Author: artoronto

Blake Ward in his studio. Courtesy of the artist.

Trained in the classical principals of figurative sculpture, Blake’s early work is heavily grounded in form, beauty, and the perfection of the human body. From there the work moved from the classical strictness of form toward the florid inner world of content where the purely aesthetic ideals have been abandoned giving the limelight to introspection.

“I wanted to renew my relationship with the traditional figure. I want the narrative within the form to speak of our nature and the mysteries of our human condition, to open a conscious, intentional correlation between the external surface of the figure, that represents our image, and an internal awareness that allows us to awaken to who we are.” – Blake Ward.

Blake Ward, Phantom 2 Sky, 2013, bronze and gold, 91 x 17 x 36 cm. Courtesy of the artist.

With that departure, Blake’s sculpture has strived to contribute to the betterment of society. He challenged himself to make a difference by seeking to change the world through truth-telling images that portray both the tragedy and the beauty that exists within each one of us.  Inspired by the remnants of war and the shattered lives left behind, Blake created a series of sculptures to raise money in order to clear landmines. The beauty within the sculptures is hidden by the intentional destruction that depicts our violent history, relying on the parts of the figure that are missing to capture a truth that speaks of our human nature. 

Blake Ward, Angel Afriel (Angel of Youth), 2013, bronze, 55 x 29 x 26 cm. Courtesy of the artist.

In his latest series, Spirits, Blake has merged the essence of classical sculpture with the abstract where he aims for provocative figures that incite introspection, stimulating the expansion of our consciousness. Permeating throughout this body of work is the continuing search for humanity, activism, and our expanding awareness. Together, all of these ideas constitute what Blake calls intentional art, art with a purpose that leads toward collective action.  This is what his dreams are made of; to inspire the courage to create a new vision of our world and influence the way that it is shaped. As if through this art we can address some of the damage that we have inflicted within ourselves and upon our society. 

Blake Ward, Ushabti Mafdet (Goddess of Judgment, Justice, and Execution), 2014, bronze, 83 x 23 x 18 cm. Courtesy of the artist.

The current exhibition, Just Beneath the Surface, presents work that was developed through the prism of Blake’s internal search for a liberating expressionism that reflects a constant state of metamorphosis that is life itself. The mission of this series of sculptures is to communicate the power of self-awareness with open bodies exposing their inner landscape, and thus, in an instant, we the viewers turn inward and our introspection begins, in an effort to understand, decipher, and analyse.  This collection glorifies individuality, each sculpture is unique and tells a different story.  We are made aware of the fact that they, like us, occupy a specific space in the universe. Their lyrical beauty and strength have the power to trigger an array of emotions in the viewer expanding the awareness of self. 

Blake Ward, Angel Tahere (the first woman suffrage martyr), 2014, bronze, 69 x 26 x 27 cm. Courtesy of the artist.

“I was captivated by the idea of not paying so much attention to the outside of the sculpture and focused on the provocative sense of self, comprised by our feelings and emotions, all that we have inside us.” – Blake Ward.

Blake Ward, Babylonian Arima (Soul), 2014, bronze, 69 x 23 x 37 cm. Courtesy of the artist.

Blake’s sculptures are explorations on how artistic expression can be used to advance self-awareness in order to achieve a higher state of consciousness, thus enhancing our understanding and compassion as human beings.  Just Beneath the Surface gives us a new type of intentional art with the potential to move human consciousness toward collective action that is based on knowledge, altruism and humanity, which are all at the core of Blake’s tour de force.

Boky Hackel

*Exhibition information: October 9 – November 9, 2014, Articsók Gallery, 1697 St. Clair Avenue West, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat, 12 – 6 p.m.

Now in its fourth year, the RBC Emerging Artist People’s Choice Award at the Gardiner Museum celebrates innovative design within the field of ceramics. From the Pop Art-inspired marketing to the nominees themselves, this year’s competition provides a particularly fresh outlook on ceramic art, whether in subject matter or negotiation of material.

With a $10,000 prize at stake as voted by the public, the five nominated artists – Zimra Beiner, Jess Riva Cooper, David R. Harper, Robin Lambert and Jordan McDonald –collectively fuse their respective ceramic practices with conceptual approaches, taxidermy, sculpture, and the reinvention of traditional pottery.

Each artist was given the opportunity to contextualize his or her work through a short video statement, made viewable in the gallery space alongside the submissions. For artists like Robin Lambert, the video acts as a particularly resonant extension of the piece itself; I should like to give you a kiss (2014) – a mixed media interpretation of the classic Peter Pan moment in which Wendy Darling places a thimble in Peter Pan’s hand – features a series of bone china thimbles lined along white, wooden ledges against the gallery wall, with a corresponding cream-coloured floor mat inviting the viewer forward. Lambert’s video poetically frames the artist as Wendy, beckoning visitors forward to take a thimble and subsequently claim their kiss. The interior of every thimble features a simple, yet touching ‘x’ inscription, each individually signed by Lambert: a dreamer, a boy at heart, and an artist against all odds. Nominated by Alberta College of Art + Design instructor Mireille Perron, Lambert creates a piece that is subtle, beautiful, and nostalgic, leaving his audience in a sweet reverie from which one does not wish to wake. And yet, while unique in its conceptual aims and a likely crowd favourite for its participatory nature, the work is not nearly as technically rigorous as some of the other submissions.

