The Art Dealers Association of Canada Inc. (ADAC) is a national not-for-profit
organization founded in 1966. ADAC is the only National Association of art dealers representing artists throughout Canada. ADAC maintains
a high standard of connoisseurship and adherence to ethical practice within the profession. Dealers are selected for their knowledge and
scholarship in their respective fields of expertise.
The ADAC mandate includes stimulating the art market in Canada, and encouraging the awareness of the visual arts both nationally and
abroad.
Preview of Show: Thursday, May 7, 2015
Opening reception: Saturday, May 9, 2015: 2 -5 PM
Show continues through to May 20, 2015
WABI SABI/DARK MATTERS
According to chaos theory, general trends in the universe can be predicted by observation. However specific events cannot be predicted because they rely on an infinite number of unknown variables along the way. How very much like painting.
The dilemma: how to get from here (the chaos and excitement of the un-manifested vision) to there (the specific finished painting).
How to create a painting from a ‘chaos theory’ kind of process: a process that sometimes seems to thwart its own directions, that refuses to be predictable, that requires foresight to exploit unexpected accidents, that requires an occasional outrageous gesture to keep a piece vital……….but that also requires the courage to sacrifice small gems to the unity of the whole. Yet somehow, against the odds, a painting must feel inevitable and somehow finished in its final form.
THESE NEW WORKS
The ‘chaos’ struggles described above are certainly inherent in these new paintings. They are inspired by the spirit of the Wabi Sabi aesthetic/philosophy, an off-shoot of Buddhist thought. Wabi Sabi maintains three basic tenets: nothing is finished, nothing lasts, nothing is perfect.
Alex Cameron studied at the New School of Art under Graham Coughtry, Gordon Rayner, Dennis Burton and Robert Markle. His involvement in the arts community was further solidified through positions working as Jack Bush’s studio assistant, a preparator at the Art Gallery of Ontario, at the David Mirvish Gallery, and by maintaining an ongoing close relationship with Clement Greenberg.
Cameron has been exhibiting since 1971, and was included in the important and prestigious group shows: ‘Four Toronto Painters’ at the Art Gallery of Ontario, 1976, and ‘14 Canadians’ at the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, 1977. In 1985, he was the subject of a major exhibition at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa: ‘Alex Cameron In Mid-Career’, a retrospective of the first 13 years of his career. He has been widely reviewed in such publications as The Globe and Mail, Arts Canada Magazine, D’Art International, The Toronto Star, Toronto Life, Art Post, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald and The ARTnews. Cameron’s painting career was also recently surveyed in Roald Nasgaard’s ‘Abstract Painting in Canada’.
Alex Cameron’s current artwork displays the virtuosity of an artist in his prime as he continues to create new bold, colourful landscapes that have developed from his abstract practice.
Stephen Hutchings’ work is based in drawing, an interest he has had since childhood. Hutchings’ academic background includes studies in biology, literature and fine art, graduating with a degree in Art History. On a technical level, his paintings combine 19th Century photographic techniques with charcoal drawing directly on the canvas. Colour is applied through the application of layers of oil glazes, or tints; each canvas may receive up to ten such layers. The final result is a presentation of the unique refinement and energetic qualities that only a drawing can provide.
"After the Storm", artist statement
Once the dark clouds have moved off, once the wind has settled down and the rain has subsided, perhaps a patch of blue appears in the sky. Perhaps a soft yellow light infuses the air and swirls of colour enliven the depths of the shadows. After the storm, the world is charged with an expectant energy: a kind of frisson that hovers between hope and relief. The paintings in this show address this moment С when the ravages of a furious energy have waned and a suffusing, gentle light seeps into our world._Stephen Hutchings
With so much talk in Toronto about subways, Stephen Bulger Gallery offers a photographic perspective on the subject.
