LOOP GALLERY

Photos from the Opening for Libby Hague and Maria Gabankova

2012-02-09T17:29:00.000-05:00

Photos by Patricia Njovu 2012

Hop, Skip + Jump : Lorène Bourgeois

2012-02-07T20:10:00.002-05:00

HOP

Lorène Bourgeois, Stay 2008, conté and charcoal on paper. 112 x 77 cm.
http://www.loopgallery.ca/loop/l.Bourgeois.html
www.lorenebourgeois.com

SKIP

ARTS | December 23, 2011
Art Review: Getting Personal
By KEN JOHNSON
"The Renaissance Portrait From Donatello to Bellini" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows how subjects flaunted their connections.

and JUMP

http://www.comune.verona.it/Castelvecchio/cvsito/english/scarpa.htm

"Carlo Scarpa (Venice 1906 - Sendai, Japan 1978) is recognised as one of the most important architects of the twentieth century. His artistic formation took place above all in Venice, where he was part of a circle of artists and intellectuals associated with the Venice Biennale and the Fine Arts Academy (Accademia di Belle Arti) from which he was awarded a diploma as professor of architectural drawing in 1926.
From 1933 to 1947 Scarpa was the artistic consultant to Venini, the great Venetian glass manufacturer. Scarpa’s highly inventive use of traditional Murano techniques resulted in some of the most original glass works in the history of design. It was in this environment that Scarpa’s attraction to the orient, and the decorative and applied arts began, with particular attention in an initial period to the Viennese Secessionists (Hoffmann, Loos, Wagner) followed by a life-long interest in the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright."

( When Scarpa redesigned the Castelvecchio Museum he did it with its collection in mind. Drawn to this fourteenth century sculpture by the Master of Sant'Anastasia circle, Scarpa turned the figure around and initially withheld the face. The viewer approaches from the back, seeing the double braid and the curves of the hemline hemline first. )

Maria Gabankova and Libby Hague at Loop Gallery

2012-02-01T19:00:00.000-05:00

Top: Maria Gabankova Bottom: Libby Hague

Loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Maria Gabankova entitled Memento Mori, and Libby Hague entitled Gravity Drawings: More light/ less darkness.

In her 2012 exhibition at loop Gallery, Maria Gabankova presents a suite of drawings / paintings that contrast lush marks of oil sticks and oil paint on mylar with stark visualisations of Memento Mori. These images offer a reflection that can be used to put one's life in a larger perspective, that of immortality.
Images of female figures oscillate between sorrow and hope, life and death, in silence or in a scream. Their inner enigma and tensions compel a gleam of hope, a light to disperse the darkness. The foot of a smiling female sculpture stands victoriously on a human skull - subjugating death.

Maria Gabankova lives and works in Toronto, where she also teaches figure drawing, painting and portraiture at the Ontario College of Art and Design University. In addition to being a founding member of the loop Gallery, Gabankova has also been invited to sit on juries, panel discussions, conferences, and work in film and theatre. Her work is represented in private and corporate collections in Canada, the United States, South Korea and Europe. (www.paintinggallery.ca)

To show the development and migration of ideas, Libby Hague’s exhibition shifts between the model of a curated show and a studio visit. By cross-referencing work with its generative sources, it tracks the excitement of parameter shifts, sharing the logic behind the hybrids. Demystifying the process says “This is how I think" and "This is what I thought".

Libby Hague is a Toronto-based artist and graduate of the fine art program at Concordia University in Montreal. She will show in the IPCNY exhibit as it travels to the University of Texas, Austin in January. Her recent solo exhibitions include Sympathetic Connections at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2011; We were young and still believed in heaven, Galerie Circuaire, Montreal, 2010; tiens-moi très fort, La Centrale, Montreal, 2010; and being natural at the Durham Art Gallery, 2010.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, February 4th from 2-5 pm. Learn more about Maria Gabankova’s and Libby Hague’s work during a Question & Answer Session at loop on Sunday February 12th, 2PM.

Last Chance to See The Exhibitions of Mary Catherine Newcomb and Martha Eleen at Loop Gallery

2012-01-29T12:30:00.000-05:00

Mary Catherine Newcomb at loop Gallery

The exhibition of work by loop artists Mary Catherine Newcomb and Mary Eleen was reviewed by Toronto art critic Terence Dick. Read his Akimbo blogreview here. The gallery is open this afternoon from 1-4 pm and the show closes today.

Sketches in New York City by Eric Farache

2012-01-26T17:00:00.000-05:00

My friend Alan and I started with a coffee.

On the 6 train, there was a delay so I got out the sketchbook and pen.

Yup, even in the sweaty subway people were all bundled up.

I drew this sketch while overhearing some teens talking, it was heinous and fairly graphic. I think if you grew up in NYC you would be a sleazier more foul version of yourself- just a thought.

By evening fall, it was even colder, I slipped into this bar not far Chinatown, called Home sweet Home. Loud, but warm! I relaxed and drew some of the characters.

This was before it got too packed.

I drew this double drawing of the bartender while having a boozey afternoon, at the back of this place called Bread.

I really did leave the canal/chinatown area!

The Neue gallerie had some beautiful Egon Schiele drawings on display, more than you see if you go to the Albertina drawing gallery in Vienna ( but that was based on my trip in the early 90s, might have been one of those things when you go and everything is closed), so that was a treat but I mostly just looked at it all.

If you go to NYC soon, you have to go to the Neue Gallerie, its focus is Austrian/German work -- amazing stuff. Also, have a coffee in the Cafe Sabarsky, it is a highly regarded dinner spot. I was there on Saturday and the lineups to eat were astounding.

A little sketch I made about a year and half ago while drinking a $6 Viennese coffee, it was good but six dollars? I know, I know, it New York baby.

Eric Farache reports on his recent trip to New York City

2012-01-24T08:15:00.001-05:00

Yes, it was freezing. Yes, there were line ups galore in front of every major art gallery or museum but, New York is still a great time.

You can see the herds of people in line that you are trying to avoid at all costs.

I took in the Maurizo Cattalan show before it closed at the Guggenheim, it was an amazing thing to take in but at the end of it all, I am no longer sure what I think of the artist- it was a lot of one liners, winks and leg pulling. Not much gravitas when you have a miniature Hitler floating by a cord, sizzle sizzle!, but steak....????

I caught the JFK piece about a year and a half ago at the New Museum in NYC, you went around a corner, its dark, and boom, a dead man in a coffin- and it is JFK! This was not just all denouement seeing it again, it also made you see how things looked silly and just too pop-shebang-fizz (to borrow from Gainsbourg)

The New Museum now? Forget about it! about a three hour wait in the -9 told me to move on.

I stopped at the Sperone Westwater, just down the street in the Bowery. A show of sculptural work, old and new, not much of a focus but it was interesting stuff and the building is a massive structure which has work in the elevator on display. Most apartments could fit in this elevator mind you.

A sort of Gorilla John the Baptist with rubber gloves and disposable cups, all made out of marble, an ironic tour de force.

Also, dropped in on Caroline Falby, she is an ex-pat who is working on her Masters at Hunter College in city. Her studio is close to Times Square, it is this massive building which just feels like an old art building.

You can check out some her work here. She is working on some new stuff at the moment- she seems very interested in the War of 1812 and what it means to Canada and the United States. In the meantime, you can see her multi referential work which employs a breezy technique to inject joy and a seemingly carefree element to the work.

R.M. Vaughn's Review of the Exhibitions of Martha Eleen and Mary Catherine Newcomb at Loop Gallery

2012-01-14T08:30:00.002-05:00

The Great Hare by Mary Catherine Newcomb

Globe & Mail art critic R.M. Vaughn reviewed Martha Eleen and Mary Catherine Newcomb's exhibitions at loop Gallery, suggesting that the show which may at first "appear dissonant" actually reveals underlying tensions and subliminal commonalities that make the artists a "good team". Read the full text of the review called The Zen of Post-conceptual Art here.

Opening at Loop Gallery January 7, 2011


Paintings by Martha Eleen

Michele Harney and Martha Eleen's dad

The gallery is open today from noon to 5 pm and on Sunday from 1 to 4 pm. Photos shown above are from last weekend's opening. Martha Eleen will be giving an artist talk at Toronto School of Art on Wednesday, January 18th at 6 pm.

Artist Talk: Martha Eleen will headline at Toronto School of Art

2012-01-13T08:31:00.001-05:00

AS IS oil on wood, 30 x 30, 2011 by Martha Eleen

Loop member Martha Eleen will be the "headline" speaker at an evening of artist talks at the Toronto School of Art on Wednesday, January 18, 2012. The evening begins at 6 pm with a talk by artist Judith Snow and Martha's talk will follow.

Martha Eleen teaches painting and drawing at the Toronto School of Art and is an honours graduate of Emily Carr College of Art, Vancouver, Canada. Her artistic practice engages the ideas of cultural landscape, the construction of society, and the politics of space through painting. Her work has been exhibited in public galleries in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Mexico.

Martha will be talking about her current exhibition at loop Gallery. I, Huck maps the domestic space framing the artist’s relationship with her son Gabe, who is vulnerable and requires constant support. This is an inside view of a dynamic person whose natural gifts of sharp wit, emanating love, and disarming honesty are often obscured by disability bias. The titles used in the work are quotes from Gabe. Fascinated by analog audio technology, Gabe listens to several recorded versions of Huckleberry Finn and likes to call himself ‘Huck.’ He thinks the “n” word is “neighbour”.

This program is free and seating is first come, first serve. Donations are welcome. Toronto School of Art is located just east of Spadina on the north side of Adelaide at 410 Adelaide Street West, third floor.

Martha Eleen's show continues at loop Gallery until January 29, 2011.

Ian McLean at Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant - Jan. 7 to March 4, 2012

2012-01-11T18:55:00.014-05:00

"The Promise of Painting"
Ian McLean, Cristina Zanella, Robert Achtemichuk

opening reception: Jan. 15, 1:00-4:00

Artists work within the promise of painting to uncover and contribute their individual passionate attachments to this form of visual expression.

Show curated by Kathryn Hogg and coordinated for Glenhyrst by Bryce Kanbara

Ian McLean uses colour to lure his viewer with his unusual environments and combination of elements. His imagery harkens back to a 1960’s feel but his colour palette is later; part pop art/ part post impressionistic. Residential environments hold an elusive chronology with his use of symbolic objects expressed through textured painted surfaces. Both McLean and Zanella use black as accents in their work and often include lime green, cadmium yellows, oranges and turquoise. McLean’s objects are infused with a landscape of these brilliant colours applied with creamy seductive brush strokes of oil paint on canvas.
McLean resides in the Sarnia area in Bright's Grove and studied at the University of Guelph.
His work has been exhibited extensively and is found in collections across Canada. Ian McLean is represented in Toronto by Loop Gallery.

Cristina Zanella is interested in the play of light and dark and its effect on the intensity of colour. She treats her subject matter, whether it is dead birds or subtle still life forms, with an eye to balancing broken space with colour, light and line. Her paintings are both vibrant and moody with a linear graceful approach to her marks.
Zanella, based in Port Dover, has exhibited throughout Southern Ontario. She received a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

Robert Achtemichuk works with gouache on silk or washi (Japanese paper). Achtemichuk’s studio looks out into an ordinary Ontario back yard in Kitchener. His interest is in the quiet contemplation of the small changes that occur due to time of day, weather, season and the inspirations and revelations from that kind of study. Misty, watery, sensual small paintings are titled the date they were painted. Sultry, earthy colours of raw umber and grays, and washed out blues and reds direct the viewer through a quiet passing of time. There’s innocence in his work from a delicate touch that exposes poetic vibrating atmospheric simplicity. In today’s fierce world this may be considered otherworldly.
Achtemichuk received his BFA from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. He apprenticed in colour etching techniques in France and studied master classes at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Mexico City. He has exhibited his work and taught courses across Canada. He has been the Executive Director at Open Studio, the Waterloo Regional Art Council, and the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery.
This work is accompanied by a catalogue written by Liz Wylie, Curator of the Kelowna Art Gallery. Robert Achtemichuk acknowledges and appreciates support from the Ontario Arts Council and the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund.

You are warmly invited to join us for the Opening Reception and to spend time with this beguiling exhibition at any time over the next eight weeks.

Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant

20 Ava Road, Brantford, ON N3T 5G9

Telephone: (519) 756-5932

www.glenhyrst.ca (map to gallery available)

An Invitation to Participate from Elizabeth Babyn

2012-01-10T17:17:00.002-05:00

For my next exhibit entitled Sacred Connections, I am formally inviting all of you to assist me in the creation of a mixed media unity quilt which I plan to launch the third week of June 2012 at Loop Gallery in Toronto. What I will require from you are those handwritten truths or guiding principles that assist you to reach your highest potential. It is my belief that handwritten excerpts will bring more energy to the work. These excerpts may be of any length, they may be written on paper or cloth or card stock and should those guiding principles already exist for you as quotes or bits of poetry from other sources that is fine too.

Elizabeth Babyn

1212 Elliot Street

Sasakatoon, SK

S7N 0V6

Martha Eleen and Mary Catherine Newcomb at loop

2012-01-04T07:00:00.006-05:00

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Martha Eleen entitled I,Huck, and Mary Catherine Newcomb entitled Grassy.

Tough Luck (oil on wood, 30x30) by Martha Eleen (2011)

I, Huck is the latest exhibition by Toronto-based artist Martha Eleen which maps the domestic space framing the artist’s relationship with her son Gabe, who is vulnerable and requires constant support. This is an inside view of a dynamic person whose natural gifts of sharp wit, emanating love, and disarming honesty are often obscured by disability bias. The titles used in the work are quotes from Gabe. Fascinated by analog audio technology, Gabe listens to several recorded versions of Huckleberry Finn and likes to call himself ‘Huck.’ He thinks the “n” word is “neighbour”.

Martha Eleen is an honours graduate of Emily Carr College of Art, Vancouver, Canada. Her artistic practice engages the ideas of cultural landscape, the construction of society, and the politics of space through painting. Her work has been exhibited in public galleries in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Mexico. Martha Eleen is represented by loop Gallery in Toronto. She teaches painting and drawing at the Toronto School of Art.

Untitled (detail), rabbit's ear, glass, silver, grass by Mary Catherine Newcomb (2011-12)

In her exhibition at Loop Gallery Mary Catherine Newcomb combines an image of the hare, a recurring personal symbol, with her interest in working with living media in the 8’ long “Great Hare”. The exhibition also features a number of smaller pieces including a rabbit’s ear suspended in olive oil with a small silver cup, six silver beans on a small bed of grass, and a series of ink drawings on the rib bones of a cow. These works, together with the Great Hare, whose pelt of coiffed turf is literally alive to the touch, raise questions about relationship between different life forms.

Mary Catherine Newcomb is a sculptor based in Southern Ontario who was born and raised in Montreal. She has received numerous awards form both the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. Her work has been widely exhibited in Canada and internationally.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, January 7^th from 2-5 pm. Learn more about Martha Eleen and Mary Catherine Newcomb’s work during a Question & Answer Session at loop on Sunday January 15^th, 2PM.