Robin Lambert, I should like to give you a kiss, bone china, wood, mixed media, 2014 / photo courtesy The Gardiner Museum

Jordan McDonald’s work, Set of Deep Serving Cups (2014), demonstrates the scrupulous precision and finesse afforded by the artist’s extensive formal training in the field of ceramics. For the creation of his vessels, he notes the influence of a book on Japanese ceramics that acted as food containers, and he consequently takes interest in the ambiguity of their function and the various ways people relate to such objects. His utilitarian vessels blur the distinction between form and function, upholding the timeless assertion that functional objects are also items to behold for their aesthetic value. While McDonald’s style is highly methodical and perfectly executed, the glazed stoneware lacks the stimulation expected of a reinvention of this traditional medium. McDonald’s nominator, NSCAD professor Walter Ostrom, describes the artist’s work as “challenging and on the edge,” and yet despite their technical merit, the vessels ultimately share more parallels with the ancient relics that make up much of the Gardiner’s permanent collection.

Jordan McDonald, Set of Deep Serving Cups, stoneware with glaze, 2014 / photo courtesy The Gardiner Museum

Zimra Beiner opts for a far less figurative approach, commanding the glazed earthenware of his submission, Dark and Still (2014), while simultaneously allowing the form to consume and envelope negative space. Dark and Still grows and morphs into a creature of its own volition – a Dr. Frankenstein and monster allegory if there ever was one. Beiner’s impressive handling of material gives birth to a metallic, abstract heap that oozes down a conjoined step, attesting to the artist’s interest in, and study of, supports. In this case, it is the simple idea of a bookend, and yet the execution is anything but simple. The sense of incompleteness and ongoing process is ever present and to great effect, catching the light in different ways and offering an entirely new perception from each subtle change in perspective as one moves around the voluptuous figure. Beiner notes the importance of introducing his own language, one that is physical, not verbal, and perhaps this explains why he is hesitant or unable to articulate the significance of his abstract form. Though his fusion of the ubiquitous and the nonrepresentational attempts to invent a new mode of communication that works to demystify the unknown, Beiner’s sculpture feels empty, devoid of any tangible meaning.

Zimra Beiner, Dark and Still, glazed earthenware, 2014 / photo courtesy The Gardiner Museum

Somewhat surprising is curator Virginia Eichhorn’s nomination of David R. Harper, already a highly celebrated and established artist in his own right; Harper has had a number of recent solo shows at institutions such as the Textile Museum and the Doris McCarthy Gallery, he has been featured in the annual C Magazine Contemporary Art Benefit Auction, and his work also currently resides in a number of national collections, including those of the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Harper hardly needs the exposure, but his work pushes formal and conceptual boundaries, and should be celebrated for its wry intellect and haunting beauty. His union of ceramics, taxidermy, and story telling in Field Study: Der Junge und Die Wiese (The Boy and the Meadow) (2014) is a complex trifecta of the artist’s negotiation of material, producing the illusion of suppleness in a substance that is rough, coarse and gritty in nature. Harper’s installation takes its inspiration from an image, which he then uses as a point of departure to animate the scene and physically recreate the moment. Harper’s work signals a number of conventions, from the art historical reference to classical antiquity via the boy’s severed head, to the modes of display found in natural history museums in his treatment of dried foliage. He recognizes the uneasiness that his work tends to evoke, and similar to Beiner, he mediates this tension through textural familiarity. Harper aims to make tactile the orated histories that interest him, and while the veteran of the group, he manages to imbue a raw, undulated process to his narrative development.

David R. Harper, Field Study: Der Junge und Die Wiese (The Boy and the Meadow), ceramic with opalescent glaze, wood, acrylic, cast acrylic, dried flowers, wool roving, plaster, cast paper, glass, enamel, 2014 / photo courtesy The Gardiner Museum

The fifth and final nominee, Jess Riva Cooper, combines the various strengths of her competitors to produce what might very well be the competition’s finest submission. An amorphous entanglement of overgrown vines and fungi rooting out of gorgeous gorgon-like statue heads, Viral Series (2013–2014) manifests Cooper’s interest in invasive plant species and the way they overrun unexpected locations as their growth spirals out of control. Cooper’s knowledge expands beyond the realm of making, and while extremely well versed in ceramics and decal work, her fascination with the biologic effects of the natural world frame her artistic practice – a joint focus that is not evident in some of the other works on display. Her research of Southeast Asian Kudzu vines and the run-down, abandoned houses scattered throughout Detroit informs her work, among other interests, and makes Viral Series all the more compelling in its verisimilitude. Cooper describes her practice as performative, evident in the way she transforms standard PVC tubes into organic structural forms, all in an attempt to demonstrate the relentless forces of nature and its reclaiming of the surrounding world from the effects of human interference. The intricacies of each individual leaf, spore, and flower are breathtaking, resulting in a thoughtful and beautifully executed creation in which organic forms flow freely. Cooper’s discussion of her process is itself mesmerizing, as if she is herself “becoming that idea of nature enacting itself on art, on our world and taking over”.

Jess Riva Cooper, Viral Series, ceramic, glaze, decal, 2013-2014 / photo courtesy The Gardiner Museum

With their various strengths and shortcomings, all of the works manage to command the space they inhabit despite a very cramped and underwhelming corner space within the Gardiner. The Museum seems to be aware of this issue however, and will be mounting next year’s competition on the much more expansive second floor wing, allowing for more than one submission from each nominee.

