Hello, All!
We've certainly taken the leap from shivering to sweltering in rapid time here in Toronto. It's been great to see everyone happily emerging from their winter hideaways to enjoy the glorious summer weather in the city.
May has been a photographically jam-packed month with the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival and various other exhibitions opening in the GTA. I hope you were all able to catch a few of the shows and events.
Today, I'd like to share some of the highlights from my recent gallery hopping in case you missed out. I'm also including the closing dates of the shows that are remaining open into June so you have the chance to see the works in person.
I wish you some very happy hopping!
1. Liza II, 2017. Tina Berning & Michelangelo Di Battista. Scratches, Staples and Ink on Ditone Print. 52”x39.5”.
2. Face Project II, 2017. Tina Berning & Michelangelo Di Battista. Archival Pigment Print. 48.25”x41.25”.
CONTACT 2018: Confluence II is a collaboration between fashion photographer Michelangelo Di Battista and illustration artist Tina Berning merging photography, illustration, painting and collage which highlights the multi-faceted nature of female beauty. It will be running until June 9th.
ADAM SWICA
Ivory to Titian Reflex 2018
archival inkjet print
edition of 3
54 x 36 inches
Adam Swica’s series, Ellipsis, examines the durability of the photographic gesture, or capture. Swica plays with movement and duration in multiple and time exposures to create these light sculptures. Runs until June 2.
Sam Cotter, Scrims, 2017, cyanotype on cotton rag paper, 16.75x21.5 inches
Sam Cotter's Day for Night examines the temporal and spacial substitutions that occur during a film shoot. The exhibition's title comes from the cinematic techniques used to simulate a night scene while shooting in the day. Running until June 2nd.
Nicola Woods, from series The Trees Amongst Us, acetate mounted on metal leaf.
The Trees Amongst Us is a series of photographs, printed on acetate and mounted on metal leaf, depicting the street trees throughout the seasons. The work was inspired by LEAF’s (Local Enhancement & Appreciation of Forests) Adopt-a-Street-Tree project.
Allan Gardens Conservatory
Sofia Mesa, selection of works from Guardian, 2017, digital print on semi-opaque vinyl.
Sofia Mesa's project, Guardians, stems from her engagement with grassroots initiatives to support the the downtown east-end, low-income, and street community. These ethereal photographic images celebrate the site as a vital meeting place for diverse groups of people, and commemorate individuals from the community.
Fig. 1 Scott Benesiinaabandan, newlandia: debaabaminaagwad, Rock no. 1, 2018.
Fig. 2 Scott Benesiinaabandan, newlandia: debaabaminaagwad, Rock no. 2, 2018.
With newlandia: debaabaminaagwad, Scott Benesiinaabandan explores the historical complexities that are often buried under the metaphorical weight of monuments that commemorate colonial stories. Egerton Ryerson Statue is located at Gould St and Bond St. and Lake Devo is at Gould St and Victoria St. You can visit this public installation until August 5th.
1. Shelley Niro, Time Travels Through Us, 1999, Gelatin silver print, cotton and beaded mat.
2. Shot of Shelley Niro's exhibition
3. Shelley Niro, image from Ghosts, Girls Grandmas, 2004-2007, Digital chromogenic print.
This exhibition celebrates the career of artist Shelley Niro, winner of the 2017 Scotiabank Photography Award. With more than seventy objects, this retrospective includes both seminal projects and never-before-shown photographs, along with some of the artist’s most recent works. It will be running until August 5th.
1. ERIN MCGEAN CINDRIC, 9 to 5, analogue collage and digital photography.
2. (l) ERIN MCGEAN CINDRIC, Working Girl Working, analogue collage and digital photography.
(r) ERIN MCGEAN CINDRIC, Girls School, analogue collage and digital photography.
‘WOMEN AT WORK’ celebrates women, and their contributions to the health, welfare and economy of their communities and the world at large.
1. Bill Jones, Waking Dream, 2017, film still.
2. Overview of Waking Dream exhibition.
With Waking Dream, Bill Jones traces the first hundred years of photography, from its invention until the early 20th century. It will be running until June 8th.
1. Christine Flynn, costa rica palms, photograph with mixed media & resin.
2. Christine Flynn, venice, photograph with mixed media & resin (unique).
Christine Flynn's exhibition, Surf, spans many years of travel and multiple international destinations. Her collection of surf images are altered with paint and various objects to create unique works of art.
1. Detail from Lee Henderson's To Step From Shadow Into the Warmth of the Sun.
2. Overview of Lee Henderson's To Step From Shadow Into the Warmth of the Sun.
Lee Henderson's To Step From Shadow Into the Warmth of the Sun uses Iceland's landscape as it's obvious subject matter, but introduces a deeper meaning and complexity through the use of various strategies and the nature of photography as a medium. It runs until June 2.
1. (l) Annette Seip, City Days, 2017, archival pigment print on aluminum dibond.
(r) Annette Seip, City Nights, 2017, archival pigment print on aluminum dibond.
2. Jan Swinburne, Marks of Sin, 2018, digital pigment print on translucent mylar.
3. GENOVA, Taken, 2017, vinyl print on PVC.
4. Brenda Spielmann, Beauty, 2017, archival pigment print.
5. Brad Necyk, Just a Hard Rain #11, 2017, archival pigment print on aluminum dibond.
Workman Arts presents MINDSET 2018 : EXPOSURE. Artists respond to the theme of exposure in varied ways. This show will run until June 2.
1. & 2. Esther Shalev-Gerz, The Gold Room (details), 2016, natural pigments on archival paper.
The Gold Room combines images and video of Shalev-Gerz's interviews of museum conservators and historians and of the museological artifacts they interpret all while exploring the experience of art. This show is on until June 3.
1. Daniele Dennis, Try a Little Tenderness, 2015, video performance.
2. Talia Shipman, I Loved Everything About You, Except Almost Everything, 2015-2018, photographs with resin on wood board.
3. Ambera Wellmann, Mystax, 2017, digital print on vinyl. The Eyes Feel Strangely, 2017, video.
4. (l) Mariam Magsi, Jahez / Dowry 5 (Wooden rolling pin to make roti, black and silver embroidered man's kurta, black hijab veil), 2018, print on Fuji luster paper, matte finish.
(r) Mariam Magsi, Jahez / Dowry 2 (Steel cooking pot, embroidered black and yellow chador veil), 2018, print on Fuji luster paper, matte finish.
5. Zhu Tian, Scan, 2014, screen prints on vinyl.
6. Sanaz Mazinani, Shah Cheragh, Shiraz, Iran, 16thc., 2012, archival pigment print.
The exhibition, seeping upwards, rupturing the surface (images 1-3, 5 and 6), addresses the concept of 'sad girl theory' that's emerged from what has been termed the fourth-wave feminism. It proposes that the visible display of sadness by girls and women is an act of resistance.
In Jahez | Dowry (image 4), Mariam Magsi depicts inherited objects that have migrated with her from Pakistan to Canada to construct performative photographs. Jahez is the Urdu word for paraphernalia or goods that accompany a bride to her new, marital home.
Both shows are running until June 17th.
Art Gallery of York University
1. Barbara Wagner, photograph from series MASTERS OF CEREMONY, 2016.
2. Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, SET TO GO, 2015. Film still.
Barbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca look at how performative forms of colonial cultural resistance. Through photographs and film, they celebrate—and reframe—vernacular cultural forms as they have manifested through time. The show will run until June 24th.