Great Books about Artists

2012-01-01T08:00:00.003-05:00

Although I know a lot of artists who never express a moment's doubt about their work, I find it comforting to know that some of the great artists endured moments (sometimes years) of self-doubt. That list includes photographers Lillian Bassman and Brian Duffy who threw away or burned large portions of their archives of negatives, painter Georgia O'Keefe who destroyed almost all her early paintings, and many others who went on to achieve great success. A few of my favourite artist biographies include:

Reflections on a Recent Issue of Modern Painters by Eric Farache

2011-12-26T19:00:00.002-05:00

When was the last time you went into a magazine shop? If you haven't done so lately, you should make the time. We always hear that print is dead and it probably is, but after spending some time in Presse International on College St, I really thought it was just awesome how many magazines are left and that there was some great stuff - especially Modern Painters.

Like many people, I get a lot of art info off the web, but holding a copy of Modern Painters is something else. The cover has a very specific texture and smell and the colour rendition in the magazine is terrific. My interest is not nostalgic, although I used to order the magazine when I ran a camera store, knowing it would not sell and I would get to take them home, this magazine, this thing, places art and its contents in a world of its own. I loved it all over again.

The November 2011 issue is full of a fairly diverse content and includes an interview with Maurizio Cattelan talking about his retrospective at the Guggenheim (it is a mounting of his sculptures hanging from the centre of the gallery) and an article on the painter Michael Borremans (some people will really enjoy his style of painting). The artist Byron Kim, director Julia Leigh , writer and Director of Sleeping Beauty are also featured.

Can you find more content online? Absolutely, but there is something great and altogether optimistic about buying a magazine -- seeing what is featured, wondering about how some truly bad art has the money to advertise, all that good stuff.

So this holiday season, whatever your interest, treat yourself.

You can read about that Guggenheim show here

A Loop

2011-12-23T08:14:00.013-05:00

I made a Loop. I'm posting it here and I challenge every Looper to make a loop too, and post it, unless of course people feel it interferes with whatever this webpage that Ingrid pours so much time and care into, is supposed to be doing. I don't want to mess with peoples show announcements.

Maybe we can pick a day to hold an online auction of these 'loops', sell them here, make it a fund raiser. We should pick an auspicious date, like on an eclipse. A day when our art will blot out banal culture for an hour, OK, maybe for a few seconds. I think every piece should be sold, must be sold, so anything should go as far as price is concerned. Make sure you can accept it selling for 1 cent! That's all I'd bid for an Eric Farache.

All the work not sold at the online auction should get tied into one big loopy note and hung from our Loop sign until the winter kills it and then we ceremoniously burn what's left of the big loop in the alley. We can do it in an oil drum and warm our hands and shuffle about as the work combusts and we pass a little paper bagged sacrament around. Our art loving Loop supporters must save the art from death and dismemberment, which is no big loss anyways really, after all, let's face it, there's just way too much inventory out there as it is.

Loop Highlights from 2011

2011-12-22T08:30:00.000-05:00

As the year draws to a close, it seemed appropriate to feature photos from two of the highlights of Loop programming from 2011 which included Nuit Blanche and also a live performance piece by Two Gullivers at Nathan Phillips Square.

Nuit Blanche at Loop

On October 8, 2011 the Two Gullivers realized a performance called drawingmovingtable, a mobile reenactment of Marina Abramovic and Ulay’s Nightsea Crossing. This performance took place at Nathan Phillips Square, the site of the original performance in 1982, in conjunction with the Gullivers' exhibition at loop: Gullivers’ Rehearsal: Drawing into Performance.

drawingmovingtable by Two Gullivers on October 8, 2011

Two Gullivers on October 8, 2011

2012 promises to be another exciting year at loop. Stay tuned!

A Conversation between Mark Adair and Jane Lowbeer

2011-11-29T11:01:00.000-05:00

A crankee by Jane Lowbeer

Mark: What is a crankee?

Jane: It is a medieval tv (that is something we have in common --the medieval part) in that it is an early form of story telling that originally was accompanied with song. It consists of a box with a scroll inside that can be turned by hand. The scrolls in these wall mounted crankees are monoprints on Japanese paper.

Mark: Having spent some time with your work I have some thoughts and feelings to share. It seems that the work is only nominally about the passage of time. Shelf life denotes the limits of usefulness before things should be discarded.

Jane: As long as something is on a shelf then it has a life and if it is thrown away than it is gone. For sure some of the pieces speak more about time than others. ie, -the one with the birds, Rendez-vous. In my mind, drawing the unfurling ribbon is about the unraveling of a day, or a year or a life time . And when all three birds line up in the drawing, it represents a moment of time of connection like when you notice the bird outside singing and feel okay.

Mark: The scroll format harkens back to antiquity. Using it as well as you have places your work in an ongoing tradition which removes it from the mental list of things to be discarded.

Jane: What were traditional scrolls used for? Contemplation? Isn't contemplation about the passage of time. "Shelf Life " is also about my own time line-- referring to my theatre days as the artistic director of the 'Crankee Consort'.

Mark: There is a wonderful quality to the manipulation of materials in the scrolls that does not 'gel' with the objects on the the shelves. I doubt if there is any specific inference you wish to make but there is clearly a reason for the juxtaposition. Would you care to comment?

Jane: A couple of people observed that when turning the drawings it felt like looking at music. Maybe the objects are riffing on a theme. It was a challenge to have the objects interact with the drawing at all moments.

Mark: There is a difference between narrative and poetry. The scrolls seem to be entirely poetic. No story specifically, just the skilled notation of things experienced.

Jane: I do agree these are visual poems more than stories .The person turning the crankee can stop the at any moment creating their own composition

This conversation will be continued on Sunday, December 4 at 1 pm. Join Mark Adair and Jane Lowbeer on December 4th at Loop Gallery to hear more.

Loopers in the News

2011-11-26T17:01:00.001-05:00

Persons of Interest by Gary Clement

Gary Clement has new works on display at Parts Gallery 1150 Queen Street East.

Sandra Gregson is one of the featured artists on World of Threads Festival website as the 40th "Weekly Fibre Artist Interview."

At loop gallery this weekend are Mark Adair and Jane Lowbeer. On the last day of their exhibitions, Sunday, December 4th, there will be a Q&A session. Instead of a moderator, Mark and Jane will ask each other questions.

Photos from the Opening Reception for Mark Adair and Jane Lowbeer

2011-11-17T21:01:00.000-05:00

Photos courtesy of Patricia Njovu, Loop Gallery Administrator

Mark Adair and Jane LowBeer at Loop Gallery

2011-11-10T11:23:00.001-05:00

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Mark Adair entitled The Honourable Blood of Mr. E. Pussy, and Jane LowBeer entitled Shelf Life.

Mark Adair, The Honourable Blood of Mr. E. Pussy, charcoal on paper, 4” x 4”, 2011

The Honourable Blood of Mr. E. Pussy is the latest installment in Mark Adair's ongoing series of over seventy tiny charcoal drawings entitled Death Drinks. In these new drawings we see a marriage fall apart and our hero Death fails as a family man. Nonetheless, there is a happy ending of sorts in this near-to-last chapter of the saga about which Peter Goddard of The Star writes 'Adair's genius is to frame Death's progress as if it were a TV sitcom...".

Mark Adair is a Toronto artist who does both charcoal works on paper and makes sculpture. His work was recently featured in the Spring 2010 Vie des Arts (English) and was the subject of Patrick Jenkins' 2007 documentary Death is in Trouble Now. Adair is a graduate of York University, Toronto (BFA 1979) and the University of Victoria (MFA 1982). He is a founding member of The Torontoniensis Collective with whom he exhibited for over a decade.

Jane LowBeer Untitled, detail of crankee, medium, 15” x 15”, 2011.

In Shelf Life, Jane LowBeer's creative work continues to be inspired by the household objects that surround her every day. LowBeer uses handmade boxes that are also shelves, with cranks and painted paper scrolls; a kind of medieval TV. As the viewer turns the crank (hence the name ”crankees”), hand-printed images of jars, tubes and tape, string and thing a-ma-jigs roll.

Jane LowBeer started her artistic career as a printmaker studying at Atelier 17 in Paris. As artistic director of the multi-media theatre company, The Crankee Consort, she designed and constructed puppets and sets for almost twenty years. During her career she has exhibited in New York, Montreal and in Europe. Her works have granted her prizes, are included in private and public collections, and can be viewed at Loop Gallery, Open Studio and the Nikola Rukai Gallery.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, November 12th from 2-5 pm. Learn more about Mark Adair and Jane LowBeer’s work during a Question & Answer Session at loop on Sunday December 4th, 1PM.

Thanks, Ma - A new installation by Barbara Rehus

2011-11-03T21:26:00.006-04:00

Mon Ton Window Gallery

402 College Street, Toronto, ON

November 2 – 30, 2011

My thought behind Thanks, Ma was to take a sort of journey to revisit an old line of artistic expression. In past works, my explorations of the theme of motherhood have centred around knitted garments that were made of unwearable materials – sweaters made of cement, glass, wax, matted dog hair. There is a harshness to these materials; a harshness that carries over to the type of mother who would wear such items. Would she be cold, detached? She wouldn’t be huggable. You wouldn’t be able to bury your face in the coziness of her. This time around, I wanted to take a lighter look at motherhood and create a more benign and much softer representation of that most basic and universal of all human relationships. This is my first representation of knitting that most closely resembles something that can be worn, although it still can not be worn.

Thanks, Ma is a kinetic work. Ma is knitting a long scarf that winds around her mobile-like children who are jiggling and dancing about her, hanging off her arms, as she works. The scarf Ma is knitting is made from scraps of yarn of varying texture, colour, type, and purpose. The different scraps of yarn are important because they are representative of all the things mothers have knitted over time as both expressions of love and of the expectations and responsibilities inherent in motherhood. These expectations and responsibilities are held, I believe, by both mothers and their children. I collected the yarn for this piece from all kinds of people – not just mothers – and all kinds of projects; some of which were finished and some of which were never completed. This is important because although we all complete our childhoods, our relationships with our mothers are never finished. And, if we have children ourselves, our relationships with them are, inevitably, never completed. Those relationships are, however, forever interwoven.

I can be reached at rehus@sympatico.ca

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE5XkY3B7r4

Last Chance to see David Holt and Suzanne Nacha at Loop

2011-11-03T07:30:00.000-04:00

This is the last weekend to see the exhibitions by David Holt and Suzanne Nacha at loop gallery. The show closes on Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 4 pm.
To see Artsync interview with Suzanne Nacha, visit the ArtSync website here. There is also coverage of the opening by Artsync in their Gallery Hop feature here.

Art Toronto

2011-10-29T21:35:00.004-04:00

If you are going to Art Toronto please come and see my sculpture in the Open Space area and if you aren't going here is a phone photo. The opportunity came about thanks to Open Studio. Open Studio is nearby at booth 141.
Libby

Ian McLean at Forest City Gallery, London

2011-10-25T20:25:00.009-04:00

Here, Then and There

Ian McLean with Colin Carney at Forest City Gallery

November 4 to December 10, 2011

opening reception - November 4 at 7:00pm

Ian McLean is interested in imagery that explores the relationship between social and natural worlds. His paintings often reveal efforts to contain, control, manipulate, or avoid circumstances of nature as evidenced in highly groomed and domesticated environments reflecting a deep-seated desire for comfort or beauty or distraction. The residential environments in his paintings are sometimes real and sometimes imagined, enhancing discrepancies between setting and mood through an emphasis on ornamentation. The exaggeration of certain decorative elements of comfort is intended to both lure viewers into familiar environments and unsettle them once they are there. Efforts to keep elements of dissolution or entropy at bay are evident in these settings. Sarnia-based Ian McLean studied at the University of Guelph. He is represented in Toronto by Loop Gallery.

www.ianmclean.ca

Forest City Gallery

258 Richmond St.

London, ON

www.forestcitygallery.com

Ian McLean gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council

Suzanne Nacha at Harbourfront Centre Project Room

2011-10-22T06:30:00.000-04:00

Not only does Suzanne Nacha have her show "Signs for Travellers" on at loop Gallery, but she also has a concurrent exhibition at Harbourfront Centre called "In Deep" which opened in Harbourfront's Project Room on September 30 and runs until December 1, 2011.

Her Harbourfront exhibition "In Deep" is an installation that uses underground imagery as a metaphor for the human condition. Utilizing a narrow range of visual logic that hovers between illusion and abbreviated sign, a subtle, dark humour guides the viewer through a landscape both physical and psychological.

Held together by a common water level - a dialogue around the language of painting and the nature of the human psyche playfully unfolds in this installation of large-scale painted objects.

Suzanne Nacha is a Toronto based artist working in painting, sculpture and installation. Through the systematic abstraction and anthropomorphism of industrial and natural landscapes, she seeks to make iconic images that act at times as psychological mirrors to human experience. Her work has been exhibited in Canada, the United States and Europe and represented in private and public collections including the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the National Bank of Canada and the Robert McLaughlin Gallery. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, she holds degrees in both Fine Art and Geology. She has taught in the Fine Art departments of OCAD University, Sheridan/UTM and York University and for the past fifteen years, has worked in the mining industry mapping geographies of fortune and need.

Image: In Deep, installation detail, oil on panel, 2011, image courtesy of the artist

Harbourfront Centre
235 Queens Quay West
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5J 2G8
(416) 973 4000

Assimilate This

2011-10-18T19:19:00.003-04:00

I have to confess that I'm not a big fan of video art. That's not meant as a criticism of the medium. It just doesn't usually speak to me. But over the Thanksgiving weekend, while visiting Ottawa, I stumbled upon Bear Witness' mesmerizing two-channel video projection at The Ottawa Art Gallery called Assimilate This. Bear Witness is an Ottawa based dj and video artist, who also happens to be aboriginal (he records wonderful dance/native tribal music mash-ups with the collective A Tribe Called Red). His video installation was included in the exhibit Decolonize Me.

As I have already confessed to, I am not a big fan of video art but within moments of entering the large darkened room which held the Assimilate This projection, I was rendered spell-bound. The first thing you notice is the music; native chanting underpinned with a pounding dance-floor beat. Projected into a corner was the familiar countenance of Gary Farmer from Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, Brad Pitt from the Coen Brother's Inglorious Basterds and multiple images of a native dancer, all in bright acidic colours, layered, inverted, flashing rhythmically.

This was no pedantic critique of white man's vision of the "red man" but a pop culture reclamation and re-contextualization of aboriginal imagery. Ironically, much of the power within the imagery is generated by the quality of the filmed imagery. We're talking big budget film-making with professional actors and professional art direction here. I wonder if the imagery would have had the same effect if drawn from low budget films with anonymous actors?

I've provided a link to Bear Witness' videos on Vimeo. If you're interested in native/dance music mash ups, check out A Tribe Called Red.

http://vimeo.com/user3414990/videos

In-Between Sounds at The Only Cafe

2011-10-17T16:14:00.002-04:00

Where were you on the night of the provincial election? Hunkered down in front the tv with fingers crossed, fearing the worse and hoping for the best? Watching the first NHL game of the season? A bit of both? I sat huddled with a small clutch of east-end noiseniks at the Only Cafe, listening to King Pillowtop and Avery Strok, Marc Cohen and Suzanne Farkas, weaving aural tapestries for the small but ardent gathering.