Through the use of historical and contemporary photographs, we celebrate the ingenuity and culture of subways. Since the late 19th Century, cities have turned to tunnelling to transport their ever growing mass. Efficient, claustrophobic, worn down and constantly updated, for many city dwellers subways are a necessary part of their daily lives. Transporting oneself underground seems both otherworldly and commonplace; it is a place where solitude is often felt strongly.
This exhibition features work by unknown photographers hired to document the building of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co. in New York. Their work is surrounded by photographs taken by a number of known photographers. This theme of construction is complimented by Vid Ingelevics’ photograph made in the Toronto Transit Commission’s Museum Station proudly showing its yellow ceramic tiles that are so familiar to Torontonians. These tiles were replaced with a station re-modification that more obviously echoed its proximity to the Royal Ontario Museum.
Adam Magyar’s steely large scale portraits of New York subway cars from his series “Stainless” are represented, and during the exhibition in our cinema space called CAMERA, we will screen one of his “Stainless” video works. These renowned videos use a high-speed quality control camera used in mass production for capturing fast-moving objects and put it into a human context to speak about our urban world and people living in an urban life.
Bruce Davidson’s haunting colour environmental portraits made in 1980 and published as SUBWAY (St. Ann’s Press, 2003), have been released as an edition of Dye Transfer prints. A selection of Davidson’s famed portraits are shown opposite a suite of Michael Wolf’s celebrated portraits of commuters called “Tokyo Compression”, part of his mammoth project called “Life In Cities”.
A set of film stills from The Warriors, directed by Walter Hill and released in 1979 are displayed across the gallery from a salon of vignettes covering more than 100 years of scenes seen underground while riding the subway. This salon wall includes work by unknown photographers, as well as photographs by Dave Heath, André Kertész, William Klein, Luis Mallo, Jamel Shabazz, Kazuo Sumida, Alexey Titarenko and George S. Zimbel.
Image Credit: Fun, Fun, Montreal Metro, 1987 © George S. Zimbel / Courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery
LINDA NARDELLI & DIANA ZASADNY
Inner Landscapes
Preview of Show: Thursday, April 16, 2015
Opening reception: Saturday, April 18, 2015 : 2 -5 PM
Show continues through to April 30, 2015
Artist Statement:
Linda Nardelli and Diana Zasadny are artists that paint what they feel. They bring to life in abstract and impressionism the sensory element of what they behold in their surroundings—exploring landscape, the sea, and the spirit of trees. Both Artists’ works have a compelling nature that invoke a deep sense of peace, beauty and refinement, as they merge personal experience with visual integrity. These artists create visual stories depicting the incredible sensitivity that nature emits, provoking in the viewer a deepening experience of their own visual senses.
On Saturday, February 21st, Mira Godard Gallery is pleased to open an exhibition of new paintings by PETER HARRIS. Artist present.
"My recent paintings focus on the defining elements of a contemporary urban landscape that surround us all as city dwellers. I've chosen to paint these ubiquitous subjects at night, using the darkness like a stage curtain, creating spaces that highlight my subjects with almost reverential illumination while isolating them from the background. The objects of the urban landscape, the restaurants, gas stations, municipal buildings, streetcars, buses and parking lots that take centre stage in my paintings form a distilled and concentrated version of urbanity. The world I paint is cleaned up and pared down, a small oasis of solitude and order to contrast the realities of daily life in the city."
Peter Harris
PETER HARRIS attended the University of Waterloo, graduating with a B.A. in painting in 1997. He has exhibited in both Canada and the United States and has received several awards including an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, an Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Grant and a Waterloo Region Arts Fund project grant. Harris' work is found in numerous private and corporate collections throughout North America and Europe including Colart Collection, Montreal; KLSAL, Erfurt, Germany and OPSEU, Toronto.
PETER HARRIS lives and works in Toronto.
To arrange an interview with the artist, or for more information, please contact the gallery at (416)-964-8197, via email: godard@godardgallery.com, or visit: www.godardgallery.com.
