. Birthday (left) and Mr. Fourhead (right)

I would not want to spoil the fun for those who want the pleasure of guessing the pop-culture references, but even for people who prefer sub-cultures, the art works are worth visiting for their exquisite detail and technique.

Text and photo: Alice Pelot

*Exhibition information: In Our Veins / Group Show, February 11 – March 11, 2016, Nuvango Gallery (above the Nuvango shop), 639 Queen Street West, Toronto.

Within the visual arts, attempts to understand the pervasively elusive concept of time over centuries past has continued to inform both theoretical writings and artistic practice. The construction of temporalities or different models of time through artworks inherently takes many forms. The current exhibition at Typology Projects, Loose Ends, offers various artistic thoughts on not only the relationship between past and present, but between absence and presence; life and death; and the material and immaterial within, what may be considered, a collection of durational works.

Exhibition views of Loose Ends with works by Jérôme Nadeau (left wall) and Deborah Wang (right)

Exhibition views of Loose Ends with works by Mary Grisey (left wall), Faye Mullen (right wall) and Deborah Wang (in front)

Curated by Noa Bronstein, Loose Ends features the work of Mary Grisey, Faye Mullen, Jérôme Nadeau and Deborah Wang. I found myself first drawn to Mullen’s three-channel video work, “à jamais”, which over time reveals a narrative that involves the doubling of the artist’s body in the first and final channels. Following this work from left to right, the artist shovels a mineral substance onto the floorboards of what appears to be the attic of an abandoned home, which then trickles down through the porous floors of the house to accumulate in a mound on top of the artist’s doubled body, lying in the cellar. The growing white pile reveals and conceals as it builds and spills around the nude female body, as Mullen steadily holds the gaze of the viewer. The domestic surroundings, which have been clearly marked by the passing of time, form an architectural hourglass over the three levels of the house.

Faye Mullen, à jamais, 2011
, stills from a three-channel HD video installation, 
52 minute loop, edition of 3

While at first glance I assumed the artist was labouring over mounds of white sand, maybe even the sands of time, it is in fact salt. Salt has a rich history as a religious and social symbol, and may be employed for its connections to death or funerary rites or for purifying rituals. In the curatorial essay for Loose Ends, Bronstein more specifically cites both Gaelic and Japanese funerary traditions which involve the carrying of salt, contributing to the mineral’s association with loss. Salt is similarly central to Deborah Wang’s “Drip”, a series of 100 photographic prints which record the subtle incremental dripping of water onto a bed of salt. The work has a durational or even performative aspect, as each day one print is moved from the first pile to the adjacent (second) pile. Both Wang and Mullen’s work seem propose the possibility of the work of art as time keeper.

Deborah Wang, Earth Plugs, 2014, series of 29 white gypsum cement sculptures, dimensions variable

Jérôme Nadeau’s painterly photographic experiments extract inks and dyes from a chromogenic paper print which is then applied onto undeveloped Fujicolour Chrystal Archive Paper. These colourful works remain unfixed, and will transform over time as the surface is exposed to light. A photograph is often framed as an indexical trace of a moment firmly rooted in the past, however these works are constantly undergoing metamorphoses as a record of the perpetually passing present, hovering in a state of impermanence and transience.

Jérôme Nadeau’s work (from left to right): HGSOT, 2013, 
Chromogenic dyes on unprocessed Fujicolor Crystal Archive paper
, 10″ x 8″; Unabeling Inabilities, 2015 
Epson Ultrachrome K3 ink on unprocessed Kodak Endura paper, 
24″ x 20″; Ruins, 2014
, Chromogenic dyes on unprocessed Fujicolor Crystal Archive paper, 
10″ x 8″; Everever, 2013, 
acrylic and enamel on unprocessed Fujicolor Crystal Archive paper, 
10″ x 8″; Finest Fouls, 2016, 
Enamel on archival chromogenic print, acrylic on unprocessed Fujicolor 
Crystal Archive paper, 
50″ x 40″

There is a subtle relationship between Nadeau’s works as they hang next to Mullen’s video work – the manipulation of the photographic surface is characterized by indexical marks that have recorded bodily gestures, similar to those enacted by Mullen in the moving of salt. While these works make subtle references to the traces left by the absent body, Grisey’s sculptures seem to more explicitly evoke the body through the use of material – the braiding and weaving of horse-hair, hand dyed cheesecloth, unspun wool and latex are fleshy and bodily. “Remains of the Ephemeral” could be connected to the traditions of Victorian era hair wreaths, as decorative memorial objects which use the hair of the dead to render death and absence visible.