The evening started with King Pillowtop (Stephen Keeping) layering loops of spoken word over top of granular, textural sounds and pounding dance beats. Central to Pillowtop's performance was a cassette recording of a group prayer session that he had found in a tape deck at Value Village. The recording was made for a mysterious being named Riley. Who is Riley? Throughout the taped session, prayer participants switch back and forth between addressing Riley directly and petitioning the Lord on Riley's behalf. Speaker after speaker address Riley, through stream-of-consciousness prayer, as a "champion" or "champ". In the course of about ten minutes, he is referred to as a warrior or soldier about a hundred times. It's unclear whether Riley is a soldier heading off to war, a baby being baptized, or a dearly departed member of the congregation. There was something urgent and desperate in this strange ritual. And why didn't Riley keep the tape? Did he flee the congregation? Is he dead? Working on Bay Street? The piece moved somewhat toward resolution in it's last few minutes with some melodic flute (I think) mixed into the sonic stew.

After a short break, Avery Strok (who usually performs along with Richard Vainio as Lorde Awesome), accompanied by Marc Cohen on drums and Suzanne Farkas on flute and voice, took the stage (floor really). Using recordings from his earlier solo work as the base for the performance, Avery set the tone by layering synth drones over the recorded tracks. Marc provided minimalist percussive accents on his electronic drum kit, which was being run through a Boss digital delay pedal while Suzanne's ethereal sheets of echoing flute wove through the whole shimmering sonic tapestry and pulled it together like golden thread. The music was by turns; magical, dreamy, other-wordly, cosmic and ambient.

Avery Strok is the mastermind behind the In-Between Sounds series, which takes place the first Thursday of every month at the Only Cafe on Danforth Ave. Most months, Lorde Awesome holds down the fort with an experimental electronic jam session that often includes guests such as Cymbl (Richard Baker) and Rick Hicks. Each month a musical guest is invited to perform a set, then join Lorde Awesome in a collective jam.

Every month is different. Last month, Bonecreak Ulysses II (that's myself and Marc Cohen) played a set. Marc joined Lorde Awesome and Rick Hicks for an epic, non-stop, hour long marathon set that just kept getting louder and faster. I slipped in at the 30 minute mark. Just when I thought things were slowing down and getting ready to land, it just got wilder. As mountain bikers say, it was "epic". Lorde Awesome opens for Hans-Joachim Roedelius tonight at The Garrison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUuVljOXCho

David Holt and Suzanne Nacha at Loop Gallery

2011-10-13T06:45:00.002-04:00

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members David Holt entitled Landscapes and Subjects from Natural History, and Suzanne Nacha entitled Signs for Travelers.

David Holt’s paintings in his third show at Loop depict landscapes as well as motifs derived from displays of birds, antiquities, and other collections found in museums of natural history. Many of the works playfully reinterpret the grid-like arrangements of objects in museum display cases while others elaborate on concepts of ideal landscapes, from both Eastern and Western classical traditions. Taken together, the works explore our ideas about nature, culture, and memory.

A painter who has had many solo and group shows in the US, David Holt has been the recipient of a painting grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation and an artist residency at the Ragdale Foundation. Holt lives and works in Toronto where he teaches art at Upper Canada College.
In a classically inspired narrative that looks at the idea of passage as both a means of access and a turning point or crossroads, Suzanne Nacha’s series of paintings entitled Signs for Travelers offers up a simplified visual logic that acts as a mirror to the human condition. Dark humour prevails as anthropomorphic forms evolving from underground tunnels, caves and rail systems play at the boundary between visual sign and physical trigger.

Suzanne Nacha is a visual artist working in painting, sculpture and installation. Through the systematic abstraction and anthropomorphism of industrial and natural landscapes, she seeks to make iconic images that act at times, as psychological mirrors to human experience. Born in Hamilton Ontario, she holds undergraduate degrees in both Geology and Fine Art from McMaster University and the University of Guelph respectively, as well as an MFA from York University in Toronto. She has taught in the Fine Art departments of OCAD, Sheridan/UTM and York University, and for the past fifteen years has worked in the mining industry mapping geographies of fortune and need.

Patrick Macaulay is the Head of Visuals Arts at Harbourfront Centre. Over the past fifteen years he has curated numerous exhibitions and has moved the visual arts programming at Harbourfront Centre in new and exciting directions. He received his MFA from The Art Institute of Chicago, BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and has worked in the studio programme at The Banff Centre.

October 15 – November 6, 2011
Reception: Saturday, October 15, 2011, 2-5 PM
Q&A: Saturday, October 15, 2011, 1 PM moderated by Patrick Macaulay

Images: David Holt, Landscape with Bird, acrylic on linen, 20 x 20 inches, 2011; Suzanne Nacha, tongue tied, oil on panel, acrylic, rope, 25 x 32 inches, 2011.

David Holt "Ornithology" paintings in Loop show, October 15-November 6, 2011

2011-10-10T09:49:00.002-04:00

David Holt, studio photograph, August 2011

As part of my Oct. 15-Nov. 6, 2011 exhibition I am completing several paintings based on the types of ornithological displays found in museums of natural history. Much of my work from this past decade has played with the grid-like arrangements of preserved specimens of plants, fossils, bones, minerals, mammals, archaeological fragments, and birds in museum display cases and storage drawers. I find the interplay between the organic shapes of the specimens and their rectilinear containers affords interesting compositional possibilities. Morphological comparisons between the displayed/depicted specimens also invite close observations that result in visual pleasure and surprise. In addition, I am fascinated by the historical developments of the whole enterprise of the representation, collection, categorization, and display of examples of “nature” and “culture” in both Eastern and Western traditions, including early engraved atlases and encyclopedias, European Wünderkammer, and modern museums.

David Holt, Ornithology in 3 Rows, acrylic/linen, 2011


Royal Alberta Museum Collection


Ornithology (red), acrylic/canvas, 2011


Smithsonian Museum Collection

Over the years I have been fortunate to have lived and worked near wonderful museums such as the Florence Museum of Natural History (La Specola) http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/museum_of_natural_history.html,

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History http://www.mnh.si.edu/ , the American Museum of Natural History http://www.amnh.org/, the Teylers Museum in Haarlem http://www.teylersmuseum.eu/index.php?item=1&lang=en, the Naturalis Museum in Leiden http://www.naturalis.nl/en/, and now the Royal Ontario Museum http://www.rom.on.ca//. A big influence on my work has also been David Freedberg’s book ,“The Eye of the Lynx”, about the role of visual images in the early history of Italy’s first major scientific society http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo3618933.html.

My ornithological paintings will be accompanied by paintings of landscapes and other subjects from natural history in my upcoming loop exhibition. These and other paintings can be seen on my website: https://sites.google.com/site/davidholtpaintings/

SLEEP: A Scotiabank Nuit Blance 2011 Performance at Loop

2011-09-30T08:30:00.000-04:00

Visit Loop Gallery on Saturday, October 1 to see SLEEP - the live performance of The Two Gullivers, Flutura and Besnik Haxhillari in a Scotiabank Nuit Blanche event. The slumber-party performance begins at 630 pm.

Loop Gallery is located at 1273 Dundas Street West in Toronto (Map No. C56).

The exhibition and all related programming is curated and organized by Vesna Krtich in collaboration with loop Gallery, as part of our first publicly funded, guest-curated exhibition programming initiative. Gullivers' Rehearsal is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. Additional partners include the Harbourfront Centre, The Walrus Magazine, the Drake Hotel, Oyster Boy, Scotiabank Nuit Blance 2011, and FADO Performance Art Centre.

Jane LowBeer wins First Prize at The PRINT SHOW 2011

2011-09-28T05:30:00.000-04:00

Loop gallery member Jane LowBeer was awarded first prize at The PRINT SHOW 2011 at the John B. Aird Gallery in Toronto.

Night Kingdon by Jane LowBeer

This 8th Annual Print Show features 32 original artworks by emerging, mid-career and leading printmakers. Jurors Susan Collett, a highly regarded Canadian artist/printmaker, and recipient of numerous grants and awards, including 2nd Prize in the 2002 Ernst & Young Great Canadian Printmaking Competition. Dale Barrett is Director of the John B. Aird Gallery. To select work for the exhibition the jurors reviewed 94 images submitted by 52 artists. They also awarded prizes to Jane Low-Beer (1st Prize), Lucie Simons (2nd Prize), Kurt Pammer (3rd Prize), Irina Schestakowich (The Japanese Paper Place Award), Edie Overturf (Curry's Art Supplies Award), and Carolyn Mount (Jurors' Prize).

An opening reception will take place on Thursday, September 29 from 6-8 pm. The show ends on October 21, 2011.

The Gallery is located at 900 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. For additional information about the gallery visit their website: www.airdgallery.org

JJ Lee at IndexG Gallery

2011-09-21T21:30:00.002-04:00

Loop member JJ Lee is showing a series of paintings called Dream in the Flower at Index G Gallery at 50 Gladstone Avenue in Toronto. The exhibit opened today and runs until October 16, 2011. JJ Lee will be in attendance at the reception on Saturday September 24 from 3 to 6 pm, and the show runs from Wednesday September 21st to October 16, 2011. The gallery is open Wednesdays to Saturdays from 1 to 6 pm.

Upcoming Panel Discussion: Performance Duos

2011-09-18T18:00:00.000-04:00

Topics related to the upcoming loop gallery exhibition of The Two Gullivers will be the subject of a panel discussion and keynote address on Thursday, September 29, 2011 at Harbourfront Centre's Brigantine Room in Toronto.

Performance Art + Partnership
Thursday, September 29, 2011, 7:00 - 9:30 pm
(doors open at 6:30 pm)

Panel Discussion: Performance Duos, 7:00pm
Performance art is often thought of as a solitary activity, or one that involves multiple collaborators. What unique issues are raised when intimate partnerships between artist couples become the subject of creative partnerships? Artist pairs working in performance art, often in combination with video, photography or drawing, will situate their work within the larger social, historic and political context of their shared practice.

Panelists include: Toronto-based performance duo, Paul Couillard and Ed Johnson, Governor General Award winning artists, Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak, and Montreal-based Flutura & Besnik Haxhillari, (Two Gullivers). The panel will be moderated by Jim Drobnick, art critic, curator and Associate Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory at the Ontario College or Art and Design.

Keynote Presentation at 830 pm
Amelia Jones, Professor and Grierson Chair in Visual Culture, McGill University, 8:30pm
“The Body as Archive/The Archive as Body: Intimacy in the Study of Live Art”
The researcher has an "intimate" relationship with the archive, but also often with the still-living artist. Jones explores relations of intimacy as they condition our access to histories of live art.

Event Location and Ticket Information:
The Brigantine Room, York Quay Centre, Harbourfront Centre
235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON M5J 2G8
Ticket Cost: $10
To purchase tickets contact the Harbourfront Centre Box Office at (416) 937-4000
or visit: http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/2011/visual-arts-special-event/

Performance Art + Partnership is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Gullivers’ Rehearsal: Drawing into Performance, curated by Vesna Krstich at loop Gallery, September 28 – October 9, 2011. The event is organized by Vesna Krstich in collaboration with loop Gallery, and in partnership with Harbourfront Centre. Loop gratefully acknowledges the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, The Walrus Magazine, Oyster Boy Restaurant, Drake Hotel and FADO Performance Art Centre.

Interview with Rochelle Rubinstein

2011-09-15T10:45:00.002-04:00

loop member Rochelle Rubinstein was recently featured on The World of Threads Festival Weekly Fibre Artist Interview Series. In this interview, she describes her working process, sources of inspiration and other aspects of her artistic practice. Read the interview here.

Rochelle Rubinstein's current exhibition with Lanny Shereck entitled HOMESTEAD is at loop Gallery until September 25, 2011. Homestead, features a collaborative installation of Lanny's house-like structures covered with Rochelle's block-printed, painted and embroidered silk - an exploration of the notion of home and of dwelling. Together the artists intended to evoke the permanence and strength of stone in combination with the fragility and comfort of fabric.

Progress Report on The Great Hare

2011-09-13T10:45:00.002-04:00

Artist and loop member Mary Catherine Newcomb has been creating a fifteen foot long reclining hare with a pelt made of turf in the Cambridge Sculpture Garden. This land art installation is part of the Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener + Area that begins this week on Friday, September 16, 2011.

This is Mary Catherine Newcomb's final report before the CAFKA opening this Friday.

The hare continues to grow in a satisfactory way with a few exceptions: The fur has grown to an extent (in most places) that I have been able to take it into shape a bit. It is also thick and bunchy (in most places) so that in this last week, I will be able to compress, comb and cut into better shape.

The ears are still looking "stuck on" and the tips brown. In addition to this one ear has a great brown blotch. I decided to seed and hope for the best, slightly repositioning the sprinklers for optimum ear coverage. The toe ends tend to be a bit brown as well, but I think I will be able to comb them over. I decided at the time that replacing part of the ear turf and devising a better ear irrigation system would be a good idea. I had been planning to cut the small grass bits in my back yard last week - but ran out of time - good luck as some of it is quite long and may be of some help here. Now that the weather has turned cooler, growth will be slow. This week, I will replace some turf and also devise eyes and work on details (this will probably entail digging up much of my back yard - purchased turf is just not long enough.) It will be a long week.

The Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener + Area runs until October 2, 2011. This year's theme SURVIVE:RESIST.

Upcoming Show - Gullivers' Rehearsal: Drawing into Performance

2011-09-09T20:00:00.001-04:00

Gullivers' Rehearsal: Drawing into Performance

Gullivers’ Rehearsal: Drawing into Performance

September 28 – October 9, 2011

Curator: Vesna Krstich

loop Gallery is pleased to present Gullivers’ Rehearsal: Drawing into Performance, the first major exhibition examining the drawings of Flutura and Besnik Haxhillari, also known as The Two Gullivers.

Gullivers’ Rehearsal examines the cyclical relationship between drawing and performance art. A selection of preparatory studies and other drawings will be presented along with documentation from previous performances. Through their joint practice, the Two Gullivers actively dismantle the boundaries often assumed to exist between the live event and its modes of planning and documentation. Themes of travel, domesticity, intimacy and identity are playfully inscribed into these visual scripts, which serve as an on-going rehearsal of their twin persona.

The Two Gullivers will kick off the exhibition with a slumber-party performance entitled SLEEP, as part of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2011. They will continue to live in the gallery with their children, where they will eat, sleep and make new drawings over the duration of the show. The pair has recently obtained the unique honour of reenacting nine historical performances by Marina Abramovic and Ulay. On October 8, the artists will stage a reenactment of Nightsea Crossing, starting at Nathan Phillips Square (the site of the original performance in 1982) and ending at loop Gallery.

