Great Books about Artists

Although I know a lot of artists who never express a moment's doubt about their work, I find it comforting to know that some of the great artists endured moments (sometimes years) of self-doubt. That list includes photographers Lillian Bassman and Brian Duffy who threw away or burned large portions of their archives of negatives, painter Georgia O'Keefe who destroyed almost all her early paintings, and many others who went on to achieve great success. A few of my favourite artist biographies include:

 

Installation Shots: Sandra Smirle

Documented by Brian Burnett.

Like/Unlike and other circular decisions continues Smirle’s exploration of randomly selected locations, translated from aerial maps into large-scale cut drawings.

As we settle into a digitally networked world of unrestrained surveillance, allegiances are cast and recast with spontaneity and abandon. Just as we effortlessly ‘like’ and ‘unlike’ in social media, so too can the information come too fast for us to make decisions about the real or figurative direction of our lives.

Here the viewer is confronted by two maps: one like, and the other unlike, wherever it is — or was. Or perhaps they are one and the same place: a Rorschach ink blot, a kaleidoscope view of origin, destination and sentiment projected in shadow play. Maybe that’s where it’s going anyway, again, however the vote is cast.

Translated as ones and zeros, decision-making becomes easy — accessible and artless. Movements are instantaneous, if not without consequences.

The show continues until April 10, 2011 at Loop Gallery.

Installation Shots: Ester Pugliese

The mixed media paintings in Ester Pugliese's Empirical Spaces exhibition at loop Gallery use Italian architecture to draw connections between seeing and hearing. The works identify spaces, environments and living things that bring acoustic qualities to mind, against a cacophony-like backdrop of colours and forms. Each work posits formal Roman architecture against the arched porches of Toronto homes as viewed on Google street view. The show is as much a playful look at Italian culture and identity, as it is a reflection on how we synthesize and extract colours, sounds and ideas from the stuff we observe.














Documented by Brian Burnett.

Q&A with Ingrid Mida

Ingrid Mida and Lyla Rye

On Saturday afternoon, Lyla Rye moderated the Question and Answer session for loop member Ingrid Mida. Ingrid began the conversation with a brief overview of her series All is Vanity, describing the narrative and sequence of her photographs presenting the journey of grief.

Some of the questions Lyla asked Ingrid during their conversation included the following:

What does All is Vanity mean?
Vanitus Vanitum, or All is Vanity,  is a biblical warning against pursuing earthly accomplishments and pleasures in the face of certain death. While other artists have typically used the still life genre of painting to portray this in their work, I used it to inspire this series of photographic works to portray the journey of grief.

How does Versailles fit into the series?
My interests in the 18th century drew me to reference Versailles because it represents a place of opulence, extravagance and vanity. It is beautiful but it also is a place where very sad events occurred.

Why did you use yourself as a model?
Lyla, you were the one who encouraged me to be more personal with my work and this is about as personal as it gets. I initially approached this as an experiment and wasn't really sure whether it would work out. And I have to admit I was pretty apprehensive about being in the photos and how people (including my family) would react to that. In most of the images, I blurred my face or am looking away. I also should give credit to Cindy Sherman's work. I read an interview with her in the London Times in which she said that her photos were self portraits but not about her. I feel that way about these works.

Why did you chose this dress?
I acquired four dresses from Opera Atelier during their costume sale in the spring. I wasn't really sure how I would use them but thought that they might become an interesting part of an art installation. This dress was the most opulent and extravagant and best fit the theme of this series.

Why are the images black and white even though they are digital images?
I wanted the photos to have a haunting and mystical quality. Making them black and white helped achieve that I think. The black and white presentation makes it less about the dress and more about the mood. 

What aspect of fashion are you inspired by?
I am interested in how clothes can embody memory and identity. In particular, clothes give clues about a person's identity and self image even if they are not aware of it. (To hear more about this topic, watch the clip filmed at the q&a here.)

Do you see this work taking any other form like a book?
The response to this series has made me wonder if the photographs could be turned into a book. People who have seen the work have mentioned that the journey of grief is so rarely presented in art work and I feel that it is an important message that I am conveying here. Someone said it was like seeing the book "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion as an artwork. 