Mary Grisey (from left to right), Remains of the Ephemeral I, 2014, 
hand-dyed cheesecloth and sisal, coyote fur, and rubber latex, 24″ x 6″; Remains of the Ephemeral II, 2014
, horsehair, hand-dyed cheesecloth, and rubber latex
, 30″ x 5″; Remains of the Ephemeral III, 2014
, horsehair and hand-dyed unspun wool, 
22″ x 6″; Remains of the Ephemeral IV, 2014
, horsehair, hand-dyed raw silk and cotton, rubber latex, and rusted steel, 
32″ x 6″

Katie Lawson
Images are courtesy of Typology Projects

*Exhibition information: January 14 – March 6, 2016, Typology Projects, No. 302 — Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street, Toronto. Gallery hours: Fri –Sun, 12 – 5 pm.

Flowers, with their wide-ranging chromatic potential and naturally occurring fragrant properties, act as cultural signifiers. When gifted (either singularly or in a bouquet), flowers suggest a level of reverence and admiration towards the receiver; similarly, they engender particularly dainty and feminine associations with their effortless beauty and naturalism. Within the arts, flowers have been taken as subject matter to a variety of artists and contextual concerns beyond any girlish or romantic connotations. Whether conceived as a covert signifier of mortality in early modern Flemish and Netherlandish vanitas imagery, or subjected to partial abstraction through Monet’s Impressionist studies on vision, florae have provided a wealth of inspiration for artists. Birch Contemporary’s latest exhibition Martin Golland and Sean Stewart: The Flower Question sees the two artists manipulating their source material to fit their particular theoretical interests.

Installation view

Martin Golland’s broadly painted, semi-abstract works centres around a narrative of a vacant theater stage. Once the heavy curtains have been drawn, the actors take their customary bow as the crowd cheers in elation and are gifted bouquets while single flowers are tossed toward the stage as a gesture of respect. Golland’s work imagines the flowers that remain in the desolate auditorium once the spectacle has finished, as they are swept up and disregarded from the memory and experience of the performance. The paintings are placed in ambiguous settings, allowing the vague appearance of the forgotten subject matter to take precedence. Furthermore, Golland’s work speaks to the ritual and symbolism of celebration as embodied by the flower. 

Martin Golland, Folie, 2015, acrylic and oil on linen, 20″ × 16″. Image courtesy of Birch Contemporary

Martin Golland, Dressing Roses, 2015, oil on canvas, 16″ × 16″.  Image courtesy of Birch Contemporary

In contrast to Golland’s emblematic work, Sean Stewart obliterates the form and image of florae and foliage in pure abstraction. Rendered in a thick and tactile impasto, Stewart’s subject matter appears as impressions in an ominous and muddy terrain, staining the earthy and rough settings with faded yellows, oranges, and other contrasting hues. The imprints appear to be run-over, resulting in a faint and formless smudge of a once-living botanical entity. 

Sean Stewart, Flowers 16, 2016, acrylic, oil, cement, cold wax on linen over wood, 16″ × 12″.  Image courtesy of Birch Contemporary

Sean Stewart, Flowers 12, 2016, acrylic, oil on linen over wood, 12″ × 9″.  Image courtesy of Birch Contemporary

Stewart and Golland produce a sense of aesthetic and contextual heterogeneity within the seamless white walls of the gallery space, exploring universal themes of remembrance, tradition, temporality and materiality within their modestly scaled canvases.

David Saric

*Exhibition information: Martin Golland and Sean Stewart: The Flower Question, February 6 – March 5, 2016, Birch Contemporary, 129 Tecumseth Street, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed–Fri 10 am – 6 pm, Sat 11 am – 5 pm.