Flutura and Besnik Haxhillari are a Montreal-based couple that rose to prominence through their inclusion in landmark exhibitions of Eastern European art of the post-communist era. They took part in the 48th Venice Biennale (1999); After the Wall, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1999); and Blood & Honey, Tanzquartier, Vienna, (2003) curated by Harald Szeemann. They have since exhibited on a local and national scale, in venues such as FADO Performance Art Centre and Galerie de l’UQAM. Forthcoming presentations will take place at the Marina Abramovic Studio at Location One, NY.

Concurrent to the exhibition, loop will host a panel discussion on performance duos involving the exhibiting artists and notable Toronto-based pairs: Paul Couillard and Ed Johnson, and Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak. The panel will be moderated by critic, curator and art historian, Jim Drobnick, Associate Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory at the Ontario College or Art and Design. Amelia Jones, Professor and Grierson Chair in Visual Culture at McGill University, will present a keynote lecture on the intimacy between artist and researcher in the study of Live Art. The panel and keynote will take place in the Brigantine Room at the Harbourfront Centre on Thursday, September 29, 7:00-9:30pm. Tickets are $10 and will be available as of September 14th through the Harbourfront Box Office (416-973-4000).

The exhibition and all related programming is curated and organized by Vesna Krstich in collaboration with loop Gallery, as part of their first publicly funded, guest-curated exhibition programming initiative. Gullivers’ Rehearsal is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. Additional partners include the Harbourfront Centre, The Walrus Magazine, the Drake Hotel, Oyster Boy, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2011, and FADO Performance Art Centre.

Panel discussion at Harbourfront Centre, Brigantine Room:

Thursday, September 29, 7:00-9:30 pm

Reception & Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2011 performance at loop:

Saturday, October 1, starting at 6:30 pm (Map No. C 56)

Nightsea Crossing performance reenactment by The Two Gullivers:

Saturday, October 8, at Nathan Philips Square (9am-3pm) and at loop (3:30-5pm)

Homestead: Rochelle Rubinstein and Lanny Shereck

2011-09-07T20:00:00.003-04:00

Rochelle Rubinstein and Lanny Shereck
Homestead

September 3 - September 25, 2011
Reception: Thursday, September 8, 6-8pm

The Weekly Hare Report from M. Catherine Newcomb

2011-09-06T08:30:00.001-04:00

On Thursday the 25th, the morning after the Great Storm, we put the ears on the hare. With the help and daring of Rex and John it was accomplished in about an hour. The hare itself has been growing well and ears and tail will need a bit to catch up.

I visited the hare on the next day and did quite a bit of clipping/ pruning as well as planting a bit of seed on his crown which had been disrupted by the ear operations - and around the face where he was looking sparse.

John and Rex are triumphant at the end of it. Judy took off the bottles and took some extra photos of the hare growing into itself nicely (last three photos).

All photos are by Judy Welsh except for the moment of triumph taken by me.

Post by Mary Catherine Newcomb

Miner for a Heart

2011-09-01T16:02:00.005-04:00

catalogue: Miner for a Heart by Yael Brotman
Penelope Stewart : La Grande Ruche

Libby Hague: My one and only life so far (detail)
Yael Brotman: Teachers House (detail)

The exhibition, Miner for a Heart, brings together ten print-based artists whose work and histories have intertwined with the print community at Open Studio in Toronto, Canada. The ten artists are Nadine Bariteau, Yael Brotman, Janet Cardiff, Libby Hague, Christopher Hutsul, Ed Pien, Richard Sewell, Penelope Stewart, Ho Tam and Jeannie Thib. Their places of origin vary from international (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Israel and USA), to national (British Columbia and Quebec), to provincial (North Bay and Brussels, ON). All of the artists who relocated to Toronto mirrored the immigrant narrative that was being enacted on the broader societal stage. The artists, then, all have dual allegiances, a common element in the diasporic experience. Perhaps this has freed them to experiment with cross-disciplinarity in their practices. They move fluidly from flatwork to sculpture to video to installation and back to printmaking, exploring print’s concern with support material, matrices, repetition, mark making and the impact of technology.

curated by Yael Brotman,
catalogue essay by Yael Brotman

the exhibition is at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
opening September 27.

2011-09-01T15:39:00.003-04:00

I want to let you know about our upcoming performance at the closing of Sympathetic Connections on September 11 at 3 pm. Von Bark & The Zen Existential Puppet Theatre and I will create within the sculpture installation a retelling of the sea battle of Dan-no-ura, a story of courage, loyalty and suicide. Andrew Paterson will be the narrator, in the role of Hoichi the Earless, the bard who sang for an audience of ghosts.
The performance space will be standing-room-only for about 25 and I hope for audience participation. If you are frightened by this prospect or just busy, it will be on YouTube later on.
Sympathetic Connections at the AGO next to FRANK Restaurant and it is free and open when the restaurant is.

Rochelle Rubinstein and Lanny Shereck at Loop Gallery

2011-09-01T08:00:00.002-04:00

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Rochelle Rubinstein and Lanny Shereck, entitled Homestead.

“We shape our dwellings and afterwards our dwellings shape us.”

Winston Churchill

This exhibition presents an exploration of the notion of habitation and homesteading.

The evocation of home in a collaborative installation, DWELLING, combines the permanence and strength of stone with the fragility and comfort of fabric. The three structures, one hovering slightly above ground, with their accompanying chimneys or silos, evoke old barns, quaint cottages, or mini-shelters. Their lack of functionality, including an absence of doors and windows, is both alarming and sad.

Individual works by Rochelle Rubinstein consist of printed, painted and carved wood panels depicting imaginary villages. Here, ideas and concerns about the home extend to the communities that shape us. Issues of privacy, alienation, and claustrophobia permeate these environments, where Sherpa villages morph into suburbia, straw bale cottages into concrete bunkers.

Lanny Shereck has created painted and collage works of architectural and building debris, referring to the materials, methods and values with which we shape our homes. This work evokes the messy processes of destruction and construction that somehow give form to our quest for habitation.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Thursday, September 8, 2011 from 6-8 pm.

Lorene Bourgeois Interview

2011-08-30T14:00:00.002-04:00

Loop member Lorene Bourgeois was recently interviewed by Patrick Conners about her exhibition of work called Vestiare/Cloakroom at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre. The link to the interview is here.

Lorene's exhibition continues at Harbourfront until September 25, 2011.

Update on the Great Hare Project

2011-08-25T13:15:00.000-04:00

The Great Hare (in progress)
Photo by M.Catherine Newcomb

Artist and loop member Mary Catherine Newcomb continues to monitor the growth of her fifteen foot long reclining hare in the Cambridge Sculpture Garden. This land art installation is for the Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener + Area that begins September 16 and runs to October 2, 2011.

M. Catherine Newcomb raking The Great Hare
Photo by Judy Welsh

Mary Catherine Newcomb's Great Hare sent this update on the project:
"I visited the hare on Friday. Parts of the pelt had grown long enough to rake into the right direction and I did a bit of face pruning. There is only one sprinkler on it at the moment. The gardener for The Cambridge Sculpture Garden has dug in the hose for it and will be digging in a second hose early this week so that there can be two sprinklers in anticipation of the ears. I am going to add the ears and tail on Thursday with the help of volunteers - I anticipate a bit of an ordeal but will be glad to have them out of my driveway and under the watchful eye of the hare stewards (Judy Welch and Judy Major Girardin from the Sculpture Garden.) The neck ruff and chest fur is not growing as quickly as the rest - so I may get a third sprinkler or extra hose to focus on this area."

For more information about the Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener + Area, visit their website here.

Photos provided courtesy of M. Catherine Newcomb c2011

Libby Hague: Sympathetic Connections at the AGO's Young Gallery

2011-08-22T08:30:00.001-04:00

Libby Hage: Sympathetic Connections

Loop Gallery member Libby Hague’s installation called Sympathetic Connections transforms both the inside and outside of the Young Gallery at the Art Gallery of Ontario. This three-dimensional work combines representational and abstract forms created out of woodblock prints on Japanese paper to fill the gallery. These paper sculptures dangle from the walls and cascade down from the ceiling, while a wall-mounted print of a nuclear power plant looms in the periphery, an image inspired in part by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan earlier this year.

Libby Hague described her experience of showing her work at the AGO for this post:

"I was thrilled when Michelle Jacques gave me this opportunity because the AGO is a fabulous building. Its prominence even got me the respect of the eavestrough guy and I thought - "Oh, that's how it works." More practical is the reality that until I have a specific gallery to work in, I am more or less only rehearsing. My own studio has a grungy functionality but there are too many things in it that interfere with my ability to read the work. In my studio the work is developed in sections and rather hopefully, if abstractly, in my imagination. Installation artists need spaces like painters need paint.

Libby Hague's installation at the AGO

The Young Gallery is thoughtfully designed so it brings a kind of formal clarity to the work . At the same time it's quite transformative because as you move around the room, the sculptures radically change depending on whether they are seen against the white wall or the city window. The first is a situation that I can control and the second interjects the human random chaos factor. I also put in an oscillating fan to move the pieces and make them seem more alive and to shift their relationships slightly. Additionally, the space is like a huge window gallery that is visible 24/7 so the day to night shift is very interesting for me.

An initial problem which proved very useful was caused by the mirrored facade on the Gehry reno. It makes it impossible to see in the gallery except at night and so happily the AGO accepted my proposal to do an intervention on the outside window as well. This links the lines of the Gehry facade, the Henry Moore on the corner and the sculptures I made inside. Once it was up , I loved how the mirror glass moved tour buses, people - Dundas St. through the piece. It feels alive.

Libby Hague at the AGO (exterior view)

A lot of my work has been about disaster and hope. This piece contrasts the exuberance of creating 3-D forms and by extension all creative activity with the pretty but disquieting silhouette of the Pickering nuclear plant. The decision to put in the power plant came about because the Fukushima crisis happened while I was working on this.

My reading of these two elements, the sculpture and the power plant, is that no happiness is so certain that it can't disappear in an instant nor is it so simple that it is uninflected by danger or risk. A second reading , which I don't usually entertain, is that the sculpture is the disaster - post nuclear mayhem loosed upon a world that loves a good disaster from a position of safety, of course.

The show is up until September 11 and right now I am struggling with the possibility of having a puppet intervention that afternoon in the gallery."

Growing a Rabbit

2011-08-17T08:15:00.001-04:00

The Great Hare by M. Catherine Newcomb

Artist and loop member Mary Catherine Newcomb is growing a rabbit in the Cambridge Sculpture Garden. This fifteen foot long reclining hare has a pelt made of turf. This land art installation is part of the Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener + Area that begins September 16 and runs to October 2, 2011. This year's theme SURVIVE:RESIST.

In the artist statement for the piece, M. Catherine explains that "According to Algonquian myth, the Great Hare (Michabo) is considered to be the grandson of the moon and son of the west wind and is recognized as the animal demi-urge."

When M. Catherine was a young girl, about about the age of ten or eleven, she discovered that rabbits do in fact gather under the full moon. She had been walking in the woods in Quebec with her grandparents the morning after a full moon when they came upon their gathering place. This convinced her (and still does) that "something profound and mysterious is going on behind a veil of what we describe as real."

CAFKA volunteers helping with the installation of M.C. Newcomb's work

This work required the help of a team of CAFKA volunteers as is evident from the photos from the installation. Volunteers helped her to install the body and add legs and head which were formed in advance by building turf and earth into welded steel forms. M. Catherine explains that the process of installation is ongoing. "I am grooming/clipping the turf on a weekly basis as the hare grows into something more hare-like. I am still growing ears and tail in my driveway and will add them to the hare when they are better established - probably late next week or early the following week. At this stage it is really important that the turf establishes itself. I was concerned about getting moisture to stay beneath the vertical surfaces as opposed to just running off - hence the bottles that are attached to deep watering spikes."

Watering the rabbit

For more information about the Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener + Area, visit their website here. To see more of Mary Catherine Newcomb's work, visit her website here.

Photos provided courtesy of M. Catherine Newcomb c2011

Last Chance to See Heather Carey and Ian McLean at Loop

2011-08-13T07:30:00.000-04:00

Ian McLean

Heather Carey

This is the last weekend to see Ian McLean and Heather Carey's exhibitions of paintings at Loop Gallery. Globe & Mail art critic R.M. Vaughan mentions them in today's Visual Arts Review Other Venues and says "Last chance to see Carey & McLean's separate but blended sets of paintings. Carey mixes abstract forms with architectural details - bttresses and blobs. McLean recreates mid-century luxury homes but paints them as if they've been dunked in acid. Clearly home is where the (broken) heart is."

The gallery is open today, Saturday August 13 from noon to 5 pm and tomorrow Sunday from 1-4 pm.

Installation Shots Heather Carey and Ian McLean at loop Gallery

2011-08-06T13:37:00.003-04:00

Ian McLean (right) with Friends

Heather Carey

The exhibition of works by Heather Carey and Ian McLean will continue at loop Gallery until Sunday, August 14.

Photo credits: Ian McLean

Heather Carey at loop

2011-08-03T09:00:00.001-04:00

Arbutus by Heather Carey

Heather Carey exhibition of paintings called Plastic Geometry opened at loop on July 23, 2011.

Heather Carey’s work deals with perception, both the psychological and the physiological sides of it. Carey explores the visual and imaginative possibilities of painting, considering the history of painting and the different languages of mark-making included in this history. She is most interested in the experiential side of visual arts, and how this experience can be influenced by our living and interacting within man-made environments. Her work examines space, constructions of reality, and choices involved in navigating through our everyday spaces.

Alleys by Heather Carey

Plastic Geometry features new paintings which present a way of seeing the world which is both calculated and malleable. Pictorial space assembles itself in an understandable way, and then collapses in on itself or deflates. The experience of these pieces relates to how we interpret images in the world on a day to day basis, how the brain functions both instinctively and through making choices about new information that has been given. Carey engages viewers in a challenging visual experience where the work remains the same but perceptions change for the viewer- confusing, revealing, changing, and resting.

Heather Carey was born in Guelph, Ontario. She is currently a Master in Fine Arts candidate at the University of Victoria. Carey completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph in 2009. This is her second show at loop. To see more of Heather's work, visit her website here.

The show continues at loop until Sunday, August, 14, 2011.

Ian McLean at loop

2011-07-28T09:00:00.000-04:00

Scene Selection, oil on canvas (56x72) by Ian McLean 2011

Ian McLean’s Recreational Use opened at loop on July 23, 2011. This exhibition of paintings includes images of residential environments that depict living rooms, backyards, swimming pools, hot tubs, and muscle cars. McLean is inspired by discrepancies between setting and mood and the use of ornamentation as distraction. Efforts to keep elements of dissolution or entropy at bay are evident in these settings. The success of such efforts is challenged. There is an emphasis on surface quality as well as a play with colour that is at once hallucinogenic, anxious, impulsive, and seductive.

Land Claim, oil on canvas (66x54) by Ian McLean 2011

Ian McLean was born in Sarnia, Ontario and studied at the University of Guelph. He lives in Bright’s Grove on the shores of Lake Huron with his wife and daughter and is represented in Toronto by Gallery Moos and loop Gallery.