Competitions such as these can make an extremely important contribution for an emerging artist’s career. The prize demonstrates a need to recognize the relevance for contemporary, young ceramic talents, producing work that rivals their contemporaries in a variety of other disciplines. And with shows like these, the Gardiner Museum itself is gaining steam as one of the city’s more hip and energetic art destinations.

 Nives Hajdin

*Exhibition information: September 2 – October 14, 2014, Public voting closes on October 12, at the museum and online (http://www.gardinermuseum.on.ca/pages/rbc-2014-cast-your-vote), and the winner will be announced at the Gardiner Museum on October 14 at 7 p.m., The Gardiner Museum, 111 Queens Park, Toronto. Gallery hours: Mon – Thur 10 – 6, Fri 10 – 9, Sat – Sun 10 – 5 p.m.

October 4, 2014 from sunset to sunrise

Garden of Renova by Luigi Ferrera
Osgoode Rotunda, 361 University Avenue

Luigi Ferrera, the Dean of George Brown College’s Center for Art and design partnered up with Renova—a colored toilet paper company— to create an outdoor garden of color and fashion for Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2014.  Underneath Osgoode Hall, Ferrera assembled a “temple-like” labyrinth of coloured toilet paper into beautifully arranged towers and floral arrangements, which is said to be modeled after various sacred spaces. In the centerpieces of these gardens stood water fountains and paper outfits. 

Some members from George Brown communicated with the public by presenting an interactive online element of the art installation. By using a technology called Augmented Reality, participants were able to see the centerpiece costumes come to life on an Ipad. Once the Ipad hovered over certain parts of the installation, videos of dancers wearing the costumes appeared. The Garden of Renova allowed to broke the boundary between installation artwork and online integrated media and wowed audiences of all ages. 

Text and photo: Ella Gorevalov

Fort York Area

Nuit Blanche, the annually held, over-night arts festival, has come and gone for another year. This year, in an attempt to move away from the throngs of on-lookers that generally gather in the downtown core, I decided to branch out and visit some of the installations that were set up in the Fort York area. While the crowds felt just as heavily populated as they would have been on Yonge Street or Queen West, they weren’t quite as densely packed, meaning it was relatively easy to move from one installation to the next.

Yoan Capote, Open Mind

First on the docket was Yoan Capote’s Open Mind, which was a large, open framework of metal scaffolding that claimed to make up an image of the human brain when viewed from above. The piece itself was situated in a brightly illuminated field at 95 Fort York Boulevard, otherwise known as Canoe Landing Park. To be honest, I was disappointed with Open Mind because the write up in the exhibition booklet led me to believe that the installation was going to be a literal maze: a space for visitors to walk into and get lost in, before allowing them to reflect on the experience of doing so. In reality, I was presented with a field of drunken strangers, all of whom were wandering aimlessly under a ceiling of welded metal structures that reminded me more of a construction site than a representation of the human brain.

David Squared, Kaleidoscopic

After moving on from Open Mind, I stopped by David Squared’s interactive installation Kaleidoscopic and Antoni Muntadas’ Good News, both of which I liked because they lived up to my expectations, were easily accessible, and instantly gratifying in their own ways. Kaleidoscopic was installed only a few hundred meters from Open Mind, and was simply a scaled-up, functioning model of a children’s kaleidoscope toy. It could be shifted and rotated by visitors to create interesting optical patterns, although some people chose to just climb inside the piece itself and stay there. Good News was an endlessly scrolling marquee of international news headlines that had been taken from their original context and arranged in a new format in order to critically examine media bias and manipulation. Once it was pointed out to me, Good News was hard to miss, although I did come close to passing by it all together when I walked past its installation site at the Fort York branch of the Toronto Public Library.

Between Doors by Labspace Studio’s John Loerchner and Laura Mendes

The last piece I took in was Between Doors by Labspace Studio’s John Loerchner and Laura Mendes. Located in the heart of the Fort York National Historic Site, Between Doors was easily my pick of the night, as every facet of the work felt well considered and executed. Nothing about the piece felt ostentatious or flashy, it was simply row upon row of free standing wooden doors, arranged in sets of two or three, and each individual door was then labeled with a phrase. Audience participation was encouraged, and so a line had formed around the installation fence. Participants entered one by one and stepped through the door of their choosing, each new set of doors presented a new set of choices. Those who chose not to participate had the opportunity to watch on as each set of decisions was tallied, charted, and graphed, before being projected on a screen located behind the last grouping of doors. Between Doors managed to succinctly examine the notion of free will and decision making, meaning the intention of the artists remained intact instead of buckling under the pressure of an event that drew in a crowd of thousands, making it one of the strongest installations of the night.

Text: Madeleine Till. Photo: Anthony Tran

Opening Reception: October 2, 2014 / 7 p.m.

This curated group exhibition with over 25 artists had an eclectic mix of works and approaches to representing urban issues and architecture. Potter artist Heidi Mckenzie had a ceramic work that resembled twisted metal, while textile artist Jen Tsuchida’s wall mounted work resembled a high rise.

