explorations in toronto art.

On Friday I went to the openings of the new exhibitions at LE Gallery, “The Roving Iconist” by Bogdan Luca and “Sheltered” by Megan McCabe. Both young painters working mainly in oils, whom I’ve written about before and whose work seems to keep popping up around town, never cease to impress me. Given style and subject matter, they are an odd pairing, but it is mastery over the materials (a common theme at LE, and quickly becoming the surest way to my art-heart) that unites their oeuvres. Luca’s large-scale paintings had a certain news-photo-montage look, with helmeted figures building, labouring, and plotting away. The strict blue and magenta colour palette that Luca uses adds a separation of time, putting me in mind of tinted or monochromatic historical images. The lightness of his washes and bright drips sweeping down the canvases seems sinister, though. A sense of strategy pervades the exhibition and the figures seem caught in the cycles of creation and destruction.

McCabe’s oil paintings are a little more idyllic, mainly images of leisure or wandering in natural settings. Similar to her exhibition last summer (also at LE), the paintings held a nostalgic perspective, but this time the figures’ frolicking was tempered even more by a deep, dark colour palette and a certain distance afforded by the loose, active brushwork. One painting in particular, Waterfall, seemed like McCabe setting off in a new direction. The lines were more aggressive, the impasto thicker, and the situation more ambiguous.

To dismiss them as simply straight representations of upper-middle-class Canadian leisure activities would be missing the point. Most of the works featured a structure of some type or other—hence the title “Sheltered.” These ranged from the futuristic-looking domes of modern tents clustered together, to a crude lean-to made of sticks, the type often constructed and forgotten by kids at play. The human urge to build even the simplest hut, as a marker of civilization, conquest, or comfort, is an idea that underpins the exhibition, and reminds me how easy it can be to feel at home in the wilderness with just a tent, a backpack, and a few necessities. Good timing, since I am finally heading to the woods this weekend.

The two galleries I’ve visited most recently to write profiles on, are not far away from each other physically, but they couldn’t be more different in spirit. While one is a low-or-no-budget experimental gallery housed in its co-creators’ dwelling, the other is a big, polished, gallery-slash-event-space with a catering partner.

The former, Butcher Gallery, has been around for a few years and recently moved from Queen East to Dundas and Lansdowne. The latter, Neubacher Shor Contemporary, is brand new, but one of its namesakes used to run another eponymous gallery at Yonge and Bloor in the mid-2000s. Both are interesting spaces that offer completely different experiences. Read my profiles on BlogTO, or better yet, visit them.

Some small changes are going on for me, with regards to the writing I do here. I recently started a part-time job that I’m loving, but with my new schedule writing weekly gallery profiles has presented a major balancing challenge. I’ve negotiated a less stringent schedule with my editors at BlogTO, which I’m really grateful for.

Hopefully at some point soon I’ll get back to posting more reviews on current exhibitions. There’s been a few things I really wanted to share and write about, but either never got around to, or abandoned drafts because the exhibition had ended.

It’ll continue to be a bit quiet around here while I sort out personal stuff (including celebrating my birthday! and moving to a new apartment! and going on a short holiday! eee!) but expect lots more updates by the time CONTACT rolls around…

Not exactly from the same trip as the last profile, but certainly in the same neighbourhood: my profile on Christopher Cutts Gallery is up on BlogTO today. Read it here!

My first visit a week ago was sort of bad timing, so I ended up speaking to Christopher himself on the phone a few days later. I hope I get to meet him in person; he was really friendly, and genuinely interested in sharing his story with me. One of my favourite things about writing these pieces as regularly as I do, is that it keeps me on top of going to the galleries I want to go to. The other favourite thing is that I usually get to meet the gallerists, who are by and large a very gregarious and welcoming bunch. Which makes for good conversations, leads to interesting stories, and ultimately makes my task a little bit easier.

My profile of Meredith Keith Gallery is up today on BlogTO. Check it out here.

This place was of particular interest partly because I’m often in the Dundas West area and have been getting to know it more, and also because I had always wondered what happened to Landymore Keith Contemporary Art. Formerly at 800 Dundas West, I happened to be working at a café right next door just when the gallery was closing its doors.

At Meredith Keith’s new space, there is an opening tonight: the new show is an exhibition called “Forest” by Tania Love. It looks pretty charming and I hope I can make it. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are a bit crazy in terms of the amount of exhibitions all opening up at the same time.. makes me wish it was bike season so I could make it to each one!