Transcendence, oil on canvas (56x70) by Ian McLean 2011

Ian McLean's show at loop continues until August 14, 2011. To see more of Ian's work, visit his website here.

Loopers in the news

2011-07-25T09:00:00.001-04:00

Here are some loopers who have made the news recently:

Sandra Gregson

Sandra Gregson was mentioned in R.M. Vaughan's weekend review of Toronto's art scene in the Globe & Mail. He wrote this about Sandra's recent show at Loop: "Last chance to catch Gregson’s shredded-book wonders – exquisite mobiles, carpets, sculptures and collages made from carefully threaded strips of hapless, grinder-fed books. Best (ab)use of Joyce’s Ulysses ever." Read the complete article here.

Modification, oil on canvas (16x20) by Ian McLean

Ian McLean was featured in the last issue of Hamilton Arts and Letters in an article called Ian McLean: Yards & Muscle Cars by Andrea Rabinovitch. She describes McLean's work as follows:
"Stylistically impressionistic in richly hued colours, the use of the sharply delineated pristine swimming pools in many of the paintings suggest, nature controlled, confined within a very strict order that is considered a status symbol we all subscribe to. Like the Hockney pools of the late sixties, they are used as a compositional tool to describe a place, both real and metaphorically inherent in us hapless humans, but also to consider the nature of water contained." Read the complete article here.

Libby Hague at the AGO

Libby Hague's installation at the AGO was reported in ArtDailyNews and included the following quote from curator Michelle Jacques, the AGO's acting curator of Canadian art. “Libby Hague’s playful, yet foreboding narratives give physical form to fictional worlds that simultaneously mirror and manipulate reality. Sympathetic Connections provides a timely exploration of our problematic relationship with the natural environment, invoking universal themes of responsibility and dependency, vulnerability and rescue, and risk and luck.”

And I published an extract of my conversation with Director and CEO of the AGO, Matthew Teitelbaum, on Fashion Projects. We chatted about art and fashion. The link is here.

Heather Carey and Ian McLean at loop Gallery

2011-07-19T07:30:00.000-04:00

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Heather Carey entitled Plastic Geometry, and Ian McLean entitled Recreational Use.

Heather Carey, Wharf St, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches, 2010

Heather Carey’s Plastic Geometry features new paintings which present a way of seeing the world which is both calculated and malleable. Pictorial space assembles itself in an understandable way, and then collapses in on itself or deflates. The experience of these pieces relates to how we interpret images in the world on a day to day basis, how the brain functions both instinctively and through making choices about new information that has been given. Carey engages viewers in a challenging visual experience where the work remains the same but perceptions change for the viewer- confusing, revealing, changing, and resting.

Heather Carey was born in Guelph, Ontario. She is currently a Master in Fine Arts candidate at the University of Victoria. Carey completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph in 2009. This is her second show at loop Gallery.

Ian McLean, Parts Per Volume, oil on canvas, 54 x 72 inches, 2011

Ian McLean’s Recreational Use includes images of residential environments that depict living rooms, backyards, swimming pools, hot tubs, and muscle cars. McLean is inspired by discrepancies between setting and mood and the use of ornamentation as distraction. Efforts to keep elements of dissolution or entropy at bay are evident in these settings. The success of such efforts is challenged. There is an emphasis on surface quality as well as a play with colour that is at once hallucinogenic, anxious, impulsive, and seductive.

Ian McLean was born in Sarnia, Ontario and studied at the University of Guelph. He lives in Bright’s Grove on the shores of Lake Huron with his wife and daughter and is represented in Toronto by Gallery Moos and loop Gallery.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, July 23rd from 2-5 pm. The show runs until August 14, 2011.

Lyla Rye: Swing Stage at Olga Korper Gallery

2011-07-15T18:15:00.004-04:00

Lyla Rye is introduced by Lori Starr of the Koffler Centre

Lyla Rye, my friend and mentor, spoke last night at the opening of her installation Swing Stage at the Olga Korper Gallery. An off-site presentation by the Koffler Gallery, Lyla drew on her background in architecture to create this work. Challenging herself to come up with 100 ideas in a two day brain-storming session, she took inspiration from the structural elements of the space and the history of the building itself.

Lyla talks about her work with an admiring fan at her fee

The platform on which Lyla is standing in the picture can support up to ten people and gently swings when walked upon. There is also a five minute video loop (not seen in the photo) which is projected onto a circular panel that mirrors the round window in the structure. The video includes archival photos, Google maps and clips filmed from the rooftop of the building adding a dynamic component to this playful installation.

Lyla Rye: Swing Stage runs at the Olga Korper Gallery until August 20, 2011.

Sandra Gregson at loop Gallery

2011-07-13T07:30:00.000-04:00

Sandra Gregson

Sandra Gregson’s the year my dog died includes sculptures and a video projection. Overwhelmed by the never ending accumulation of pay statements, house bills, photographs, credit card and ATM receipts, Sandra, after shredding documents to eliminate personal data, began sewing them into sculptural forms. These works consider how accumulation defines us. Other works, one made from a shredded novel, another from a shredded dictionary, refer to the accumulative nature of language and culture. Impermanence is deliberated in the process of shredding and making: undoing and redoing.

Sandra Gregson works with drawing, sculpture and video, often combining these media. Her work is about noticing everyday things, and events, in a playful, subtle, critical way, and with an intent of linking art and life. She studied at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (BFA) and at York University (MFA). Her videos and artwork have been shown throughout Canada and internationally, including the Alternative Film/Video Festival, Belgrade; champ libre, Montreal; Ontario Crafts Council Gallery, Toronto; Nuit Blanche at the Gladstone Hotel, Toronto.

Sandra's show continues at loop Gallery until Sunday, July 17, 2011.

The Floating World by Gareth Bate

2011-07-10T18:46:00.000-04:00

Gareth Bate

Gareth Bate's painting series called The Floating World is currently on display at loop Gallery and runs until Sunday, July 17, 2011.

Gareth's artist statement for this series is presented below. The photos show his paintings in progress at his studio at 401 Richmond Street West.

The Floating World paintings are a kind of Vanitas. Scenes of great beauty suddenly engulfed by devastation. Imagine standing in wonder at the view before you, just as a Tsunami washes it all away.

My recent work explores our ultimate scale and purpose in the universe. The landscapes and cosmos scenes are a metaphor for the beauty we experience. In the work, the universe represents a sense of endless possibilities, and yet an existential terror of our final insignificance.

In Studio Shot by Gareth Bate

The tsunami represents total sublime horror. It is complete and utter devastation, indiscriminate and inescapable. The aerial video footage of the Japanese Tsunami was the most horrifying thing I've ever seen. It spread through entire cities and farmlands, demolishing and consuming everything in its path. All you have, including your life, can be swept away in an instant. Natural disasters are for me, one of the things that make a belief in God impossible.

Work in Progress by Gareth Bate

The title Floating World is obviously a reference to Japan, but it also represents the Earth itself. We are fragile and barely staying afloat. For the first time in years a human presence has returned to my work. Although these paintings could be seen as bleak, it is impossible for an artwork to be nihilistic. Making art is inherently about creating meaning out of life.

Bonecreak Ulysses and Lorde Awesome

2011-07-06T21:20:00.007-04:00

Thursday, July 7th, The Only Cafe on Danforth (and Donlands) welcomes the next installment of In-Between Sounds! Joining Lorde Awesome this month will be Bonecreak Ulysses who'll emerge from his dark subterranean lair to lay some sound on the gathering masses. Here's his tale...

Bonecreak Ulysses woke up dead, feeling cold and a little perturbed. Musik resonated through his b-b-bones. Magik held his mind tethered to his b-b-body with shiny red string. Bonecreak Ulysses rose from his bed and sought the source of the musik, he moved crabwise through the loam, through the rich pomegranate darkness. A soft amber glow seemed to light the way. He thread his way up through a spiraling tunnel toward the surface, toward the world...

Bonecreak Ulysses is primarily the work of Charles Hackbarth, a Toronto based artist, writer and sound sculptor. Drawing inspiration from Zoviet France, Nurse With Wound, Black Dice and Kieren Hebden, Bonecreak Ulysses' music starts with improvised sessions on various instruments that are later sampled, layered, looped and transformed into evocative soundscapes.

This time out, Lorde Awesome will be joined by their great friends Rick Hicks AND Cymbl (aka Rich Baker) on drums. The final set will be a meeting minds as the Lorde and Bonecreak jam to a mighty crescendo.

www.bonecreakulysses.weebly.com

The Sweet Life? Sculptures by Patti Normand

2011-07-05T10:58:00.010-04:00

At first glance, Ottawa-base artist, Patti Normand, appears to make dioramas of life's sweeter moments; a walk in the park, a dip in the pool, lovers on the dock, all served up like a delicious layer cake preserved beneath a bell jar. Ah, but take a closer look. That fellow isn't swimming in the pool but floating face down while his buddy is lost in his own reveries. The lovers on the dock may believe the heat they feel is from their passion, but behind them a fire rages.

Patti will be showing her work this weekend at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit. Check her work out at booth 35 or check out her website http://www.pattinormand.com/.

Installation Shots for Gareth Bate and Sandra Gregson

2011-06-30T14:11:00.000-04:00

Loop Gallery June 25, 2011

This was the scene at loop Gallery last weekend during the opening receptions for Gareth Bate and Sandra Gregson. The gallery is open on Canada Day and also this weekend. All photos are by Patricia Njovu.

Gareth Bate in conversation

Visitors examining Gareth Bate's work

Close up of Gareth Bate's work

Sandra Gregson and friends


Visitors examining Sandra Gregson's work

Update from Elizabeth Babyn in Saskatoon

2011-06-27T09:15:00.000-04:00

Elizabeth Babyn's Studio in Saskatoon

Elizabeth Babyn writes:
I recently relocated from Caledon, Ontario to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. After months of move preparations, I am so happy to finally be back at work painting in my new condo loft studio on 23rd and 2nd Street in Saskatoon!

Some of you may recall that my last Loop exhibit in September dealt with sacred geometry and sacred spaces; as a result of this prior investigation, I am looking forward to continuing where I left off. However, as I develop these new works I will place more emphasis on Fibonacci numbers in nature.

Willow Studio in Saskatoon

Just steps away from my current studio, I discovered a lovely interior decorating and design shop! How convenient! The store is called Willow Studio and is located at 148 2nd Avenue North, Saskatoon. If you live in the area or plan to visit Saskatoon, make this one of your destinations as you investigate the creative interior decorating possibilities that Willow Studio offers!

Gareth Bate and Sandra Gregson at loop Gallery

2011-06-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Gareth Bate entitled Floating World, and Sandra Gregson entitled the year my dog died.

Gareth Bate, Floating World: Tsunami 1, acrylic on wood, 4 x 4 feet, 2011

Sandra Gregson, Ulysses (detail), shredded pages of book, thread, book cover, 21 x 45 x 62 cm, 2010
(photo credit: Toni Hafkenscheid)

Gareth Bate’s Floating World is a response to the Japanese tsunami. These paintings are a kind of Vanitas - scenes of great beauty suddenly engulfed by devastation. The tsunami represents total sublime horror. It spreads through entire cities and farmlands, demolishing and consuming everything in its path. Indiscriminate and inescapable. Gareth’s recent work explores our ultimate scale in the universe, and an existential terror of our final insignificance. Floating World represents the Earth itself, fragile and barely staying afloat. These paintings could be seen as bleak, but it is impossible for an artwork to be nihilistic. Making art is inherently about creating meaning out of life.

Gareth Bate’s practice includes painting, photography, installation, performance, video and set design. He graduated from the adult program at Central Tech, and OCAD where he won the 401 Richmond Career-Launcher Prize, a free studio for a year. He represented emerging artists in the Toronto Star’s series “Artists in Real Life: The Up and Comers”. Recently Gareth organized the 401 Richmond Artists Open Studio and launched Gareth Bate Art Projects a new studio/exhibition venue at 401 Richmond, Toronto. Upcoming shows include "Fleshed Out" for Nuit Blanche an installation dance performance called David Pressault Danse, and Gareth's curated group show "Studio Detritus: Art Artifacts" featuring remarkable objects from artists’ studios.

Sandra Gregson’s the year my dog died includes sculptures and a video projection. Overwhelmed by the never ending accumulation of pay statements, house bills, photographs, credit card and ATM receipts, Sandra, after shredding documents to eliminate personal data, began sewing them into sculptural forms. These works consider how accumulation defines us. Other works, one made from a shredded novel, another from a shredded dictionary, refer to the accumulative nature of language and culture. Impermanence is deliberated in the process of shredding and making: undoing and redoing.

Sandra Gregson works with drawing, sculpture and video, often combining these media. Her work is about noticing everyday things, and events, in a playful, subtle, critical way, and with an intent of linking art and life. She studied at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (BFA) and at York University (MFA). Her videos and artwork have been shown throughout Canada and internationally, including the Alternative Film/Video Festival, Belgrade; champ libre, Montreal; Ontario Crafts Council Gallery, Toronto; Nuit Blanche at the Gladstone Hotel, Toronto.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, June 25th from 2-5 pm.

The show will run until July 17, 2011.

Sandra Gregson at the Parkdale Film + Video Showcase

2011-06-22T07:00:00.003-04:00

Still image from vers(ing) by Sandra Gregson and Barbara Steinberg

Loop member Sandra Gregson made a video with Barbara Steinberg called vers(ing) that will be shown on Friday, June 24 at the 13th Annual Parkdale Film + Video Showcase.

Vers, moving toward something, around a certain time.

Versing to express in verse.

Conversing to talk informally with another or others; exchange views, opinions by talking.

vers(ing) opens in a coffee shop. People, sit, enter and exit. A conversation is heard. The video continues, traveling through the streets of a city, to a park, to other coffee shops, other places. No particular destination is reached, but as we travel, fragments of text are read, conversations are heard, settings, people and objects are noticed.

vers(ing) presents a moving toward that is transitory and offers a poetic contemplation of how life, meaning, and film are intertwined and constructed.

“I believe I’ve never mistaken fiction for reality, though I have mixed them together more than once, as everyone does.” Javier Marias, Dark Back of Time

running time is 9:56
vers(ing) is distributed by www.vtape.org

The Showcase runs from June 22 to 26. For more information see www.parkdaleshowcase.ca.

Lorene Bourgeois at Harbourfront Centre

2011-06-20T19:46:00.000-04:00

Blitz Child I by Lorene Bourgeois

Loop member Lorène Bourgeois exhibit of her work Vestiaire/Cloakroom opened at the Harbourfront Centre, project room on the weekend and will run until September 25, 2011.

Vestiaire /Cloakroom presents a series of large-scale drawings and a video, based upon the subject of clothing and its relation to the human body and head.

"Recently, I have been exploring the territory of head and face protection, including gas masks and military helmets. I am interested not only in the social and utilitarian functions of these artifacts, but also in their qualities as physical objects - the way they frame or envelop the body, and the way they disclose or conceal the human form.