Artists Heidi McKenzie & Orest Tataryn

Artist Jen Tsuchida in front of her work

Painter Kurt Rostek’s two works were a comment of the proliferation of condo projects on the rise in Toronto. Hamilton artist Paul Elia’s drawing of King St. West near John Street and King West captured the many little bistros on the streetscape and their fears of the invasive high rises such as the ones built on the site of TIFF.

 Artist Kurt Rostek and his works

Paul Elia, King Street West near John Street and King West

On Natalie Draz’s paper work the city is folded out like an accordion with several layers revealing the complexity of it. Graham Krenz  carvings such as Commutting were pleasing to visitors. KIAM’s mixed media work, of the iconic Honest Eds Bargain House, represented the Toronto urban landscape well.

Graham Krenz, Commutting

KIAM

Architect Dominique Cheng had a detailed architectural rendering, titled 1331, for viewers to check out. Lori Dells layered painting Babylonia was a central point to the exhibition. Artist Maryse Otjacques mixed media series Where Are Our Houses used text and imagery well. Morgan Skinner’s dark comic trypthic work with peanuts characters and had lots to say about urban living.

Work by Dominique Cheng

 Morgan Skinner’s comic trypthic (right)

Seasoned artists such as Lois Anderson, Orest Tataryn and Stephen Andrews dropped by to support fellow artists.

Stephan Andrews and Lois Anderson

The Panel Talk on October 8 with journalist, John C. Barber, Jane Perdue (Public Art Coordinator, Urban Design City of Toronto),  Tim Jones (CEO of Artscape)  and others will create some dialogue on the impact artists make on their cities. The talk is free and runs from 7 – 9 p.m. at Gallery 1313. 

Text and photo: Phil Anderson

*Exhibition information: October 2 – 12, 2014,  Gallery 1313 Main Gallery, 1313 Queen Street West, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sun 1 – 6 p.m.

I began my evening of Nuit Blanche – that now is in its ninth year – with great expectations and ambition, hoping to last well into the night. I was hardly alone as it seemed like half the city had the same idea.

My first stop was Made in China on Spadina Avenue by Maria Ezcurra of Montreal and Mexico City. The colourful  clothing that hung there were all made and donated in China. It seemed like a good fit in Spadina’s Chinatown that was already overflowing with similar looking products in its many shops. Moving along to Spadina and Grange Avenue we reached the Black Sun by Alexandre Arrechea of Havana, Cuba. This was a swinging wrecking ball, that in the fringes of Kensington, seemed like a warning of gentrification happening all around Toronto.

Made in China by Maria Ezcurra

Black Sun by Alexandre Arrechea

The Problem of Beauty by DineoSeshee Bopape of Johannesburg, South Africa used a parking garage ramp to project the video work, best described as a cosmic journey. There were a number of Screaming Booths by Chelane Beaudin-Quitin of Montreal that offered visitors the opportunity to scream, cry or laugh without disturbance. Walk Among the World by Maximo Gonzalez of Mexico City had long line ups and consisted of 7,000 colourful globe coloured beach balls in an installation that people could wander through while thinking of the many cultures and countries that make up our world.

Screaming Booths by Chelane Beaudin-Quitin

Walk Among the World by Maximo Gonzalez

By Means of A Sigh (À portée de souffle) by Chloé Lefebvre and Jean Dubois of Montreal was an interactive installation triggered by visitors’ mobile phones. People on screen blew up bubble gum bubbles connecting with each other until they burst. AMAZE on Queen Street West was a maze created by Marcos Zotes of Iceland. A large line up of visitors wanted to walk through it convinced me, although worthwhile, I had little time to squeeze it in. Gap Ecology (Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palms) created by David Brooks of New York was pretty impressive with its palm trees towering over Queen St. West. Shy Lights, created by Nathan Whitford of Toronto, on Duncan Street near Queen West was fun as visitors had to chase the spotlights as they were programmed to avoid people on the street; an interactive game for old and young alike. The sculpture Silent Rise by Glenda Leon of Havana had musical connotations in its structure.

By Means of A Sigh (À portée de souffle) by Chloé Lefebvre and Jean Dubois

AMAZE by Marcos Zotes

Gap Ecology (Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palms) by David Brooks

Crowd with Gap Ecology (Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palms)

Shy Lights by Nathan Whitford

City Hall was busy with throngs of people. It was glowing green from Wanwu: Metamorphosis created by Bingyi of Bejing China with its glowing green light from the City Halls podium green roof. On the pools in front of city hall stood two large tanks from the Monument to North America Energy Security by the CanAmerican Energy Arts Team of Calgary. It was to celebrate the importance of oil bridging Canada and the US. What turned out to be my final destination was a surprise. It was Threshold a performance art piece by Michael Smith of Brooklyn, New York taking place in the City Hall chambers. Guests were invited to sit in council chairs or in the observation seats surrounding the chamber. The performance was entertaining and absurd in its context much possible like what goes on ocasionally at council. The make up of council certainly was refrehing, representing a diverse make up of the city including race and age.

Monument to North American Energy Security by CanAmerican Energy Arts Team

Threshold a performance art piece by Michael Smith

My feet gave out on me and my six year old son had already fallen asleep in city hall chambers so I decided to make the trip home, happy to have had a brief five hour experience of Nuit Blanche knowing I had missed many contemporary works but still satisfied to have gotten a taste of the night’s offerings. Next year I will try to see more and wear more comfortable shoes.

