Gilray at the AGO

Going through some old magazines of mine, ( I do this all the time, however the studio is still chock a block with stuff, lets just call paper ephemera) I came across this old issue of the Tate Gallery magazine. In days of old, it would be enough for me to hold onto it as it was 1994, prior to the Tate Modern, akin to pre corporate buy out if you will, but space is limited at the studio these days so I had to go through it to see if it was really worth keeping.

This tate magazine of summer 1994, has a grouping of work under the heading of the body imagery examining the way the body was depicted at this time and what that says about the society.

Check out this beauty:

In this essay was some of the Tate's collection of Gilray prints and others of the era. Yes, the AGO is having a show right now of Goya and Gilray, but I was unsatisfied with both masters at the gallery. Goya, how the hell can you be unsatisfied by Goya?

Well, the gallery has chosen to put up a copy of the Los Caprichos that is hand tinted by a collector...really? As a kid I collected comics and hockey cards, colouring them in made them worth nothing, I fail to see how these prints are exempt from a simple rule every 8 year old knows. What the hell is this? An art gallery or Ted turner in the 80s?

Gilray's work on display is good, a strong showing of his immense talents, but he was a man who served the best aspects of his satire when it was as close to the bone as possible.

Just look at this:

Now that is what I call, not pulling a punch! In the AGO show you see some imagery where he criticizes the revolution in France, on their new found freedoms and their new found lack of basic necessities...But this image, clearly spells out it's views on how the British and much of Europe saw the French Revolution and the following reign of terror.

The way he portrays his countrymen, he is not too enamoured with them either, clearly. We also get to understand how the people at that time feared the uncertainty a revolution brings about, and how through the news of the day, genteel Paris seemed to be at end.

So don't get me wrong, it is still worth it to stop in at the AGO, you will find the coloured Goya prints jarring if you have studied them but there is draftsmanship in spades, and a real strong valid criticism of the world the artist lived in. To me, the raw imagery of Gilray really communicates this on a personal level.

I'm not some major proponent of magazines either, but here I go just loving another magazine, and storing it above the fridge in a cupboard at the studio instead of recycling the damn thing, sigh.

Yes, this magazine really was 1994, just look at the advert on the back

Ian McLean in PechaKucha at the Glenhyrst

Loop member Ian McLean participates in a lively panel talk this Thursday in conjunction with "The Promise of Painting" exhibit at the Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant in Brantford.

PechaKucha (Japanese for "the sound of conversation") was conceived in 2003 in Tokyo as a venue for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. Now it is held in over 100 cities around the world. Join the Glenhyrst for the first in an ongoing series of PechaKucha Nights in Brantford and learn about the creative process with 7 artists in 7 minutes each. Meet new people and join the worldwide conversation! Joining McLean are Shelley Niro, Aliki Mikulich, Christina Zanella, Robert Achtemichuk, Dave Hind, and Jack Jackowetz.

Thursday, February 23 @ 7:30

This is a FREE event and light refreshments will be served.

Glenhyrst Art Gallery, Main Gallery

20 Ava Rd. Brantford, Ontario (519)756 5932

Photos from the Opening for Libby Hague and Maria Gabankova

Photos by Patricia Njovu 2012

Hop, Skip + Jump : Lorène Bourgeois

HOP

 

Lorène Bourgeois, Stay 2008, conté and charcoal on paper. 112 x 77 cm.
http://www.loopgallery.ca/loop/l.Bourgeois.html
www.lorenebourgeois.com

SKIP

 ARTS   | December 23, 2011
Art Review:  Getting Personal
By KEN JOHNSON
"The Renaissance Portrait From Donatello to Bellini" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows how subjects flaunted their connections. 

and                      JUMP

http://www.comune.verona.it/Castelvecchio/cvsito/english/scarpa.htm       
 

"Carlo Scarpa (Venice 1906 - Sendai, Japan 1978) is recognised as one of the most important architects of the twentieth century. His artistic formation took place above all in Venice, where he was part of a circle of artists and intellectuals associated with the Venice Biennale and the Fine Arts Academy (Accademia di Belle Arti) from which he was awarded a diploma as professor of architectural drawing in 1926.
From 1933 to 1947 Scarpa was the artistic consultant to Venini, the great Venetian glass manufacturer. Scarpa’s highly inventive use of traditional Murano techniques resulted in some of the most original glass works in the history of design. It was in this environment that Scarpa’s attraction to the orient, and the decorative and applied arts began, with particular attention in an initial period to the Viennese Secessionists (Hoffmann, Loos, Wagner) followed by a life-long interest in the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright."
 

( When Scarpa redesigned the  Castelvecchio Museum he did it with its collection in mind. Drawn to this fourteenth century sculpture by the Master of Sant'Anastasia circle, Scarpa turned the figure around and initially withheld the face. The viewer approaches from the back, seeing the double braid and the curves of the hemline hemline first. )  

 

Maria Gabankova and Libby Hague at Loop Gallery

Top: Maria Gabankova           Bottom: Libby Hague

 Loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Maria Gabankova entitled Memento Mori, and Libby Hague entitled Gravity Drawings: More light/ less darkness.

In her 2012 exhibition at loop Gallery, Maria Gabankova presents a suite of drawings / paintings that contrast lush marks of oil sticks and oil paint on mylar with stark visualisations of Memento Mori. These images offer a reflection that can be used to put one's life in a larger perspective, that of immortality.
Images of female figures oscillate between sorrow and hope, life and death, in silence or in a scream. Their inner enigma and tensions compel a gleam of hope, a light to disperse the darkness. The foot of a smiling female sculpture stands victoriously on a human skull - subjugating death.

Maria Gabankova lives and works in Toronto, where she also teaches figure drawing, painting and portraiture at the Ontario College of Art and Design University. In addition to being a founding member of the loop Gallery, Gabankova has also been invited to sit on juries, panel discussions, conferences, and work in film and theatre. Her work is represented in private and corporate collections in Canada, the United States, South Korea and Europe. (www.paintinggallery.ca)

To show the development and migration of ideas, Libby Hague’s exhibition shifts between the model of a curated show and a studio visit. By cross-referencing work with its generative sources, it tracks the excitement of parameter shifts, sharing the logic behind the hybrids. Demystifying the process says “This is how I think" and "This is what I thought".

Libby Hague is a Toronto-based artist and graduate of the fine art program at Concordia University in Montreal. She will show in the IPCNY exhibit as it travels to the University of Texas, Austin in January. Her recent solo exhibitions include Sympathetic Connections at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2011; We were young and still believed in heaven, Galerie Circuaire, Montreal, 2010; tiens-moi très fort, La Centrale, Montreal, 2010; and being natural at the Durham Art Gallery, 2010.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, February 4th from 2-5 pm. Learn more about Maria Gabankova’s and Libby Hague’s work during a Question & Answer Session at loop on Sunday February 12th, 2PM.