"Isolated from their original context, these objects seem to oscillate between functionality and theatricality, between absurdity and threat. It is this tension, the moment when the function of clothing slips into something less recognizable, that I wish to investigate."
Harbourfront Centre
235 Queens Quay West
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5J 2G8
(416) 973 4000

Charles Hackbarth at loop Gallery

2011-06-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

This is the last weekend to see Charles Hackbarth show THIS is how the BEAST enters the EARTH at loop Gallery.

Charles Hackbarth’s new body of work continues the investigation of psycho-geography, deep mapping, and, ultimately, the impossibility of mapping, which began with Geographic Tongue: my ghost likes to travel.

Hackbarth is interested in how one captures the multi-dimensional unfolding of life, its layers, the process of adding and subtracting, memories buried beneath deeper layers of memories, geography, history, biology, the body merging with the earth, merging with the sky, merging with the paint. The personal, universal and cosmic rolled together like mystical sushi.

This is the second installment of paintings that eschew the rectangle for organic shapes. Some of the work is on wood (plywood or masonite) while others are on loose unstretched canvas. Painting (abstract and figurative), drawing, collage and found objects create layers, some fixed, some temporarily affixed with push pins. While some elements remain constant, others shift, change. These paintings create the territory, the landscape into which the BEAST roams.

Charles Hackbarth Gallery Installation Shot
by Ingrid Mida 2011

In Hackbarth’s last show, through the working process, a number of ghosts began to visit his work by way of small portraits. This time around, Beasts are emerging. Some created from tree roots, others drawn, still others lurk just beyond the veil of manifestation. THIS is how the BEAST enters the EARTH.

Charles Hackbarth is a 49 year old, Toronto-based artist, sound sculptor and writer. Hackbarth studied at Ottawa School of Art and OCAD. He has been exhibiting publicly since 1985. His paintings hang in a number of private collections.

Charles Hackbarth Installation Shot by Ingrid Mida 2011

Gallery hours this weekend are Friday and Saturday noon to 5 pm and Sunday 1 to 4 pm.

Libby Hague at the AGO

2011-06-12T20:33:00.001-04:00

Libby Hague: Sympathetic Connections at the AGO

Loop member Libby Hague's has a new installation at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) that opened yesterday. Libby Hague: Sympathetic Connections is on view until September 11 and is part of the AGO’s Toronto Now series of rotating contemporary projects by Toronto artists.

The installation transforms woodblock prints into paper sculptures that connect across the walls, ceiling, and external windows of the AGO’s Young Gallery. Sympathetic Connections combines representational and abstract forms in a room-spanning three-dimensional installation. Colourful sculptural forms crafted from Japanese paper fill the gallery, dangling from walls and cascading down from the ceiling, while a wall-mounted print of a nuclear power plant looms in the periphery, an image inspired in part by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan earlier this year.

“Libby Hague’s playful, yet foreboding narratives give physical form to fictional worlds that simultaneously mirror and manipulate reality,” says Michelle Jacques, the AGO’s acting curator of Canadian art. “Sympathetic Connections provides a timely exploration of our problematic relationship with the natural environment, invoking universal themes of responsibility and dependency, vulnerability and rescue, and risk and luck.”

To see more of Libby's work, visit her website at www.libbyhague.com.

Installation Shots from Tanya Cunnington and Charles Hackbarth at Loop

2011-06-10T09:30:00.000-04:00

If you haven't made it to loop Gallery yet to see the work of Tanya Cunnington and Charles Hackbarth make time this weekend to see this dynamic exhibition. Here are some installation shots from the gallery.

Charles Hackbarth at loop 2011

Tanya Cunnington at loop 2011

Loop gallery is open Friday and Saturday noon to 5 pm and also Sunday noon to 4 pm.

Photo credit: Ingrid Mida

Tanya Cunnington at loop

2011-06-03T06:21:00.000-04:00

Now on display at loop Gallery is an exhibition by loop member Tanya Cunnington entitled The Awkward Phases of my Adolescence.

Tanya Cunnington's work is created from personal nostalgia. This particular body of work deals with the artist's childhood and adolescence. It was inspired by a group of old family photos given to Cunnington by her Nana, and by the photo albums that the artist compiled while in high school. Combining imagery and abstraction through paint and collage is a technique that Cunnington has returned to after a long foray into pure abstraction. Through collage she can attach personal items to her work, whether it is a quick meaningless note jotted down by a friend that was somehow kept, or an old bed sheet from her childhood. Not only does she enjoy the fragile and impermanent nature of these items, but she often purposely leaves text legible to act as a form of documentation, and as a tool to perpetuate the ongoing passage of time, and time past. Each painting is very much about the moment in which it was created, which in itself becomes very nostalgic for Cunnington. Ultimately the artist hopes to encourage a sense of longing within viewers as well.

Born in Kirkland Lake Ontario, Tanya Cunnington now lives and works in Toronto. In 2001, Tanya received her Associates Degree from the Ontario College of Art and Design, with a Major in Drawing and Painting, and was the recipient of the Eric Freifeld Award for Excellence in Figurative Art. She was also selected to take part in the Florence off-campus studies program in her third year. Tanya has since exhibited in several group Exhibitions, both in Toronto and in the surrounding areas. She just recently held her third Exhibition at Loop Gallery in Toronto where she is currently a member. Her work has been included in Magenta Foundation’s publication of Carte Blanche Volume II-Painting, and reviewed in Canadian Art Magazine.

For more information about the artist and her work, visit her website here.

Kelly Cade at the Washi Summit

2011-06-01T07:14:00.000-04:00

Kelly Cade

loop member Kelly Cade is participating in the Washi Summit which begins on June 3, 2011. Hosted by the Japanese Paper Place, the event celebrates the art of fine Japanese paper. This year the focus is on the contemporary applications of washi off the wall such as on screens, wallpaper, furniture coverings, placemats, cushions, clothing. On June 3, there is a special gala presentation with Linda Lundstrom and Lei Li called "Washi Off the Wall". For more information, visit the Washi Summit website at www.washisummit.com.

THIS is how the BEAST enters the EARTH

2011-05-26T10:27:00.001-04:00

THIS is how the BEAST enters the EARTH. Soft as morning light, liquid as our dreaming eyes. Subcutaneous, hunchbacked and beautiful, tunneling through our longing, burrowing beneath EARTH. Our tongues as transmitters, our memory as shovels.

Without MAPS we use Dead Reckoning. We devise a process that is haphazard and chaotic. Shambala in shambles. What started as an attempt to map life's multidimensional unfolding has given way ... to a process of unmapping. Let's get lost. Let's picnic in the tombs. Let's strip the wires from the firmaments and play in the dark. Stars swim through our blood.

Each piece of art has its own trajectory of despair and joy.

Charles Hackbarth and Tanya Cunnington at loop

2011-05-25T12:00:00.001-04:00

May 28 - June 19, 2011
Reception: Saturday, May 28th, 2-5 pm

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by Tanya Cunnington entitled The Awkward Phases of my Adolescence and Charles Hackbarth entitled THIS is how the BEAST enters the EARTH.

Tanya Cunnington's work is created from personal nostalgia. Ultimately she hopes to encourage a sense of longing within her viewers as well. The Awkward Phases of my Adolescence, Tanya's upcoming exhibition at loop is comprised of self-portraits and mixed media paintings depicting representational and non-representational moments from the artists past.

Born in Kirkland Lake Ontario, Tanya Cunnington now lives and works in Toronto. In 2001, Tanya received her Associates Degree from OCAD, and was the recipient of the Eric Freifeld Award for Excellence in Figurative Art. She took part in the Florence off-campus studies program. Tanya has since exhibited in several group Exhibitions, both in Toronto and in the surrounding areas. Her work has been included in Magenta Foundation’s publication of Carte Blanche Volume II-Painting, and reviewed in Canadian Art Magazine.

Charles Hackbarth’s new body of work THIS is how the BEAST enters the EARTH continues the investigation of psycho-geography, deep mapping, and, ultimately, the impossibility of mapping. How does one capture the multi-dimensional unfolding of life, its layers, the process of adding and subtracting, memories buried beneath deeper layers of memories, geography, history, biology, the body merging with the earth, merging with the sky, merging with the paint?

Charles Hackbarth is a Toronto-based artist, sound sculptor and writer. Hackbarth studied at Ottawa School of Art and OCAD. He has been exhibiting publicly since 1985. His paintings hang in a number of private collections.

Please join the artists in celebrating their opening receptions at loop on Saturday, May 28th from 2 pm until 5 pm.

Monumenta 2011 at the Grand Palais in Paris

2011-05-23T14:00:00.002-04:00

Anish Kapoor at the Grand Palais in Paris 2011

There was a moment of blackness and disorientation when I stepped inside inside Monumenta, a sculpture installation by Anish Kapoor at the Grand Palais. The air is warm and heavy and there is an eery reddish glow. It is sort of like a return to the womb, which is not surprising given that the work of sculptor Anish Kapoor often references the body and our deepest memories.

Monumenta 2011

From the outside, but still within the confines of the Grand Palais, this enormous membrane takes on another countenance all together. Filling the cavernous spaces of the Grand Palais, I couldn't help but feel awe and wonder at the enormous scale of this bulbous sculpture which fills the entire 13,500 square metres of the interior.

Monumenta 2011

Anish Kapoor said this about his creation "My ambition is to create a space within the space that responds to the height and luminosity of the Nave at the Grand Palais." It was a singular ambition, rendered with awe-inducing grandeur.

Monumenta 2011

All photos by Ingrid Mida, copyright 2011.

Anish Kapoor
Grand Palais, Paris, France
May 11 until June 23, 2011

For more information, visit www.monumenta.com

Profile of Larry Eisenstein by the Globe and Mail's R.M. Vaughan

2011-05-21T08:10:00.002-04:00

Larry Eisenstein

R.M. Vaughan, columnist for the Globe and Mail newspaper, wrote a half page profile/review of loop member Larry Eisenstein's current show Doodactic. In the review, R.M. Vaughan uses descriptors like "spectacularly intimate", "reality-defying ability", "awe-inducing". (I don't think I've ever read a more glowing review from R.M. Vaughan.) To read the complete review, click here.

Loop Gallery is open this weekend from 12-5 pm. On Sunday, there is a Question and Answer session with artists Larry Eisenstein and Eric Farache that will begin at 2 pm.

Q&A with Eric Farache and Larry Eisenstein at loop

2011-05-20T07:09:00.000-04:00

Question & Answer Session: Larry Eisenstein and Eric Farache
Facilitated by David Jager and Mark Laliberte
Sunday, May 22, 2011
2-4 PM at loop

LARRY EISENSTEIN is a visual artist obsessed with making marks. He is compulsively driven to exploit line in his work. Eisenstein lives and works in Toronto where he is a sometimes teacher, art director, illustrator and writer.

ERIC FARACHE was born in 1971. He received a MFA from the University of Leeds, is an Alumni of OCAD, and lives and works in Toronto. Trained in classical painting techniques, he has been working in photography for the past 10 years. Eric works in elaborate sketchbooks as part of his artist practice, he has recently returned to painting larger works. Visit his website at www.ericfarache.com, or his blog at http://vagabondchic.blogspot.com/.

MARK LALIBERTE is a visual artist, writer, designer and curator with an MFA from the University of Guelph. He has exhibited and performed extensively in galleries across Canada and the USA, and currently resides in Toronto, where he is the managing editor and designer of Carousel. In early 2010, BRICKBRICKBRICK, a full-length book of visual poems, was released with BookThug. Later in the year, GREY SUPREME 1, a print-based "project platform" initiated by the artist as a way to collect his short-form experiments with image, text and hybrid literary forms, debuted with Koyama Press. http://www.marklaliberte.com | http://www.greysupreme.com

DAVID JAGER has been a regular Art writer for NOW magazine for the last seven years. He has also contributed articles and reviews to Canadian Art, including extensive cover profiles on Vancouver painter Ben Reeves and Video artist Kelly Richardson. He has also translated and edited works for the International Journal of Phenomenogical Psychology, and recently edited and translated a new work of cultural history by Professor Van Den Berg on the Two Laws of Thermodynamics. He is currently working on a book of philosophical essays by his father, Professor Bernd Jager, who is professor emiritus of Psychology at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

Gallery Mentioned in T.O. DO this week in National Post

2011-05-17T14:08:00.000-04:00

Howdy!

Just a brief mention but all the same, our Loop gallery show was mentioned in the National Post on the 14th.

I also like that I am in the same list as Joan Rivers(!), click here to get the article.

Photos from loop: Eric Farache and Larry Eisenstein

2011-05-10T20:37:00.002-04:00

loop reopens Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 12 noon for the second week of the exhibitions of work by Eric Farache and Larry Eisenstein.

Photo credit: Patricia Njovu, 2011

Art Show is open!

2011-05-05T00:53:00.000-04:00

I struggled to get the show ready in time, but here is a little image of the back of Loop Gallery while i was putting pictures up on 3 different walls at once to see what looked best together.

These watercolours are painted on a natural white 300lb Fabriano paper which has a beautiful texture and colour to it, the pieces radiate next to the cool walls of this white cube gallery.

Larry and I will be at the gallery on Sundays if you would like to chat with us, I think we will be drawing while we are there...bring a sketchbook and join us.

Eric Farache

Larry Eisenstein at loop

2011-05-04T09:20:00.002-04:00

Larry Eisenstein

loop Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition by loop member Larry Eisenstein entitled Doodactic.

Larry Eisenstein quotes Philip Guston,
"...I think that every real painter wants to be, and his greatest desire is to be a realist, in the sense that you want to make concrete, with your material, with your matter, with your form, how you feel.
...if you eliminated the word abstract, made it illegal, like a penalty, you know, to use the word abstract, nonobjective, nonfigurative, then you'd have to really...talk about how different they are. Or else not talk about them but feel the difference."
The Chicago Panel, 1958
"I do not see why the loss of faith in the known image and symbol in our time should be celebrated as a freedom. It is a loss from which we suffer, and this pathos motivates modern painting and poetry at its heart."
Statement in Nature in Abstraction, 1958
The resistance of forms against losing their identities, with, however, their desire to partake of each other, leads finally to a showdown, as they shed their minor relations and confront each other more nakedly. It is almost a state of inertia-these forms, having lived, possess a past, and their poise in the visible present on the picture plane must contain the promise of change. Painting then, for me, is a kind of nagging honesty with no escape from the repetitious tug of war at this intersection.
Statement in New American Painting, 1957-58/1959

Eisenstein is a visual artist obsessed with making marks. He is compulsively driven to exploit line in his work. Eisenstein lives and works in Toronto where he is a sometimes teacher, art director, illustrator and writer.

Larry Eisenstein's work will be at loop until May 22, 2011.

Alexander McQueen: An Artist that used Fashion as his Medium

2011-05-03T08:41:00.002-04:00

Photo by Salvo Sundsbo/Art+Commerce
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

A retrospective of Alexander McQueen's work will open on May 4, 2011 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This exhibition called Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty highlights the enormous contribution of McQueen to both fashion and art and is presented as a contemporary art installation in which fashion is the medium. Read my review of the show at Fashion Projects www.fashionprojects.org or click here. The exhibition runs until July 31, 2011.