Text and photo: Phil Anderson

Saturday, October 4, 2014 / from sunset to sunrise

Nuit Blanche is as exciting as ever and all the city is preparing for the events. It is more centralized this year, so it would be easier to see more shows and performances. It would be an interesting and busy night for thousand of people for sure. So go out and have fun.

Here are our Picks:

PHIL ANDERSON, publisher:

GAP ECOLOGY (Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palm Trees), 2014 – David Brooks, New York
Installation
John Street & Queen Street West – outdoors.

GAP ECOLOGY, 2014

Un/natural History: Drowning Captiva, 2014 – George Bolster – Cork, Ireland
Video Installation
320 Front Street West –  indoors.

Un/natural History: Drowning Captiva, 2014

Melting Point, 2014 – LeuWebb Projects, Jeff Lee, Omar Khan
Light Installation
Fort York National Historic Site
100 Garrison Road (Best viewed from Fort York Boulevard, south of Fort York.) – outdoors.

Melting Point, Rendering, 2014

Big Top Grand Stand, 2014 – SuttonBeresCuller, Seattle,
Sculpture
Clarence Square Park
Spadina Avenue & Clarence Square – outdoors.

EMESE KRUNÁK-HAJAGOS, publisher:

Icebreaker, 2013 – Diane Landry – Quebec City
Kinetic Sculpture
PwC Tower
18 York Street (Installation viewed from outside through windows) – both indoors and outdoors

Icebreaker, 2013. Photo: Marie-Christine Mathieu

Global Rainbow, 2009 – Yvette Mattern – New York / Berlin, USA / Germany
Light Installation
222 Spadina Avenue (South of Dundas Street West) – outdoors.

Global Rainbow, 2012

Project REACH – Student artists from the Toronto Catholic District School Board, Maria Tavares
Brennan Hall
81 St. Mary Street (Off of Bay Street, south of Bloor Street West. Accessible from St. Joseph Street, Queen’s Park, & St. Mary Street.) – outdoors.

The Arctic Circle, 2014 – Tonya Hart
Sculpture
Olympic Park
222 Bremner Boulevard (At Lower Simcoe Street) – outdoors.

The Arctic Circle  (Artist Rendering), 2014

STEVE ROCKWELL, publisher:

The Red Carpet, 2013 – Apollonia Vanova
The Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West

 The Red Carpet (detail) Electroluminescent wire, 2013

ATLAS, 2014 – Siavash Vazirnezami
National Ballet School
400 Jarvis Street – both indoors and outdoors.

Project Atlas (Rendering), 2014

Safe Space, 2014 – Nicolas Sassoon, Sara Ludy – Santa Ana, The Analog Preservation Network, Vanessa Rieger, Akin Collective (Michael Vickers + Oliver Pauk), Mohammad Rezaei, Lisa Folkerson
1150 Queen Street West – both indoors and outdoors.

Safe Space, 2014. Photo: Nicholas Sassoon and Sara Ludy

BRINAE BAIN, writer/photographer:

By Means of a Sigh (À portée de souffle), 2008 – Chloé Lefebvre and Jean Dubois – Montréal
215 Spadina Avenue (Parking lot south of Dark Horse Espresso Bar)

By Means of a Sigh (video frame), 2008

Walk among Worlds, 2013 – Máximo González – Mexico City
Ogden Junior Public School
33 Phoebe Street (East of Spadina Avenue)

Walk among Worlds, 2011. Photo: Ivan Buenader

AMAZE, 2014 – Marcos Zotes – Reykjavik, Iceland
Interactive Installation
302 Queen Street West (At Soho Street) – outdoors.

AMAZE (artist rendering), 2014

EUN BYUL JO, writer:

Shy Lights, 2014 – Urban Visuals, Nathan Whitford
Interactive Installation
Duncan Street & Queen Street West (South of Queen Street) –  outdoors.

Shy Lights (Artist Rendering), 2014

La main du rêve, 2013 – Pascal Grandmaison – Montréal
Projection
Art Gallery of Ontario – Jackman Hall
317 Dundas Street West (Enter from McCaul Street ONLY) –  indoors.

La main du rêve, 2013

JOSEPHINE MWANVUA, intern:

HOLOSCENES, 2014 – Early Morning Opera by Lars Jan
Installation
Roundhouse Park
255 Bremner Boulevard (located in the park directly East of the Steam Whistle Brewing Company) – outdoors.

 HOLOSCENES (photo of prototype rehearsal), 2013

 

DAVID SARIC, writer/phtographer:

Silent Rise, 2012 – Glenda León – Havana
Sculpture
Campbell House Museum
160 Queen Street West (At University Avenue) –  outdoors.

Silent Rise, 2012. Photo: David Beltrán

SIMON TERMINE, writer/phtographer:

NightSuite – lightsweetcrude
Live projection and sound installation
CN Tower – Ground Level
301 Front Street West (CN Tower base – plaza or rear) – outdoors.

NightSuite, 2014

Mixing Toronto, 2014 – Nomi Drury, Emily Kouri, Johnnyland, Spring Collective, Johnnyland, Participating Drawing Artists
Video Installation and Live Drawing
Sanderson Public Library windows
327 Bathurst Street (At Dundas Street West. Windows facing Bathurst.) – outdoors.