Since this work is about grief and mourning, if you had to dedicate it to one person, who would it be?
I've grieved the loss of my father, my brother Peter, my sister-in-law Carrie, my father-in-law and friends including Brian, Joe, and Diana. If I had to dedicate this work to one person, it would be my brother Peter Masak, who died in a glider accident in 2004. It was the phone call that I received about his plane going down that I think of when I look at the image "Oft Shall Death and Sorrow Reign". It was a phone call I never expected to get given that my brother was a talented pilot. My life changed in that instant and while it was not the first loss I had experienced, it was the most shocking and unexpected loss. And since it was my brother Peter who taught me about working in the darkroom, coming back to photography with this series is deeply meaningful for me. 

To watch the Artsync tv interview that was filmed during Ingrid's opening reception, click the link here or http://www.artsync.ca/opening-ingrid-mida/

Ingrid Mida's exhibition All is Vanity continues at loop Gallery through to Sunday, February 13, 2011.

A Conversation with Yvonne Singer

Yvonne Singer's exhibition Gone Missing is currently showing at Loop Gallery. In our conversation, I attempted to define the essence of her current exhibit as well as find a little bit about her life as an artist.

Ingrid: What is it about neon that appeals to you?

Yvonne: I am attracted to the ephemereal nature of neon...it is there but not there. Like the video component of 'gone missing', the work is dependant on electrical currents and needs to be turned on to be activated.I also like the tension between the public/private aspect of neon text. It is familiar to us as signage and when displaced from its usual function, it has expressive powers, visually and conceptually.

Ingrid: Are there any special challenges to working with neon? 

Yvonne: Yes. Neon is neon gas in glass tubing and therefore fragile. It requires someone who is a higly skilled fabricator with special expertise in working with neon. I am fortunate to work with Orest Tatryn, who is an artist himself and understands the medium of neon as well as the artistic process. The other challenge with neon is the installation since it requires wires,electrodes, transformers which become part of the visual information that needs to be considered when neon is installed.

Ingrid: Clearly text is an important component of your work. How do you get to the essence of the message in order to create it in neon? 

Yvonne: Using text is like writing a play script and often the text I use is conversational and colloquial so I will speak the words either silently to myself or out loud or both.. Sometimes I will solicit other opinions. In the case of 'gone missing'. I wanted the sentences to suggest a narrative that was provocative; with specific details and yet open to interpretation. An important element with text is the viewer's complicity; in other words, the viewer takes on the text when they read it..it becomes theirs... they are saying it and internalizing it as they read it and hear it internally.

Ingrid: Can you explain your intention behind the juxtaposition of the video piece with the painting (which looks like a painting of Venice perhaps)?

Yvonne: The video is a quickly flashing, fast-paced sequence of images from my recent trip to Paris, Venice, Berlin, London. It was my art tour. The painting juxtaposes old and new ways of recording travel experiences. The 18th-19th century style painting of Venice references the kind of art tour people used to do and the way in which travelers recorded their experiences. I am contrasting the handmade with the digital; the public with the private again. There is no judgement here. I am simply presenting what is and suggesting that something is always lost or missing with our experience of  both old and new technologies and with the experience of travel and being a tourist. 

By way of background, in 1630 Venice experienced an unusually devastating outbreak of the plague. As a votive offering for the city's deliverance from the pestilence, the Republic of Venice vowed to build and dedicate a church to Our Lady of Health (or of Deliverance, Italian: Salute). The church was designed in the then fashionable Palladian style by Baldassare Longhena, a pupil of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio, and construction began in 1631. Most of the objects of art housed in the church bear references to the Black Death.    The dome of the Salute was an important addition to the Venice skyline and soon became emblematic of the city, inspiring artists like Canaletto, J. M. W. Turner, John Singer Sargent and Francesco Guardi.

Ingrid: What is on the video?

Yvonne: The photos on the video are a chronological record of my trip to Paris for the Pompidou, Venice for the bieannle, Berlin for Holocaust monuments, London to the Frieze art fair and the Tate Modern. These are examples of only some of the sites on the video. They are presented as a rapidly flashing slide show. I used the camera as an extension of my looking. 

Ingrid: What do you want the viewer to feel when they see this work? 

Yvonne: The rapidly flashing images are hynotic and the rhythmic pulsing of the images hold the viewer's attention. For many, the images of the iconic city sites and museums are familiar. I want viewers to experience hectic pace of travel with the accompanying overload of information that occurs when we tour multilpe cities and I hope that it references their own memories of travel and resonates for them.

Ingrid: What drives you to succeed/create? 
Yvonne: It's about a way of seeing and thinking about the world around me...and maybe it is also just a habit of producing art but I get ideas which need to be realized in  material form. I get an idea for a work; feel it is stupid and embarassing but it niggles at me until I decide it is time to make the work...then I worry about how much it will cost and is it worth the expense but I go ahead anyway...this is the cycle that keep repeating before each installation. Of course, the excitement of installing the work in the gallery and watching my idea coming together as it is realized visually is addictive and also keeps me producing.

