Charles Hackbarth at loop Gallery

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.