Mixing Toronto (Artist Rendering), 2014

MADELEINE TILL, intern:

Kaleidoscopic, 2014 – David Squared
Interactive Installation
Canoe Landing
95 Fort York Blvd. – outdoors.

 Kaleidoscopic, 2014

Open Mind, 2014 – Yoan Capote, Pinar del Rio, Cuba
Installation
Canoe Landing
95 Fort York Blvd. – outdoors.

 Open Mind, 2014

Monster Child by Libby Hague, Nuit Blanche 2013. Photo: Phil Anderson

Saturday, October 4, 2014, 6:51 – sunrise

Discover more than 80 independent projects by Toronto’s art community and four curated exhibitions featuring 48 projects produced by the City of Toronto. Some works encourage an intimate encounter with art, while others will wow you with large-scale spectacle.

Exhibitions:

The Night Circus – Roundhouse Park/Bremner Blvd

Curator Denise Markonish invites you to join the circus along Bremner Boulevard between York Street and Spadina Avenue and along Spadina Avenue between Wellington Street West and Bremner Boulevard. This is not your average circus with only clowns and lion tamers; instead it is an epic magical contest – turning an ordinary circus into a true spectacle of magic and wits. For Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2014, part of Toronto’s downtown will become its own ‘Night Circus’ activated by artists who will dazzle, entertain and enchant visitors.

Other exhibitions involve The possibility of everything, Before Day Break, Performance Anxiety and promise great entertainment.

Independent Projects produced by Toronto’s art community is the largest section in Nuit Blanche. Toronto artists, cultural and educational institutions, museums, galleries and neighbourhoods participate in Scotiabank Nuit Blanche each year by producing one-of-a-kind projects that transform the city.

For locations and more information please go to http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/.

I was first introduced to the work of Alex Colville as an undergraduate student at the University of Manitoba. It was a typical frigid afternoon in Winnipeg when, with a click of her mouse, my professor had projected Infantry, near Nijmegen, Holland (1946) on the large screen at the front of the class. I remember looking at the crestfallen faces of the marching soldiers and thinking how similar the image looked to my earlier trudge through the snow to get to class. Perhaps it was a tad dramatic to compare the sufferings of war to my chilly commute yet that was the beauty of Colville; his ability to produce striking, unforgettable images that deeply resonated with seemingly everyone. 

Alex Colville, Infantry, near Nijmegen, Holland, 1946, oil on canvas, 101.6 x 121.9 cm. Beaverbrook Collection of War Art

Curated by Andrew Hunter, the AGO has brought nearly 100 works by the late Canadian icon to Toronto, marking the largest exhibition of Colville’s work to date. Hunter has organized the exhibition thematically while managing to maintain a loose chronology as well.

Alex Colville,  Prince Edward Island, 1965, acrylic emulsion on masonite, 61.9 x 92.5 cm. Purchased 1966 National Gallery of Canada. © National Gallery of Canada (top) and Still from Wes Anderson’s 2012 film Moonrise Kingdom (buttom).

Upon entering the exhibition, guests are immediately confronted by a large projected scene from Wes Anderson’s 2012 film Moonrise Kingdom. The clip portrays protagonist Suzy Bishop, obscured by the pair of binoculars she holds to her face. The projection is adjacent to one of Colville’s better-known works, To Prince Edward Island (1965), which depicts Colville’s wife Rhoda similarly with binoculars in hand, compelling the viewer to face the scrutiny of the female gaze.  The exhibition is beautifully constructed to allow the projection to shine through to the final room of the show, reminding the viewer once again of the “active and intuitive power of female vision.” Anderson is not the only popular Hollywood filmmaker whose work echoes reference to Colville’s paintings, as additional comparisons to popular Hollywood films, and how they were visually inspired by Colville fill the exhibition. Another large projection displays a scene from the Coen Brothers’ Oscar-winning film No Country for Old Men (2007). The scene, which depicts the film’s villain Anton Chigurh, is compared to Colville’s arresting self-portrait Target Pistol and Man (1980). Both men share a powerful stare and cause the viewer to sense undercurrents of tension and the unknown, expecting something terrible to occur but not knowing exactly when. The presence of Colville’s paintings in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining  (1980) is also highlighted. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. did not give the AGO permission to show scenes from the film but the four paintings, and the moment they appear in the film are mentioned. Guests are encouraged to watch the film on their own, though unlike No Country for Old Men, The Shining is not available for purchase in the exhibition’s gift shop.

Alex Colville,  Target Pistol and Man, 1980, acrylic polymer emulsion on hardboard, 60 x 60 cm. Private Collection. ©A.C. Fine Art Inc.

Following the opening comparison to Wes Anderson is the true beginning of the exhibition, works created during Colville’s time as one of Canada’s official war artists during WWII. Highlights include the previously mentioned Infantry, near Nijmegen, Holland (1946) and Soldier and Girl at Station (1953). In 1945, Colville was dispatched to the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where he witnessed the atrocities of the Holocaust that would haunt him for the rest of his life, inspiring works such as Bodies in a Grave, Belsen (1946). Bodies is unlike the majority of the works featured in the exhibition and is perhaps Colville’s most abstract.