 

The artist-couple prototype is one which has presented itself repeatedly throughout the course of modern art history. From Pollock and Krasner to O’Keeffe and Stieglitz, such notable unions have illuminated the inevitable relation between partners and their individual artistic practices.

Pillow Talk, currently showing at General Hardware Contemporary, is as cheeky and sexy as the title implies. Co-curated by Matthew Ryan Smith, the exhibition brings together the works of three Canadian artist-couples — Nicole Collins and Michael Davidson, Gina Rorai and David Urban, and David John Foy and Jennifer Saleik, identifying collectively as DaveandJenn. While each of the works offers its own unique commentary on the intimacies of romantic partnerships, there is a second, more profound reading which emerges from the couples’ paintings being displayed closely to one another. The viewer is compelled to confront the impact of personal interactions between lovers (thoughts, emotions, and so forth) on professional practice, making all works in the show collaborative in one sense or another.

Installation view with Nicole Collins’ and Michael Davidson’s work

Upon entering the gallery, one is met by the dynamic oil paintings of Rorai and Urban who maintain individual painting practices despite their personal partnership. Rorai’s works predominately portray still life scenes infused with elements of abstraction. Rendered in a quasi-impressionistic style, Rorai favours the intimate placement of vibrant and complementary strokes of colour. In contrast, Urban’s works resort to a more holistic form of abstraction, characterized by the layering of stark geometric forms. What the works undeniably share is a highly rhythmic quality. For Urban this comes across as a sporadically structured musicality, while Rorai’s paintings resonate a boisterous hum.

David Urban, Love of the Real, The Little Lives of Earth and Form, 2013, oil on canvas, 3 x 4 ft.

Installation View with Gina Rorai, The Path of Appearance, Stone and Star I, 2014, oil on canvas, 5 x 4 ft (left) and Gina Rorai, Voice of the Island, 2014, oil on canvas, 5 x 3 ft. (middle)

Similarly, Collins and Davidson are autonomous artists whose practices, as a result of their amorous relationship, have come to contain shared elements. Davidson works in oils while Collins makes sculptural paintings from wax and naturally sourced pigments such as rust and black walnut. Her works stand apart in this exhibition for their high degree of tactility which she achieves through the careful manipulation of time, temperature, and force. Despite their difference in media, it is apparent that both artists fall within the fine line between abstraction and representation, resulting in impactful renderings with high contrast between dark and light.

Michael Davidson, 2015, The Magic of Romance, oil on canvas, 36″ x 40″

Nicole Collins, two and one, 2016, rust, wax and pigment on canvas and panel, 60″ x 80”

Partners David John Foy and Jennifer Saleik are the only artists included in the exhibition who proudly maintain a synergetic creative practice. Together as the singular entity DaveandJenn, they have conceived a wonderfully peculiar aesthetic which references both natural and human histories. Their two works in this show are small in size but vast in depth. Layer upon layer of painted resin make for vividly intricate scenes with a certain whimsical style. The size of the works in conjunction with the level of consistency they uphold, make it easy to forget that they are collaborative works in the literal sense. The thought of Foy and Saleik working so closely on their meticulously delicate works calls to mind a level of professional intimacy which I think would drive most partners mad. Yet for DaveandJenn it appears to signal a beautiful connectedness which transcends the personal.

DaveandJenn, Enough of this, 2015/2016, resin, acrylic and oil paint, 29” x 24.5”

DaveandJenn, Eat your fill, 2015, resin, acrylic and oil paint, 16 3/8” x 20 1/4” x 4”

Early modernist painter Rabindranath Tagore was once quoted saying, “Love is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.”  Be it the intimate relationship between artist and universe or that between the artist-couple, Pillow Talk effectively demonstrates that reality in art is perhaps best achieved when a conscious sense of connectedness is present.

Text and photo: Vanessa Zeoli

*Exhibition information: January 30 – March 5, 2016, 1520 Queen St. West, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat 12 – 6 pm.

It is a strange exhibition at first sight. Couples are standing positioned in the centre of the photographs. Some of the couples are young and the woman is very pregnant. Some are older. Overall, the atmosphere they create is not happy. There is something that feels a little bit weird about them. They are ordinary people in simple, sometimes puritan surroundings – nothing really special – but they make me feel a little depressed. They don’t seem to me to fit into “documentary” photography.