Studio a mess getting ready for show

2011-04-25T14:01:00.000-04:00

An Eric Farache Blog Entry:

Well, Larry and I are getting ready for our show at Loop, and as anyone knows, before a deadline you go a little crazy. Actually, I cannot speak for Larry, but for me, I make a hell of a mess. This morning its taken me 2 hours to get ready to do any work.

Looking at this first picture, the studio looks better than it really is. Stuff is everywhere, sure you have your copies of Penthouse everywhere but you also have the random conch shells, GIJoe action figures, miniature clothing, watercolour supplies, magazines, sketchbooks from the past 10 years and whole lot of record albums as I have no good music at this time so its all Fleetwood Mac and Noel Coward live at Las Vegas.

...its a bit much really.

Here is a view of the wall opposite of my desk, I took down a ton of reference imagery and just left a few postcards. Below that, some paintings which are for the show and small sketches which will be framed for the show.

oh, and a faux Dutch Delft clock plate. My Mom got this in 1985 in Amsterdam, we were let down to see that it was plastic not porcelain- we should have known, my mom bought a amethyst stone in Amsterdam in 1977 and it was a fake when she went to have it appraised. The Dutch I tell you.

Anyways, look forward to seeing as many people as possible on Saturday, please come, we will have beer and cheese.

As usual, thanks to Ingrid for all her Blog efforts.

Larry Eisenstein and Eric Farache at loop

2011-04-25T08:52:00.000-04:00

loop Gallery is pleased to announce upcoming exhibitions by loop members Larry Eisenstein entitled Doodactic, and Eric Farache entitled Life Lessons opening on Saturday, April 30, 2011.

Larry Eisenstein quotes Philip Guston, The Chicago Panel, 1958 "...I think that every real painter wants to be, and his greatest desire is to be a realist, in the sense that you want to make concrete, with your material, with your matter, with your form, how you feel. ...if you eliminated the word abstract, made it illegal, like a penalty, you know, to use the word abstract, nonobjective, nonfigurative, then you'd have to really...talk about how different they are. Or else not talk about them but feel the difference."

Eisenstein is a visual artist obsessed with making marks. He is compulsively driven to exploit line in his work. Eisenstein lives and works in Toronto where he is a sometimes teacher, art director, illustrator and writer.

Eric Farache's Life Lessons, is a meditation on childhood watercolour and ink paintings play with fantasy, doodle, GI Joes and 1970s pornography. Eric Farache’s work utilizes a distinct visual language drawing heavily from personal experience creating a new grand contemporary mythology. Narrative rich, this work juxtaposes childhood coming of age and a frank sexuality. Themes told by blending disparate images, characters and objects lending a Surrealist logic to these highly detailed quirky watercolours.

Eric Farache was born in 1971. He received a MFA from the University of Leeds, is an Alumni of OCAD, and lives and works in Toronto. Trained in classical painting techniques, he has been working in photography for the past 10 years. Eric works in elaborate sketchbooks as part of his artist practice, he has recently returned to painting larger works. Visit his website at www.ericfarache.com, or his blog at http://vagabondchic.blogspot.com/.

Please join the artists and author in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, April 30th from 2-5 pm.

Learn more during a Question & Answer Session with the artists at loop moderated by David Jager and Mark Laliberte on Sunday May 22nd from 2-4pm.

Margarita Macdonald and Maria Flawia Litwin

2011-04-12T21:26:00.000-04:00

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by guest artists Maria Flawia Litwin entitled Ró?a Selawiska and Margarita Macdonald entitled Border Memory: Crossing Borders.

Ró?a Selawiska, Ja i Moje Dzieci, Colour print, 15” x 20”Add caption

Maria Flawia Litwin explores her alter ego, Ró?a Selawiska in this exhibition of self-photographs. Selawiska’s work is about obsessive self-recording and reflection. She investigates her gender, identity, sexuality and cultural heritage through an ever-shifting symbolic language rooted in Slavic history, literature and folklore. Her intent is to simultaneously uncover and mask her personal reality.

Ró?a Selawiska is a Polish conceptual photographer trained at the University of Plastic Arts in ?ód?. Her work is rooted in Slavic folklore and intertwines political and personal mythologies. She exhibits rarely and the work she shows is deceivingly unassuming. It consists of self-photographs small in size and limited in subject matter. Her images are intensely personal and autobiographical.


	Margarita Macdonald, Boundaries, Photo litho, silkscreen, chine colle on gampi, 32.5" x 44", BFK, 2011

Margarita Macdonald’s Border Memory: Crossing Borders, focuses on reconstructing memory. Macdonald is drawn to the landscape between the United States and Mexico and the particular narratives that are created there. She investigates border-crossing issues of identity, displacement and landscape as a place of memory as they are relevant to the border. Macdonald’s interest is in investigating the notion of fact and fiction, presence and absence, historical construction through her own personal experience and those that she has interviewed about crossing borders. Border Memory: Crossing Borders, is comprised of a series of prints that include various layers of photolithography drawing and silkscreen. Her work has been included in exhibitions in Canada and Mexico.

Margarita Macdonald is an MFA candidate at York University. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Toronto and a degree in Studio Arts from Sheridan Institute of Technology. Presently, she teaches print media at York University, and has assisted in teaching print media and photography at Sheridan Institute of Technology.

Please join the artists in celebrating their opening on Thursday, April 14 from 6:30-9:30 PM. Their shows will run until April 24, 2011.

Review of Ester Pugliese's Work by R.M. Vaughan

2011-04-09T10:07:00.000-04:00

Empirical Spaces #2 by Ester Pugliese 2011

Art critic R.M. Vaughan of the Globe & Mail included an invitation to his readers to visit Loop Gallery for the last weekend of Ester Pugliese's series of paintings called Empirical Spaces. He says "Like some unformed dream coming into slow but inevitable shape, Pugliese’s works invite, and reward, a long, free-associational gaze." The complete review can be read here.

The gallery will be open today from noon to 5 pm and tomorrow from 1 to 4 pm. Another not to be missed show is Sandra Smirle's exploration of randomly selected locations called "Like/Unlike and other circular decisions".

Installation Shots: Sandra Smirle

2011-03-30T20:46:00.000-04:00

Documented by Brian Burnett.

Like/Unlike and other circular decisions continues Smirle’s exploration of randomly selected locations, translated from aerial maps into large-scale cut drawings.

As we settle into a digitally networked world of unrestrained surveillance, allegiances are cast and recast with spontaneity and abandon. Just as we effortlessly ‘like’ and ‘unlike’ in social media, so too can the information come too fast for us to make decisions about the real or figurative direction of our lives.

Here the viewer is confronted by two maps: one like, and the other unlike, wherever it is — or was. Or perhaps they are one and the same place: a Rorschach ink blot, a kaleidoscope view of origin, destination and sentiment projected in shadow play. Maybe that’s where it’s going anyway, again, however the vote is cast.

Translated as ones and zeros, decision-making becomes easy — accessible and artless. Movements are instantaneous, if not without consequences.

The show continues until April 10, 2011 at Loop Gallery.

Installation Shots: Ester Pugliese

2011-03-25T10:30:00.006-04:00

The mixed media paintings in Ester Pugliese's Empirical Spaces exhibition at loop Gallery use Italian architecture to draw connections between seeing and hearing. The works identify spaces, environments and living things that bring acoustic qualities to mind, against a cacophony-like backdrop of colours and forms. Each work posits formal Roman architecture against the arched porches of Toronto homes as viewed on Google street view. The show is as much a playful look at Italian culture and identity, as it is a reflection on how we synthesize and extract colours, sounds and ideas from the stuff we observe.

Documented by Brian Burnett.

Ester Pugliese and Sandra Smirle at loop Gallery March 19 - April 10, 2011

2011-03-14T12:26:00.000-04:00

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Ester Pugliese entitled Empirical Spaces, and Sandra Smirle entitled Like/Unlike and other circular decisions.

Empirical Spaces by Ester Pugliese 2011

Ester Pugliese’s Empirical Spaces is a series of mixed media paintings/drawings, which outline architectural / theatrical spaces and observations of the built and natural world, using sound and hearing as points of reference. The works identify spaces in which sounds resonate readily. The underlying abstract forms in these works are like internal organic structures. The outlines that float above the abstract ground are representations of Italian theatres, opera houses and church layouts. The layers present a challenge to the eye to perform in a way similar to the way our ears can discern a chosen sound amidst a din. Constructing a mental picture of each outline engages one's short term visual memory.

Ester Pugliese is a Toronto artist who has exhibited her work in Canada and England. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University in 2001, studied Painting at Leeds University in England and completed a post-graduate certificate in Arts Administration/Cultural Management in 2004. She is currently the Administrative Director at Loop Gallery and Development Coordinator at Arts for Children and Youth.

Like/Unlike by Sandra Smirle

Like/Unlike and other circular decisions continues Sandra Smirle’s exploration of randomly selected locations, translated from aerial maps into large-scale drawings. As we settle into a digitally networked world of unrestrained surveillance, allegiances are cast and recast with spontaneity and abandon. Just as we effortlessly ‘like’ and ‘unlike’ in social media, so too can the information come too fast for us to make decisions about the real of figurative directions of our lives. Here the viewer is confronted by two maps: one like, and the other unlike, wherever it is – or was. Or perhaps they are the same place: a Rorschach ink blot, a kaleidoscope view of origin, destination and sentiment projected in shadow play. Maybe that’s where it’s going anyway, again, however the vote is cast. Translated as ones and zeros, decisions-making becomes easy – accessible and artless. Movements are instantaneous, if not without consequences.

Sandra Smirle is a mixed media artist whose work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions and juried group shows, and is in private collections in Canada, Australia and Europe. Recently, her work was selected for inclusion in The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography, published by Princeton Architectural Press. Sandra graduated from Concordia University with a B.F.A. in Experimental Design.

Please join the artists in celebrating their opening receptions on Saturday, March 19 from 2-5 pm.

Last Chance to see Thelma Rosner and Gary Clement at Loop Gallery

2011-03-09T07:00:00.001-05:00

There are five days left to see the work of Gary Clement and Thelma Rosner at Loop Gallery. Their shows close on Sunday, March 13, 2011 at 4 pm.

Question and Answer Session with Gary Clement

2011-03-04T13:28:00.002-05:00

Peter Kuitenbrouwer will facilitate a Question & Answer Session with artist Gary Clement at loop Gallery tomorrow Saturday, March 5th at 3 PM.

The ink drawings in Dark Energy reflect Gary Clement’s lifelong interest in history, cosmology, archaeology, sitcoms, bodily functions, music, poetry astronauts and current events among other things. As a cartoonist/artist Clement draws heavily on the diverse influences that have shaped his work, from MAD magazine and National Lampoon to Philip Guston and Joseph Cornell.

The title, Dark Energy, refers to a hypothetical force that permeates the universe. In the context of this show, it refers to the materiality of the India ink used in the drawings, to the frenetic period of energy that produced the drawings and to the permeable and wide ranging nature of the subjects that inform the drawings.

Gary Clement is the political cartoonist for the National Post. His cartoons have appeared in the New York Times Week In Review, The Guardian and TIME. As a freelance illustrator, his work has appeared in publications around the world. He is also a children’s writer/illustrator whose many awards include the 1999 Governor General’s Award for Illustration for his book “The Great Poochini”. This is his 7th show at Loop. He is represented in Toronto by Loop Gallery and by Parts Gallery.

Peter Kuitenbrouwer has worked in journalism for more that 25 years as a writer, a video journalist, a radio and television correspondent, and a bureau chief in such places as Mexico City, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto. He is the author of two books for children. This winner of the prestigious Southam Inc. Award and the "Newswriter of the Year" Award is at present city columnist for the National Post. Peter lives in Toronto with his wife, two children, a cat and a dog.

Gary Clement's Dark Energy & Thelma Rosner's Dictionary exhibitions at loop Gallery run until Sunday March 13th.

Gary Clement at loop

2011-03-02T10:00:00.003-05:00

Dark Energy by Gary Clement c2011

The ink drawings in Dark Energy reflect Gary Clement’s lifelong interest in history, cosmology, archaeology, sitcoms, bodily functions, music, poetry astronauts and current events among other things. As a cartoonist/artist Clement draws heavily on the diverse influences that have shaped his work, from MAD magazine and National Lampoon to Philip Guston and Joseph Cornell.

The title, Dark Energy, refers to a hypothetical force that permeates the universe. In the context of this show, it refers to the materiality of the India ink used in the drawings, to the frenetic period of energy that produced the drawings and to the permeable and wide ranging nature of the subjects that inform the drawings.

Learn more about Gary Clement’s work during a Question & Answer Session moderated by Peter Kuitenbrouwer of the National Post at loop on Saturday March 5th at 3pm.

Thelma Rosner at loop

2011-02-27T09:16:00.000-05:00

Dictionary by Thelma Rosner c2011

Concern about national and religious conflict in the Middle East has been the subject of much of Thelma Rosner's recent artistic practice. In her exploration of these issues, she has considered Jewish-Muslim relations in both historical and contemporary contexts, from the magnificent culture of Andalusia to the conflicting narratives of today's Israel-Palestine. In the latter situation, the achievement of equality and dignity for both peoples should remain a realistic hope.

This ideal is the focus of Rosner's work. The doubling of images or words to indicate connection and equivalence is her underlying structural strategy.

In the book work Dictionary, a Hebrew-Arabic Arabic-Hebrew ‘dictionary’ takes the form of an accordion book. On each page, a simple object is represented by a visual image, and by identifying words in Hebrew and Arabic. Each image begins as a painting from which two archival digital prints are made. In each pair of prints, the text placement is switched and the image mirrored. The dictionary images or 'entries' are chosen for their resonance to both Israelis and Palestinians. Like literary metaphors, the images are open to interpretation.

Installation shot by Gary Clement

Thelma Rosner studied painting at the University of Western Ontario, where Paterson Ewen was her teacher and mentor. She has exhibited her work in Canada, the USA and England. She has received grants from the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, and Banff Centre for the Arts. For the last decade, her production has focused on Muslim-Jewish issues, most recently on the Israel-Palestine situation.

Photos from Gary Clement's Show of Dark Energy at Loop Gallery

2011-02-24T06:55:00.001-05:00

Gary Clement

Installation Shot Dark Energy by Gary Clement

Opening Reception Gary Clement

Opening Reception Dark Energy by Gary Clement

Photo credits: All photos provided courtesy of Gary Clement.

Gary Clement's show "Dark Energy" made the National Post's list of Top 5 Things to Do in Toronto last weekend. If you couldn't fit it onto your list, the show continues through to March 6, 2011.

Loop Gallery is located at 1273 Dundas West (at Dovercourt) in Toronto.

Gary Clement and Thelma Rosner at Loop

2011-02-19T07:35:00.000-05:00


Moon Base Alpha by Gary Clement 2011

Even before the opening of Gary Clement's and Thelma Rosner's shows at loop Gallery today, their work has attracted reviewer's attention.