Upon returning home after the war, Colville focused on his family and the quiet, rural Maritime surroundings that would later define his career. He lived in the small university towns of Sackville, New Brunswick and later Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where he was inspired by small-town life and rural surroundings. Colville’s preference for small town living was echoed in his statement that “I’ve never had the slightest interesting in going to an ‘interesting’ place…Wherever I am is reality, things are happening here, and this is ‘as good as it gets,’ as they say.” Yet Colville’s paintings managed to extend beyond the specifics of his Maritime locale, resonating with the experiences of all Canadians and an even global consciousness.

Alex Colville,  Dog and Groom, 1991, acrylic polymer emulsion on hardboard, 62.4 x 72 cm. Private Collection. ©A.C. Fine Art Inc.

Animals played a prominent role in Colville’s daily life and are thus deserved of their own section in the exhibit. Colville viewed animals as essentially innocent creatures, stating, “I don’t think there’s such a thing as an evil animal.” His close relationship with his dogs is ever-present and addresses notions of companionship, loyalty and love. Such adoration can be seen in works such as Dog and Groom (1991) and Dog, Boy and St. John River (1958). Yet animals also serve as harbingers of danger and potential doom in Colville’s paintings. Horse and Train (1954) is a leading example of such impending tragedy, as the title figures seem destined for a disastrous collision.

Alex Colville,  Horse and Train, 1953, glazed oil on hardboard, 40 x 53.3 cm. Art Gallery of Hamilton, Gift of Domonion Foundries and Steel Limited (Dofasco), 1957. ©A.C. Fine Art Inc.

Perhaps the most central and important thematic grouping of the exhibition however, is that of “Love and Loss: Life with Rhoda.” Colville’s wife, Rhoda Wright Colville, served as “Colville’s faithful partner, model and muse” over their 70-year marriage. Placed together in a single room, the paintings of Rhoda view as an affectionate flipbook through time. As time weathered her face and whitened her hair over seven decades of marriage, Colville painted Rhoda with the same loving warmth until the very end.

Alex Colville,  Woman in Bathtub, 1973, acrylic polymer emulsion on hardboard, 87.8 x 87.6 cm. Purchase with assistance from Wintario, 1978. ©A.C. Fine Art Inc.

Colville’s paintings are an iconic match of the real and the unreal.  Through a combination of the common and the extraordinary, these depictions of everyday scenes unequivocally suggest an inherent danger. His works provide a haunting mix of intimacy and unease, turning the viewer into voyeur before a pivotal moment in an unfolding narrative. As Colville once said, “I think of things as beginning rather than ending.” For those wishing to begin their journey with Colville, the monumental exhibition runs at the AGO until January 4, 2015.

 Mitch Billinkoff

BMO Financial Group’s 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition celebrates the creativity of art students from post-secondary institutions across Canada. Deans and instructors of undergraduate certificate, diploma, and degree programs in visual art are invited to select from their graduating classes three students, whose ability and imagination place them 1st among their peers. A distinguished selection committee chooses a national winner and one winner from each eligible province and territory.

The national winner receives $10,000 and the regional winners each receive $5,000 for his or her artwork. The national winner’s work will become part of BMO’s corporate art collection, which includes historical and contemporary Canadian masters such as Kenojuak Ashevak, Emily Carr, Paterson Ewen, Tom Forestall, Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Lawren Harris, Thaddeus Holownia, David Milne, Margaret Priest, Denyse Thomasos, Ian Wallace and others. All winning entries will be on display at the 1st Art! 2014 exhibition, held at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art October 2 – 26, 2014. Award

2014 Winners:

The winners for 2014 vividly demonstrate the excellence and promise of Canada’s newest generation of artists.

NATIONAL WINNER:
Samuel de Lange
University of Guelph

PVTREFACTIO VI (Black Sun), Chromogenic print. Edition 1 of 3, 47 x 36 inches.

For the other winners and more information please go to: http://www.bmo.com/bmo/files/images/7/1/BMOfirstArt.html.

In celebration of the current selfie culture, The Immaculate Selfie, an exhibition curated by Project Gallery director Devan Patel, explores self-portraiture in art. The show features mostly young Canadian contemporary painters (both digital and analog), photographers, and printmakers.

 Denelle Kennedy, Celfie 3, 2014, photograph, 20 x 20 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Because the exploration of self-portraiture has always been important in the art practice, and today it is ever so present in pop culture with Millenials at the forefront of the selfie culture, it is important to recognize The Immaculate Selfie as an important exhibition of contemporary art in this day and time. Not to mention the diversity of the show, which reflects the current multiculturalism of Toronto.

Artists have always explored themselves as the subject of their work, whether through a direct depiction of themselves (like Frida Kahlo’s portraits), or through more abstract forms of expression (like Cindy Sherman’s roleplayes). As stated by Devan Patel, there is more or less an aspect of narcissism in self-portraits, and to those simply admiring the work, the narcissistic quality is evident. But it isn’t always a bad thing and self-portraiture can have deeper meanings below the shallow layer of narcissism, and this is exactly the message that this exhibition successfully portrays. To artists, self-portraiture is also a chance to explore their inner selves. The final piece represents an understanding of the Self, sometimes through a variety of interpretations, and at that moment when the viewer sees the artist’s work, they become vulnerable before us.

