trans/FORM @ MOCCA

Georgia Dickie’s “Smoking Gun Sculpture I” (2012)

This summer the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is set to host, trans/FORM– an exhibition featuring Toronto based artists, curated by the gallery’s director, David Liss.

trans/FORM showcases a variety of work by eight local artists, who, despite their disparate media preferences, do share a bond through a common materialist perspective. In this sense, trans/FORM upholds a “New Aesthetic” mandate in that, as the show’s title suggests, these artists aim to primarily stress the material and physical processes that are involved in making visual art. While trans/FORM’s main point of issue is centered firmly on the materiality of the highlighted work, and not it’s narrative or conceptual meanings, each of the show’s artists employ starkly different mediums and thematic sources, some of which hone in on, most obviously, materiality, but also physicality, scale and presence.

Georgia Dickie’s “None Genuine without This” (2012) sets the tone for trans/FORM. Not only is this work the first displayed installation upon entering the gallery doors, but, the piece also manages to literally evoke the artist’s material process and fabrication techniques in that the work is entirely comprised of objects that inhabit Dickie’s studio.

Headlines @ Communication Art Gallery

Deep Breath

There are only a few days left to catch Annie Terrazzo’s, Headlines, at Harbord’s Communication Art Gallery.  The exhibition highlights just one facet of what Terrazzo herself has labeled, trash portraiture, that is, “art created with found objects from around the world”. Headlines consists of 12 pieces, comprised of various international newspaper headings and articles, which are cut out and put back together in definitive pattern sets. This painstaking process is then heightened in that all the cut outs, which take up the entire background of every canvas, aim to help represent the specific headline Terrazzo has gathered for each piece.  These assemblages are then painted over with black, heavy outlining and a splashy surrealistic colour palette in order to further emphasize the work’s focal slogan.  One example of this artistic method can be seen in Terrazzo’s “Deep Breath,” which illustrates a moody side silhouette of a young woman whose pulmonary system is painted over the newsprint, in vibrant brushy strokes. Terrazzo manages to balance her mixture of media in that her output both equally emphasizes a beautiful painting technique as well as the more mechanical aspect of newspaper assemblage. In this way Annie’s work does not allow it’s audience to shy away from the meta-textual components of her process as well as the layers of sub-meaning within each piece.

Headlines runs until July 1

Stella Melchiori

PICASSO Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris @ the AGO

The AGO’s latest summer blockbuster, “PICASSO Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris,” absolutely lives up to the hype.  The eagerly awaited exhibition takes on the colossal task of mapping out the prolific career of painter and sculptor, Pablo Picasso. In so doing this AGO retrospective exemplifies Pablo Picasso’s extraordinary imagination as the show not only tracks the evolution of the artist’s legion of styles, but also, the motifs that encapsulated each period of Picasso’s 70 year career.

La Celestina (1904)

Right off the bat, I was struck by “PICASSO Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris” as the gallery’s lead-in corridor is not at all typical. The entryway is painted bright red, adorned with pictures of various stages of the artist’s life (some of the most notable photographs are of Picasso in his famous Montrouge studio) and beautifully complimented by a loop of flamenco music bursting through the gallery speakers. The exhibition’s main space is then broken up into 8 large rooms, each representing a unique approach within Picasso’s creative pursuits. These individual rooms are organized chronologically and cover every seminal phase of the modern master’s diverse career.  The sub-headings of these rooms include: the artist’s initial move to Paris, his fixation with African art, the advent of Cubism, Classicism and Surrealism, the artist’s involvement in politically activated painting, and finally, his last years of life.

Gallery Openings for the Week of March 26.

Sharon Switzer (Corkin)

Here is a list of some of the new shows on display in Toronto this week.

“4 Artists, 4 Perspectives” is on at Art Square Gallery from March 27-April 8.

Corkin Gallery is showing “Nearly Present,” a new set of video animations by Sharon Switzer. From March 24-April 24.

At Diaz Contemporary, Chris Kline examines the ‘architecture of painting’ while Manon de Pauw uses video to explore the relationship between performance and presence. From March 22-April 21.

Review: Fiona Crangle at KWT Contemporary.

Fiona Crangle, "Agatha" (KWT)

KWT Contemporary is currently showing the first solo exhibit of Canadian artist Fiona Crangle, entitled, Be Prepared. Her varnished canvases are a time-warping fusion of Baroque portrait with contemporary adolescent subject. The occasional nose ring is visible on the glowing faces of her female figures, proudly posing in saintly garb and displaying the symbols of their legendary exploits. Indeed, these teenagers are representing martyred saints of the Roman Catholic Church, who resisted arranged marriages and paid the ultimate price: their lives.

Gallery Openings for the Week of March 5.

Matt Behan, "In the Quiet of the Dark"

Here is a list of some of the new shows on display in Toronto this week.

The Le Gallery is showing some new paintings by Matt Bahen of barren landscapes, destroyed interiors and roving dogs. The show runs from March 2-31.

Loop Gallery is hosting the works of Yael Brotman and Tara Cooper. From March 3-25.

Olga Korper is currently showing the sculptures of Marianne Lovink until March 28.

Review: Daniel Hutchinson at the Angell Gallery.

Hutchinson, "Untitled" (Angell)

The Angell Gallery is displaying the work of Daniel Hutchinson in his first Toronto based solo exhibition, Half-Light Over the Baltic Sea. Hutchinson’s near monochrome oil paintings were derived from his recent residency on the island of Gotland, Sweden. The works evoke seascapes with a sun just below the horizon; the ever shifting light and cool temperature of the approaching night.

Gallery Openings for the Week of February 27.

Fiona Crangle

Here is a list of some of the new shows on display in Toronto this week.

The Angell Gallery is showing works by three eclectic artists. Daniel Hutchinson, Josh Schwebel and Renée Duval are all on display from February 23-March 24.

Centre Space is showing Adad Hannah‘s new works exploring his fascination with Rodin. From February 24-March 31.

The Department is hosting a group show, “Leap Year: Woman King Collective,” from February 27-March 10.

Review: Bobby Mathieson at Neubacher Shor Contemporary.

Tattlerose (Bobby Mathiseon)

The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was one of the more infamous failures in the legion of mythologized events of the late 1960s. A terribly organized mess rife with violence, death, the Hell’s Angels and lots of property damage, it became the raw material for the concert film, “Gimme Shelter.” This dark blotch on the naivety (or stupidity) of hippiedom is now being commemorated by painter Bobby Mathieson in his solo show at Neubacher Shor Contemporary.

Review: Judith Snow at the ROM.

Judith Snow

The Royal Ontario Museum’s current exhibition, Who’s Drawing the Lines: The Journey of Judith Snow, is a small, yet necessary, tribute to an exceptional visual artist, author and leader on issues of inclusiveness. The show honours Oshawa born artist Judith Snow, who was diagnosed with paraplegia at the age of seven months. It caused the complete paralysis of the lower half of her body.