But apparently they are documentary photographs in some ways as the artist is researching the opposite ends of “nesting”: when the nest is awaiting the arrival of a new baby and when it’s empty after the children have left. The days or months in the titles of the images tell us how long the young couples have to wait till the birth or the time passed by since the children left.  I don’t know how much people without children will be able to get from this exhibition, but I, like the artist, have experienced both sides and the whole untold story in between. For me it tells a lot.

Kristin and Ryan, 18 Days, 2006 © Dona Schwartz, Courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

Pam and Bill, 2 Months, 2010 © Dona Schwartz, Courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

It is all about children but it is their total absence from the images that tells the story: they haven’t arrived yet and – as though nothing happened in between – they are already gone. Still they create the whole picture of parenthood by involving the past (the expecting part) and the future (the empty nest). None of the parents seem to fully understand what is awaiting them. As the wall text in one of the images states: “Our lives are about to change in unimaginable ways, and I have no idea what that will look like.” That’s the only certainty. Andrea might need to leave the army – there may be no more deployments to Iraq, she and Brad might not be on the same mission for a while. People will curiously stare at Bobby and Kevin when they push their baby stroller around the park. Watching games will be difficult, even at home on TV, when they’re interrupted by cries, feeding and changing. Having children is a big change and one so final that you can’t go back – and there will be numerous unrewarded moments and dashed hopes that the future hides. Many of these marriages may break under the strain. Fortunately the couples don’t know what lies ahead.

Andrea and Brad, 16 Days, 2009 © Dona Schwartz, Courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

Bobby and Kevin, Waiting to Adopt, 2012 © Dona Schwartz, Courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

In each image, the faces and body language tell the story, especially in the images of the empty nesters. They are tired, burnt out, suddenly old and without purpose. The expecting ones are the blessed ones. “There’s such sweetness and innocence,” said Dona Schwartz. “That’s something they’ll never experience again because the moment will pass. I look at them while I’m editing the photos on screen, and sometimes, it brings tears to my eyes. I feel like they’re so beautiful and so innocent, in the best possible way.”

They certainly have a picture in their minds about their future child’s personality. The baby’s room is freshly painted and decorated. The new arrivals will be greeted with stuffed animals in large numbers, providing softness and warmth. Some of the kids already have their names on the wall while others will look at celestial symbols or quotes from the bible – bringing the meaning of life into the small place. They are responsible parents who will take excellent care of their children – or at least that’s the plan. Nicole and Stephen have stuffed the cupboard with so many color-coded little clothes and shoes that the child will grow out of before they are worn at all. After all of these plans and good intentions, will these children fulfill their dreams?

Nicole and Stephen, 14 Days, 2008 © Dona Schwartz, Courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

Their naïve faces show how idealistic they are. They will learn soon enough what it really means to be a parent. We all thought that the baby-time, when they couldn’t walk or talk was the most difficult. Then the teenage years came and we became the main target of their strengthening will and intellect – ending up battling with television-, internet- and Facebook-educated youngsters, in a battle we could never win. Suddenly they are gone after about 20 years of struggle and we recognize that the space they filled up in our house and in our life is so empty. Some of us are luckier than others, still having a career and children who stay nearby and become our friends. But not all of us.

The expecting ones are also the more celebrated. There are baby showers, lunches with friends who admire the growing tummies of the new mother-to-be, secretly envying it or hiding their disapproval, but still giving credit to their bravery. The expecting ones soldier on – not just the women but the men as well, who are more sensitive than ever, taking part in all of it. Lately I’m getting e-mails from my men friends attaching grey ultrasound images, stating: we are pregnant – a miracle indeed (for the man, I mean). Schwartz’s portraits also present what we call the “New American Nuclear Family”: single parents, mixed-raced, gay and lesbian couples among them.

Leola, 3 Months, 2012 © Dona Schwartz, Courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

Chris and Susan, 7 Months, 2012 © Dona Schwartz, Courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

Schwartz started to photograph pregnant couples in 2006. All these photographs involved serious planning. The artist visited the couples in their homes, took some shots and analyzed them in order to decide what to focus on. She used a tripod, carefully calculated the lighting and then decided what would be included in the photograph. This selective framing is what makes the images so powerful.