The Globe & Mail newspaper's reviewer R.M. Vaughan says "Clement's madcap, itchy drawings about 'dark matter' and Rosner's liturgy-and-politics-informed paintings about the Israel-Palestine conflict appear to be an odd match - but both artists are seeking manageable answers to impossible questions." (Globe and Mail, The Exhibitionist by R.M. Vaughan, Saturday, February 19, 2011, Globe Arts page R14)

The National Post featured an interview of Clement about cartoons and creativity in yesterday's paper. Written by the Post's Barry Hertz, the interview reveals that Clement "did maybe 400 drawings initially, then got it down to 150 for the second cut, and from that edited it down to 42. They all had to be ink on paper or ink and collage on paper." The full text can be read here.

Join Gary Clement and Thelma Rosner at loop Gallery this afternoon from 2-5 pm to celebrate their opening.

loop Gallery is located at 1273 Dundas Street West at Dovercourt.

Upcoming Show at loop: Gary Clement and Thelma Rosner

2011-02-16T17:54:00.000-05:00

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Gary Clement entitled Dark Energy, and Thelma Rosner entitled Dictionary.

Concern about national and religious conflict in the Middle East has been the subject of much of Thelma Rosner's recent artistic practice. In her exploration of these issues, she has considered Jewish-Muslim relations in both historical and contemporary contexts, from the magnificent culture of Andalusia to the conflicting narratives of today's Israel-Palestine. In the latter situation, the achievement of equality and dignity for both peoples should remain a realistic hope. This ideal is the focus of Rosner's work. The doubling of images or words to indicate connection and equivalence is her underlying structural strategy.

Thelma Rosner studied painting at the University of Western Ontario, where Paterson Ewen was her teacher and mentor. Her mixed media installations generally refer to concrete social concerns. For the last decade, her production has focused on Muslim-Jewish issues, most recently on the Israel-Palestine situation.

The ink drawings in Dark Energy reflect Gary Clement’s lifelong interest in history, cosmology, archaeology, sitcoms, bodily functions, music, poetry astronauts and current events among other things. As a cartoonist/artist Clement draws heavily on the diverse influences that have shaped his work, from MAD magazine and National Lampoon to Philip Guston and Joseph Cornell.

The title, Dark Energy, refers to a hypothetical force that permeates the universe. In the context of this show, it refers to the materiality of the India ink used in the drawings, to the frenetic period of energy that produced the drawings and to the permeable and wide ranging nature of the subjects that inform the drawings.

Gary Clement is the political cartoonist for the National Post. His cartoons have appeared in the New York Times Week In Review, The Guardian and TIME. As a freelance illustrator, his work has appeared in publications around the world. He is also a children’s writer/illustrator whose many awards include the 1999 Governor General’s Award for Illustration for his book “The Great Poochini”. This is his 7th show at Loop. He is represented in Toronto by Loop Gallery and by Parts Gallery.

Please join the artists in celebrating their opening receptions on Saturday, February 19 from 2-5 pm.

Learn more about Gary Clement’s work during a Question & Answer Session at loop on Saturday March 5th at 3pm. Moderated by Peter Kuitenbrouwer/National Post.

Last Chance to see Ingrid Mida and JJ Lee's Exhibition at Loop Gallery

2011-02-09T17:38:00.002-05:00

Ere we shall meet again
by Ingrid Mida 2011

There are four days left to see the work of Ingrid Mida and JJ Lee at Loop Gallery. The gallery will be open on Thursday, February 10 to Saturday, February 12th from noon to 5 pm. The show will close on Sunday, February 13th at 4 pm following a 3 pm reading of The White Tortoise of Ch'u by author Fabian Boutilier and artist JJ Lee.

Author Fabian Boutilier and Artist JJ Lee
Photo by Ester Pugliese, 2011

Both artists were interviewed for Art Sync TV. As well, Ingrid Mida's series All is Vanity was reviewed by DF Krouskie for the loop blog and JJ Lee's work was mentioned by RM Vaughan in his Globe & Mail gallery feature. And Ingrid recently was honoured with an invitation to speak about her work at the American Costume Society conference in the fall.

Interview with Author Fabian Boutilier

2011-02-04T07:48:00.002-05:00

Author Fabian Boutilier and Artist JJ Lee

Fabian Boutilier is the author of the mystical children's story The White Tortoise of Ch'u. He approached artist JJ Lee about creating the illustrations for the story which are currently on exhibit at loop Gallery.

Ingrid: What motivated you to write a children's story?
Fabian: To be honest, I don't really think of the Ch'u story as a children's story. When I wrote it, certainly, I didn't sit down with the intention of writing a children's story. I had been reading the Chinese philosophers at the time - Confucius, Lao Tzu, Mencius and, of course, Chuang Tzu. It was an anecdote I had read in Chuang Tzu concerning a sacred tortoise that prompted me to write "The White Tortoise of Ch'u". If, at the time, you had asked me what I was writing, I would have said simply a story. If you pressed me, I might have said a folktale. It never would have occurred to me to say I was writing a children's story. I did, however, read the story once to a gathering of friends that included writers, artists, academics and several of their children. The youngest of the children was about 7, I think, and the oldest 11 or thereabouts. I was surprised at their enthusiastic response to the story. That, I suppose, was when it first occurred to me that the story might find a young audience. I understand that, ever since the Brothers Grimm, the link between the folktale and children has become stronger so that, today, to say "folktale" or "fable" is, for many, to say "children's story". Still, I resist the idea that this is a children's story. A fable, sure; a folktale, yes: but not a children's story. The story wants readers; the story doesn't care how old or young those readers might be.

Ingrid: Can you give a brief description of the story of The Tortoise of Ch'u.
Fabian: "The White Tortoise of Ch'u" is the story of a sacred tortoise that is kept in the imperial palace by the King of Ch'u. Highly prized for his white shell and his skill at divination, the tortoise is kept on a silk cushion and eats oysters off a bronze shovel. Despite the comfort - indeed, luxury - of his situation, the tortoise is not happy. No one knows of the tortoise's unhappiness - does anyone even care? - until, one day, a musician arrives at court and plays a song called "Wagging My Tale in the Mud". A conversation between the tortoise and the musician ensues, the musician learns of the tortoise's plight and - well, I'll stop there since I wouldn't want to give the story's ending away.

Ingrid: Is this your first children's story?
Fabian: I've long admired the folktale and the fable as a literary form. This is neither my first nor my only story of this kind. JJ and I have already talked about our next project.

Ingrid: Your brief bio on the press release mentions that you are an author and a playwright. What other type of work have you had published or performed?
Fabian: For a brief time, in the 80s, I was associated with the Theatre Centre. I wrote, produced and directed my own work. It was all very experimental (or so we thought), very avant garde, very black box. I haven't written for the theatre in many years. I miss my theatre days. My one claim to fame is that I was one of the founders of the annual Rhubarb festival. I also claim to have been the one who named the festival, however, there are some who would dispute this. I wrote, among others, the plays "Gina Lolabrigida" and "Ah But It Sings But It Sings Luvena" which was published in Rhubarb-O-Rama. To give you an idea of the sort of plays these were, pages of the Luvena play were transposed in the published version and it hardly makes any difference at all. Since leaving the theatre, I have continued to write but no longer write plays. I write short, short stories or what, today, are commonly called metafictions and stories like the Ch'u story. I have a collection of metafictions, titled "The Ovation", and a collection of folktales titled "A Sack of Tears & Other Tales".

Ingrid: You describe yourself as a dilettante. Do tell more!!
Fabian: What more is there to tell? I'm a dabbler by nature. I've lived my whole life in a kind of desultory way relying on occasional enthusiams rather than a single purpose to pass the time. This is what makes me a dilettante. I would change it if I could, and I am trying, but it's probably too late now.

Ingrid: When did you first encounter JJ Lee's work?
Fabian: I happened upon Carte Blanche, quite by chance, one day in my local library. At the time, I was searching, albeit casually, for an illustrator; not for Ch'u but for another story. I had been thinking about starting to publish some of my stories. I had the idea of finding my own illustrators to collaborate with rather than following the usual path which is to find a publisher who would then find an illustrator. I felt - somewhat arrogantly, I admit - that I was the person best suited to finding the right illustrator for my stories. Anyway, I was leafing through Carte Blanche when I chanced to see JJ's work. This was the first I had ever seen or heard of JJ Lee. I was struck by the sheer beauty of her work, by its orientalism, its melancholy and other qualities besides. It occurred to me that JJ's style would suit perfectly The White Tortoise of Ch'u although, as I have said, the Ch'u story wasn't first on my mind at the time.

Ingrid: What made you decide to ask her to illustrate your story?
Fabian: It was a quick decision. When I closed Carte Blanche that day at the library, I had already decided to ask. I scribbled her name on a piece of paper. I went home. I googled "JJ Lee". I contacted her. In hindsight, it all seems somewhat serendipitous now. It was my good fortune to have contacted JJ at a time when she had begun herself to think about illustrating books. We traded a few e-mails, we met, and here we are. The qualities to be found in her work that I have already mentioned above were among the reasons that prompted me to approach JJ with the project in the first place. But also, and perhaps most importantly, I could see that JJ would bring the sophistication of a fine artist to the task of illustrating the story which is what I wanted.

Ingrid: What's next for you besides becoming the despotic ruler of a small island on the west coast?
Fabian: More of the same. I have abandoned my despot plan - well, maybe not abandoned but postponed - in order to start a publishing company that will specialize in publishing books like The White Tortoise of Ch'u that are collaborations between writers and artists. I'll begin by self-publishing some of my own stories. I have a number of projects in the works as I am typing this. Eventually and before too long, if all goes as planned, I'll begin publishing other stories by other writers and artists.

Author Fabian Boutilier and artist JJ Lee will be at the gallery on Sunday, February 6 and Sunday, February 13, 2011. Fabian will read the story The White Tortoise of Ch'u at 3 pm.

Loop Gallery is located at 1273 Dundas Street West in Toronto. Gallery hours this weekend are Friday and Saturday 1-5 pm and Sunday 1-4 pm.

Review of Ingrid Mida's All is Vanity by DF Krouskie

2011-02-02T11:33:00.003-05:00

Among the myriad of associations elicited by Ingrid Mida's series All is Vanity was Joan Didion's book 'The Year of Magical Thinking' (written by Didion following the death of her husband and daughter). Ingrid's images are a true interpretation of the magical thinking we all experience following the loss of someone dear to us. The images resonate and to me, are universal. And for this reason, Ingrid's exhibition stayed with me long after I left the gallery. While aesthetically beautiful, this work demands, deserves and rewards a careful observation.

All is Vanity is comprised of a series of black and white photo-compositions that depict a narrative about how one experiences and endures grief and then must find a way to rebuild one's life after tragic loss. The images are powerful, using motion as well as black and white contrast as a metaphor for overwhelming emotion. Initially, there is no joy but the series cycles through grief to find peace and acceptance.

The artist has used period costumes from the opera and the setting of Versailles to allude to the measure of tragedy. All appears solid, luxuriant and everlasting on the surface, but the surface we see is deceptive. The figure of a woman thrashes through the woods, resting against trees for support, swirling in anguish, sometimes with the head cropped at the neck, all the while dressed in an exquisite gown. The suffering, misery and distress are evident in every image despite the beauty of the gown, the place or the woman.

It is important to note that the artist is the model, the woman in the photo. How does the woman/artist conquer her suffering? The inference is that she has done so, with inner strength, through her art.

The content of the images is powerful and all raw emotion. Yet the composition and production values of the images are all about control and the deliberate choices of an artist in command of her concept and her technique.

I have watched, with interest, the development, content and execution of Ms. Mida's work. This is an honest break from her earlier oeuvre. Yet she has employed her previous interests, ideas and motifs in an entirely new and very compelling format.

With this series, Ms. Mida demonstrates that she is in command of her subject and medium. Her photography speaks to time and the question of what is real, what is illusion and what is lost.

By DF Krouskie

All is Vanity by Ingrid Mida
Now showing at loop Gallery
1273 Dundas Street West, Toronto
until February 13, 2011

Q&A with Ingrid Mida

2011-01-31T08:55:00.002-05:00

Ingrid Mida and Lyla Rye

On Saturday afternoon, Lyla Rye moderated the Question and Answer session for loop member Ingrid Mida. Ingrid began the conversation with a brief overview of her series All is Vanity, describing the narrative and sequence of her photographs presenting the journey of grief.

Some of the questions Lyla asked Ingrid during their conversation included the following:

What does All is Vanity mean?
Vanitus Vanitum, or All is Vanity, is a biblical warning against pursuing earthly accomplishments and pleasures in the face of certain death. While other artists have typically used the still life genre of painting to portray this in their work, I used it to inspire this series of photographic works to portray the journey of grief.

How does Versailles fit into the series?
My interests in the 18th century drew me to reference Versailles because it represents a place of opulence, extravagance and vanity. It is beautiful but it also is a place where very sad events occurred.

Why did you use yourself as a model?
Lyla, you were the one who encouraged me to be more personal with my work and this is about as personal as it gets. I initially approached this as an experiment and wasn't really sure whether it would work out. And I have to admit I was pretty apprehensive about being in the photos and how people (including my family) would react to that. In most of the images, I blurred my face or am looking away. I also should give credit to Cindy Sherman's work. I read an interview with her in the London Times in which she said that her photos were self portraits but not about her. I feel that way about these works.

Why did you chose this dress?
I acquired four dresses from Opera Atelier during their costume sale in the spring. I wasn't really sure how I would use them but thought that they might become an interesting part of an art installation. This dress was the most opulent and extravagant and best fit the theme of this series.

Why are the images black and white even though they are digital images?
I wanted the photos to have a haunting and mystical quality. Making them black and white helped achieve that I think. The black and white presentation makes it less about the dress and more about the mood.

What aspect of fashion are you inspired by?
I am interested in how clothes can embody memory and identity. In particular, clothes give clues about a person's identity and self image even if they are not aware of it. (To hear more about this topic, watch the clip filmed at the q&a here.)

Do you see this work taking any other form like a book?
The response to this series has made me wonder if the photographs could be turned into a book. People who have seen the work have mentioned that the journey of grief is so rarely presented in art work and I feel that it is an important message that I am conveying here. Someone said it was like seeing the book "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion as an artwork.

Since this work is about grief and mourning, if you had to dedicate it to one person, who would it be?
I've grieved the loss of my father, my brother Peter, my sister-in-law Carrie, my father-in-law and friends including Brian, Joe, and Diana. If I had to dedicate this work to one person, it would be my brother Peter Masak, who died in a glider accident in 2004. It was the phone call that I received about his plane going down that I think of when I look at the image "Oft Shall Death and Sorrow Reign". It was a phone call I never expected to get given that my brother was a talented pilot. My life changed in that instant and while it was not the first loss I had experienced, it was the most shocking and unexpected loss. And since it was my brother Peter who taught me about working in the darkroom, coming back to photography with this series is deeply meaningful for me.

To watch the Artsync tv interview that was filmed during Ingrid's opening reception, click the link here or http://www.artsync.ca/opening-ingrid-mida/

Ingrid Mida's exhibition All is Vanity continues at loop Gallery through to Sunday, February 13, 2011.