 Stella Cade, Sweat, Sweat (left) and Contact (right), 2014, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Some of the artists were present at the opening reception to speak to me about their work, such as Stella Cade, who has been working with self-portraiture for about 6 years. Her two paintings were made in June, as part of an ongoing series exploring identity and self-critique, and she wanted them to adopt the feeling of the mid-summer sun’s heat, and the inevitability of sweat when moving in such conditions. When staring at the paintings, I feel the sweat that might be causing her discomfort through her gaze and unkept hair. The powerful blue in the background does cool down the painting a bit though, like air conditioning, which only captures the essence of mid-summer even more.

I also had the pleasure to speak with Shawn Keir, an exhilarating personality who creates energy-driven work based on how he feels in the present moment. In each phase of the painting, he used color and line to depict the emotion that he was feeling at the exact moment he was working on it—he literally paints himself in the moment. Shawn Keir uses color in his paintings exceptionally well, and it is probably the best aspect of his work.

Kimberley Lillywhite, Turbulence, 2014. Courtesy of the artist.

There was also Kimberley Lillywhite, whose work is heavily influenced by structure and design, showcasing a painting called Turbulence that is part of a series of three abstract self-portraits. In Turbulence, life’s chaos—represented through several textures of muddy greys, browns, and black – finds balance through the triangle, the central figure of the piece, which represents the center of her being. For Lillywhite, the triangle is a solid shape that draws in The Now; the act of being in the present moment and finding your center amidst all the troubles life gives us. Phoung Nguyen’s Untitled also gives us the  troubled feeling of being confused, out of balance and not able to compose ourselves – a common state of our contemporary mind.

Phuong Nguyen, Untitled, 2014, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches. Courtesy of the artist. 

 Josephine Mwanvua

*Exhibition information: September 25 – October 3, 2014, Closing reception: October 3, 2014 / 7 – 11 p.m., The Black Cat Gallery,  2186 Dundas Street West, Toronto.

The past century saw drastic changes in every aspect of society, including artistic interpretation. Cities grew exponentially, communication became easier and more accessible, and with each new technological innovation came the founding of new potential mediums, and subsequently the culminating awareness of new societal issues.

John Abrams, Seeing Seberg, 6 (left) and 8, Stairs (right) 2014, oil on panel, 16 x 12 inches each.

John Abrams’ Seeing Seberg is a tribute to Modernism, an area of philosophy hugely influential to the cultural development of the Western world. His subject is the new age French film Breathless, a 1960’s picture by Jean-Luc Godard exemplary of the contemporary French culture. Accompanied by Mozart’s Concerto for Clarinet, the exhibit consists of small-scale paintings of several venerated moments in the film that feature the protagonist Pauline, who is played by Jean Seberg. The film, with its combination of uplifting melody and the whimsical cinematography, conveys the nonchalant tone of modern Parisian life, which Abrams successfully imbeds into each portrait. The monochrome palette mimics the noir-et-blanche aesthetic perfectly.

John Abrams, Seeing Seberg, 20, Head in hand, 2014, oil on panel, 16 x 12 inches.

His applications of the paint vary from solid tonal variations, to shorter divided strokes, to textured globs of paint. Though employing the three methods would historically be considered terribly inconsistent, their systematic use conveys. The smoother transitions either emphasize the permanence of the surrounding cityscape, relatively motionless scenes, or dramatic emotion, whereas the divided brushstrokes demonstrate more dynamic movement and jovial expression. Present in each of the paintings are randomly-strewn drops of paint, which are strategically placed to either suggest the emphatic presence of the scene’s inherent light sources, the suspension of time, or perhaps even flaws in a filmstrip. In any case, they contribute to the works’ relation to the original film, with regard to the light-heartedness and blithe quality of the film’s portrayal and the tangible characteristics of cinema in general.

Candida Girling, Plant growing in totemic modular steel structure taken from Sculptural Living Wall Installation, 2014

The post-war era saw the total reconstruction of infrastructure and reorganization of traditional urban lifestyles as a result of the massive expansion of cities and suburbia. Areas that had once been dominated by the natural environment made way for the new concrete jungle. Candida Girling, with her exhibit entitled A City Slice of Sky: An Urban Intervention, seems to coalesce the two extremes. It consists of multi-tiered panels with each tier containing either growing plants (white pine, rosemary, ivy, and poplar) or Plexiglas with cuts depicting the shape of a sun.

Candida Girling, Plant growing in totemic modular steel structure taken from Sculptural Living Wall Installation, canvas, steel and ivy, 2014.

The manmade cityscape, along with synthetic materials used to construct the pieces, contrast her integration of flora and naturalistic color, but isntead harmonize the opposing ideals rather than reaffirm their separation. As shown in her digitally-rendered proposal, it immerses comfortably with the artificial urban environment while reintroducing elements of the original landscape.

Candida Girling, Sculptural Living Wall Installation, 2014.

Girling collaborates with the composer, Aaron Davis, to introduce a symphony of city noises, activated only by a carbon-dioxide detector. Like Seeing Seberg with Mozart’s Concerto for Clarinet, A Slice of City Sky becomes truly immersive. The sounds of revving engines, car horns, passersby, and construction equipment allows the piece to escape the confines of the gallery into the public realm, as Girling intended.

 Text and photo: Simon Termine

Exhibition information: John Abrams: Seeing Seberg & Candida Girling: A City Slice of Sky: An Urban Intervention, September 13 – October 5, 2014, loop Gallery, 1273 Dundas Street West, Toronto. Gallery hours:  Wed – Sat 12 – 5, Sun 1 – 4 p.m.