In the exhibition, the photographs talk for themselves. Those stages of life are not just about the happiness of expecting or the nostalgia for the years with children, but also the anxiety and responsibility to the child, to society and even to God, as the parents say in the book of the same title. In both cases they face a life that never will be the same again. No surprise that almost none of them smile. There is foreboding there too, anticipating hardship, sadness, and worry about the unknown. I can almost feel how much they are trying to stay in control and to keep that psychological and emotional burden from bursting out of them.

With these photographs Schwartz has – maybe even against her own intentions – created something much more than documenting stages of life: ART.

Emese Krunák-Hajagos

*Exhibition information: January 23 – February 27, 2016,  Stephen Bulger Gallery, 1026 Queen Street West, Toronto. Gallery hours: Tue – Sat, 11 – 6 p.m.

Before entering into the Angell Gallery, one walks through a twisted parking lot maze, a rather poetic contrast to the quiet splendor of Gavin Lynch’s wooded landscapes. The exhibition titled The Prelude & The Recluse is a pointed reference to the masterpiece of William Wordsworth, the Romantic poet spent his life constantly reworking this three part epic poem. Coming into the space, the viewer is immediately captivated by the large canvas “Prelude no. 6 (A Return to the Edge of the Lake)” whose monochrome contrast and thick build up of gold paint initially beguile.

Gavin Lynch, Prelude no. 6 (A Return to the Edge of the Lake),  2015/2016, oil and acrylic on canvas, 52″ x 72″. Image courtesy of Angell Gallery

The artist, uses a masking tape method, whereby the background of the painting is completed first in acrylic, next, the leaves and other small elements of the painting are built up with oil paint framed neatly by masking tape. These details stand centimeters off the canvas giving the work at tactility and plasticity, without lacking the precision that a general impasto technique affords. “A Return to the Edge of the Lake”, presents a re-imagined Romantic landscape, replete with the proto-typical repoussoir, as four slender trees positioned at the left side of the work attempt to navigate the viewer’s eye further into the image. The gallery describes the gold monochrome of “Prelude no. 6” and “Prelude no. 4 (Lost on the Slope)” as endowing ‘them with a celebratory quality’, yet the longer I stood in their presence the more I was convinced that they echoed a profound melancholy. Here, the gold is sobered by the singular polarity of light and dark highlight its artificial nature leaving the viewer feeling isolated.storethe best replica watches in the world

Gavin Lynch, Prelude no. 4 (Lost on the Slope), 2015, oil and acrylic on canvas, 84″ x 60″. Image courtesy of Angell Gallery

In returning to the title of the show, it becomes important to consider Lynch’s allusion to Prelude. Wordsworth’s poem was an autobiographical exploration, stressing the necessity of nature to fulfill the author’s spiritual needs. Is the same true of Lynch? This Ottawa based artist, presents us a body of work devoted exclusively to landscape, it registers then that his autobiographical or self-portraiture would come to us in this format. Stepping into the heart of the Angell Gallery, the impossibly tall walls feature the five remaining works of Prelude, the viewer is encircled in the wooded landscape of Lynch’s self-consciousness. Moving on from “Prelude no. 4.”, the four other compositions enter into a new realm, that of technicolour. This welcomed change is powerfully felt as I circled counter clockwise around the room stopping before “Prelude no. 1. (Farewell to the Janus Idol).”

Gavin Lynch, Prelude no.1 (Farewell to the Janus Idol), 2015/2016, oil and acrylic on canvas, 60″ x 84″. Image courtesy of Angell Gallery

The severity and unforgiving edges of Lynch’s lines and forms are the constant element of the exhibition, but with “Prelude no. 1” the depth and richness of his palette make the work easier to process and appreciate than the earlier gold monochromes. We are able to stay engaged with the composition, as our eye gets lost between the many subtle shades and hues of Lynch’s quilted arcadia. In much the same way that Wordsworth charted the course of his life with Prelude, so to does Lynch as “Farewell to the Janus Idol” captures the inevitable passing of time, the leaves framing the forest have turned red and yellow. The autumnal colours are aglow demanding our attention and in a memento mori like fashion the contemplation of the passing time seem inevitable.  