Bobbie Burgers is an internationally recognized artist, well known for her large scale paintings possessing strong, assured brush work and a keen contemporary sense of colour. Her work possesses a lusciousness; smooth yet wild textures and colours command the viewers attention and portray her subjects as fleeting moments in time. Believing that the tragedy of beauty is its inevitability to fade, Burgers’ work delves into complex and evolving ideas surrounding life and the contradictions that exist within it.
According to art critic Dorota Kozinska: "Her subject matter never feels excised from nature, but rather breathed in and exhaled as art. Unstructured, bold, her textured paintings reveal layers of emotions, with brushstrokes gliding across a canvas like a caress, exposing dimensions of color and tone that subvert the nature of the flower, transforming it into a painterly landscape of abstract proportions. Expressionistic, unencumbered, her large acrylic paintings belong to a contemporary school of art, and within it, to Bobbie Burgers alone."
The Group of Seven unarguably holds the most far reaching reputation of all Canadian painters. Focusing on depicting the Canadian landscape from 1920 to 1933, the group originally consisted of Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris (1885–1970), A. Y. Jackson (1882–1972), Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Lismer (1885–1969), J. E. H. MacDonald (1873–1932), and Frederick Varley (1881–1969). In 1926 A. J. Casson (1898–1992) was invited to join. He was later followed by Edwin Holgate (1892–1977) and LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956). During the month of January, we will be showcasing works by A.Y. Jackson, Frederick Varley, AJ Casson and Frank Johnston, alongside a number of lesser known, but equally important Canadian painters of the 20th Century.
Printmaking is a highly varied form of art making. As with painting, each artist has a unique hand and each brings sensitivity to their chosen medium. Brigid Toole Grant's wood cuts have a compelling sincerity. Subjects are depicted with a strong and direct economy of line. Fred Ross' bold choice of colour, smooth yet defined lines, and confident creation of an image regardless of the medium underlie the mastery of one of New Brunswick's finest artists. Ann Manuel's work, whether in painting, drawing, or printmaking shows the artist's interest in the culture of her communities. Her monotypes, lift drawings, etchings, and block prints all explore the lines of our lives as much as the lines on the surface of the medium. Bruno Bobak experimented with many varied forms of printmaking throughout his career. His work has been collected by many museums and galleries, including the National Gallery of Canada. Charlotte Jones' Japanese wood block technique uses colour in a delicate way. The pigment seems to float on the surface of the paper, almost shimmering with an ethereal glow. In Christine Koch's linocuts we feel the cold of the remote locations she visits on her excursions with groups of geologists. These make one want to curl up with a good cup of cocoa and contemplate the great vastness of our world. Francis Wishart's monotypes are a testament to his medium, his materials, the location where the work is created, and a sense of peace that transports the viewer to a moment in time. His work can be found in national collections in New York, London, and Paris. David Silverberg's engravings are delicate and intriguing. Look closely and the lines of his birds transform into women, his sensual sense of the feminine is bold and lusty. Réjean Roy is well known for his oil paintings but this truly diverse artist also illustrates and created dry point etchings in a style that is unique and recognisable. Newfoundland artist Lori Doody, takes the medium of etching and distills it into an
amusing comment about the fun of being a girl.
Preview of Show: Thursday, March 5, 2014
Opening reception: Saturday, March 7, 2015: 2 -5 PM
Presentation by Katherine Ylitalo at 2PM
Show continues through to March 18, 2015
Kenneth Lochhead: Colour Spaces is an exuberant reflection of Lochhead's life-long love affair with colour. Colour saturates the large abstract canvases of the 1960s, and dances across the landscapes of later years. Representation and abstraction were, for him, simply different aspects of the artist's vocabulary. Plastic form, with its elements of colour, light, line, and space, was the essence of coherent visual expression.
From 1950, when he was appointed Director of Regina College's art school, to his death in 2006, Lochhead participated in over 300 national and international exhibitions and received over 18 major Canadian and international art commissions.
He was honoured with the Order of Canada in 1971, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Regina in 2001, and the Governor-General's Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2006. Through painting he found his own expression for love, joy, and the celebration of life.