Gavin Lynch, The Recluse. Image courtesy of Angell Gallery

The exhibition ends in the Angell’s Project Gallery, a smaller, enclosed space with Lynch’s “The Recluse.” A large mirror acts as the conduit to the work, reflecting a series of small images for the viewer to consume. A great change of pace from his monumental landscapes the work acts as a scrapbook for Lynch’s travel into Killarney National park, the site and inspiration for the entire show. Ultimately, the exhibition’s success lies in “The Prelude,” whose landscapes convey a reflexive awareness of their creator, the solitary and melancholic artist, whose reverence and communion with nature is exacted through the sharp and acute lines of his surreal landscapes.

Meghan O’Callaghan

*Exhibition information: February 5 – February 27, 2016, Angell Gallery, 1444 Dupont St., Unit 15 (Entrance off Campbell Ave.). Gallery hours: Wed – Sat: 12 – 6 p.m.

The Sculptors Society of Canada welcomed seven new members. Each of the new additions brought interesting and unique perspectives along with them. Gallery veteran J. Mac introduced the four artists who were present to speak about their works.

W.W. Hung presented three interesting and innovative sculptures, all which sought to explore the relationship between highly architectural geometric shapes and figures that are in the midst of movement. His standout piece is undoubtedly “Purge/Octahedron Redux”. Hung told us that in an earlier version of the sculpture it was suspended from the ceiling. However, at a recent art exhibition he was not permitted to do so, which led him to create the cube that allowed the figure to be suspended within. This addition adds an impressive architectural flair to the work and allows it to stand out immensely.

W.W. Hung with his sculptures (from left to right), Purge/Octahedron Redux, polymer, steel, wood, nylon; Indy Grab, polymer, steel, wood, concrete and  Shards, polymer, stainless steel, concrete, nylon

Deborah S. Maurer’s sculptures came together in a much more fluid, but equally appealing way. Her colourful vibrant figures are based on the artist’s sketches of interesting people she passes by in her daily life. She spoke about her passion for working with clay as it allows her to work as loosely as she like. Works like “Second Thoughts” are good-humored, light and enjoyable whilst still portraying a certain level of depth and dynamism.

Deborah S. Maurer with her ceramics, Second Thoughts and Her Dream

Like Maurer artist Angela Verlaeckt-Clark prefers to let her pieces develop as she works toward – rather than begin with – a carefully plotted end point. She spoke on how the energies of the stones she works with call out to her and tell her what to do with them. The words that come to her are written down throughout the process and collected into a poem, which accompanies each individual work. “Perchance to See” comes from her sense of a Native chief “seeing into the future and reflecting on past memories”.

Angela Verlaeckt-Clark is talking about her work, (from left to right) Perchance to See, cornwall stone, Night Wanderer, basalt and Folds of Life, African wonderstone

Philippe Pallafray has some of the largest and most imposing pieces in the exhibition. His works are inspired by the sculptures of antiquity, but as he reworked them he added some futuristic elements to make them more contemporary. The life size figures are made from steel and include motherboards to show how technology has changed the way we look at our body’s functions. The unfinished nature of pieces, like “Adam”, suggest that although technology has improved our life, it has also taken away the purity we used to see the human body.

Philippe Pallafray with his sculpture, Adam, steel

Mary Cartmel, J.A. Fligel and Sergey Ragozin were all unable to attend the opening reception due to prior commitments. Despite the fact that they were not present to speak on their pieces themselves all of their works were still capable of capturing the viewers attention. Sergey Ragozin electric and technologically driven abstract sculptures raise questions about how technology makes its way into our daily lives.

Sergey Ragozin, Between Worlds, mixed-media, LED

J. A. Fligel’s work show a classical education, certain technical capabilities and knowledge of art history. His busts displays an intricate understanding of the human form and the emotions that can be portrayed in a face, even one that is frozen in sculptural form.

New member, W.W. Hung (in the middle) and guests with J.A. Figel, Smile Through Tears, bronze (right top)

Similarly to Verlaeckt-Clark, Cartmel works with stones and allows them to guide her artistic process rather than begin with preliminary sketches. The stones are shaped into abstract bird figures, that allow the viewer to understand how the intense nature of them could merge with the easy motion of the birds.

From left to right: Mary Cartmel, Morning Stretch, brazilian soapstone; A Precarious Perch, brazilian soapstone and Wing Tips, India soapstone

The exhibition is worth a look as each of the new members bring with them their own individual voices, communicated with immense pleasure through their compelling creations.

Rhiann Moore

Images are courtesy of Sculptors Society of Canada

*Exhibition information: February 11 – March 4, 2016, Canadian Sculpture Centre, 500 Church Street. Gallery hours: Tue – Fri: 12 – 6, Sat: 11 – 4 p.m.

 

FORECAST II, just like its predecessor, serves as a glimpse into the new talent emanating from Toronto’s emerging artists and Project Gallery’s future exhibitions. Whereas the first show focused on representational, surrealistic, and naturalistic styles, here the art embodies abstraction, emphasizing the technique, process, and medium over subject matter and imagery.

Callen Schaub employs a self-constructed painting method to generate dynamic eruptions of color across the canvas. As the canvas rotates, he layers different colors over top one another, gravitating the paint into circular and radial patterns that blend to create luminous and formless arrays. Through experimentation, Schaub’s works construct distinctly subjective experiences particular to each viewer as well as the artist.

Callen Schaub, Untitled I, 2015, acrylic and latex on canvas, 36”x 48”

Drawing from her knowledge of digital imaging as well as her prior work with animation and light installations, Lauren Pelc-McArthur’s paintings mimic the technical process of normal mapping: software designed to simulate textures overlaying 3D models, showing the edges that catch the light in order to represent the true geometry. Using thick swatches of combined acrylic and oil paint, the canvas is layered with ridges and indentations. Brighter colors are then airbrushed axially against the ridges so as to further embolden the 3-dimensionality in a traditionally 2-dimensional art form, alluding to the effect of the software.

Lauren Pelc-McArthur, Untitled, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 27” x 36”

The works of Sang-Jin Lee focus on the illusion of depth and radiance through the meticulous handling of dichromatic paint and gel-medium, which combined produces a viscous yet malleable material. Instead of long or divided brushstrokes, the painting is composed of individually sculpted dots that appear to levitate off of the canvas. With this pointillist technique, he fashions circular and linear patterns that reverberate with auras of energy. Moreover, the fastidious compositional planning, precision, and geometric patterning that elicit a satisfying sense of completionism and harmony.

Sang-Jin Lee, Centurion, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 24” x 24”

Sara Pearson, who crosses the stylistic divide between the depictive and the abstract, alludes to the gleaming, crystalline appearance found in earthbound geodes. Through the clever contrasting of diverging colors and tonal range, she expertly captures the unique reflective qualities that are representationally accurate yet visually elusive and brilliant. She also pairs her painted work with metal-crafted sculptures and silverpoint and gold-leaf drawings to accentuate the overarching geological aesthetic.

Sara Pearson, Boldly Go, 2015, oil on canvas, 30” x 40”

Following the motif of abstraction in the realistic, Georgina Walker depicts ordinary objects and natural features observed and distorted through interesting perspectives. By emphasizing the juxtapositions between foreground and background, palettes of dark and light colors, and depth by employing light, she creates mesmerizing reinterpretations of familiar subject matter. They stop the viewer and draw them into the intricacies of the piece, metaphorizing visual and personal barriers through the portrayal of literal barriers: wire mesh fences, construction fences, brick and tiled walls, and lines of foliage.

Georgina Walker, Left out to Dry, 2015, oil on canvas, 16” x 20”

The final artist of the FORECAST II exhibition is James Olley, whose collages of paint, ink, and paper draw in stylistic and ideological influences from surrealist writings such as Andre Breton and Robert Motherwell. He puts forth the “task of finding a ‘creative principal’” through experimental dichotomies of positive and negative space as well as painterly and structured forms for the audience to pursue.

James Olley, Cursive I, and Super Mark, 2015, both: mixed media collage on paper (framed), 38”x 30”

FORECAST II proves to be just as enjoyable and telling as its antecedent, serving as an excellent showcase of the promising artist entering the contemporary art scene.

Text and photo: Simon Termine

*Exhibition information: February 12 -28, 2016, Project Gallery Studios, 184 Munro Street, unit 6 (accessible through the back entrance). Gallery hours: by appointment only – contact Callen Schaub cal@projectgallerytoronto.com 0r 647.377.1677.

Doors Without Keys, by artist, Abbas Kiarostami features large-scale photographs of doors from countries like Iran, Morocco, Italy, and France. The doors are printed on canvas and displayed on free standing walls. This maze-like configuration encourages the visitors to chose their own pathway, creating endless variety of possible tours. 

Abbas Kiarostami. Photo: Janet Kimber. Courtesy of The Aga Khan Museum

This is a truly sensory experience as the closed doors make one guess what could lie behind them and when they were last opened. Making the visual experience even more interesting the light flows into the room through a lattice pattern giving the illusion that we are outside. As you walk through the show, enamored with the colours and wonders of each door, sounds of doors creaking open and other outdoor noises play in the background.

Installation view. Photo: Janet Kimber. Courtesy of The Aga Khan Museum

For over 20 years, Kiarostami took images of the doors presented here. Each represent different material and architectural structures but in the end – even they allow us to make territorial connections – they all feel similar.

Most of the doors are made of wood an their latches and locks are heavily rusted indicating the passing of time and their lack of usage. The sand collected at the bottom of a wooden door suggests that it is located in a hot climate, close to a desert. The faded paint also seems to indicate the damage from intense heat and wind. There are three key holes in the middle of the door, but the lock is located at the top. The key hole in the center of the photo is large enough to feel a connection with what lies behind – you can attempt to look through it, peaking in with a child-like curiosity.The triangular metal piece on another door looks as it could have been a keyhole or an opening to look through, what we call a peephole now. The door is deeply weathered, the once beautiful yellow and turquoise paint flaked off. There are water damage on the top left corner, so it is from somewhere with a better climate.

Abbas Kiarostami, Doors from the exhibition Doors Without Keys. Courtesy of The Aga Khan Museum

The door made from a thin sheet of metal, has a wonderful shadow beneath the lock, indicating that it is slightly ajar. It has rivets running up and down giving it a texture. I love the contrast between the vibrant green plants at the bottom of the door and the cold man-made metal of it. The locks make sure that the plants are the only ones able to get through to the other side. Most of the doors throughout the exhibit have similar square frames but this one stands out by having a rounded arch. The door seems to disappear behind the stone work, hinting that the arch was put around it later. I don’t think this door could be opened anymore, so the strong chains and double locks are totally unnecessary. Only the smaller door in the middle, that seems to resemble a trap door for animals, would be able to function. The intense concrete frame that surrounds another door juxtaposes its bright colouring. The spirited blue and yellow paint create a welcoming feeling of warmth. The greens at the bottom of the door might come from moss growing on it due to the aging procedure, placing it somewhere in the Mediterranean.

Abbas Kiarostami, Doors from the exhibition Doors Without Keys. Courtesy of The Aga Khan Museum

I find it strangely fascinating that the locks and padlocks are located on the outside of the doors. This is intriguing because it makes us think that these doors, even not in use, still have something valuable enough to keep hidden. All the images suggest more than a simple, unused entrance – they are heavily loaded with cultural elements and psychological remains of the inhabitants who used to leave behind them, who vacated these places willingly or by force. We can only guess the history they represent.

Installation view. Photo: Janet Kimber. Courtesy of The Aga Khan Museum

Between the doors, placed on certain walls, there are quotes from Kiarostami’s poems – beautifully accompanying the photographs:

“Dozens of keys
Lying there for ages
I dare not throw them away
With no lock around”

If, only if, we could have those keys and enter…

Emily Newell

*Exhibition information: November 12, 2015 – March 27, 2016, The Aga Khan Museum, 77 Wynford Drive at Don Mills and Eglinton, Toronto. Museum hours: Tue & Thu – Sun, 10 am – 6 pm; Wed 10 am – 8 pm.