Ingrid: What artist living or dead would you most like to have a conversation with?  What question would you ask them? 
Yvonne: Louise Bourgeois..but she has already revealed so much in her work and writings. I would ask her about juggling family and the demands of a high profile career


Ingrid: Is there an artwork/artist that makes you really angry?
Yvonne: Marcel Duchamp, Etant donnés


Ingrid: Which are the most common words you use to describe (1) work you like and (2) work you dislike?
Yvonne: I can't say....there are works I like initially then forget them and there are works I dislike but stay with me...liking and disliking works of art is not static for me but changes...there are always works that continue to interest me and others that don't but emotions of like and dislike are quick impressions can change.

Ingrid: Who is your best critic? 
Yvonne: I am my own harshest critic.

Ingrid: What colours are you drawn to? 
Yvonne: black and grey


Ingrid: If you were not an artist, what would you do? 
Yvonne: Go crazy.

Ingrid: You feel happiest when? 
Yvonne: My domestic life and work life are in balance.

Ingrid: Do you have any regrets?
Yvonne: That I didn't go to art school in England in the 70s and that I didn't begin studying art when I was growing up.

Ingrid: How would you like to be remembered? 
Yvonne: I would like to be remembered as an artist and educator whose work and ideas influenced people.

Ingrid: How do you indulge yourself?
Yvonne: By cooking and going to interesting restaurants.

Ingrid: Fill in the blank - I wish I could.....
Yvonne: Live forever.

Ingrid: What book are you currently reading?
Yvonne: I just finished The Book of Negoes, a novel by Lawrence Hill( compelling fiction) and Enemies of the People by Kati Marton (memoir of her family).

Ingrid: What's next for you? 
Yvonne: Next is another neon work for the convenience gallery in Toronto in December 2010 and the end of my sabbatical.

Yvonne Singer's exhibition continues until Sunday, May 16th. Please join Yvonne this Saturday, May 8th at 3 pm for a Question and Answer session facilitated by William Huffman. 

A Conversation with Jane LowBeer

Jane LowBeer at Opening Reception at Loop Gallery

 
I wasn't able to make it to the opening reception at LOOP Gallery for Jane LowBeer's show Light on Little Things and will defer a proper artist profile until I've seen her show. But in the meantime, we began a conversation about art.

Ingrid:  What artist living or dead would you most like to have a conversation with?
Jane:  I think I would like to go all the way back and have a talk with Giotto. His work has such feeling and is so innovative that I imagine he would not mind talking to a woman.

Ingrid: What question would you ask him?
Jane: I would ask him this. One of the things that so moves me in your work Giotto, is the juxtaposition of the human form with architectural structures. There is nothing extraneous in your work. Can you tell me what you are thinking about --or your process in creating these powerful compositions.

Ingrid: Is there and artwork that makes you really angry?
Jane: Damien Hirst's skull and Jeff Koons giant teddy bears are a couple of pieces that come to mind.

Ingrid: What are the most common words you use to describe (1) work you like and (2) work you dislike?
Jane: Work I like gets described in terms of a visual vocabulary or ground, form and colour. I am attracted to all sorts of work, especially drawings or curious paintings... playful/serious stuff. Work I dislike is work driven by concept.

Ingrid: Who is your best critic?
Jane: Myself. I ask myself if I could live with this piece.

Ingrid: What frame of mind do you have to be in to produce art?
 Jane: Ideally, I am feeling a sense of play.

Ingrid: What colour do you most frequently use?
Jane: Recently, the I am mostly using the different colours that come together to make black.

Ingrid: What book are you currently reading?
Jane: I am just finished the novel "Olive Kitteridge" and also a book about Thai yoga.

Ingrid: If you were not an artist, what would you do?
Jane: I am also a yoga therapist. I always wanted to practice art therapy but somehow I ended up working with the body. The mind/body/emotion connection is completely fascinating.

Ingrid: What is your earliest memory as an artist?
Jane: My earliest memory would be trying to paint waves in grade 5. I also recall making Barbie clothes and furniture out of bits and pieces and thinking the absolute rags I made looked great - it was the effort of making them that was memorable.

To see more of Jane's work, please visit LOOP Gallery at 1273 Dundas Street West in Toronto. Her show will run until February 21st. You can also visit her website here.

Artist Profile: Heather Carey

Heather Carey's paintings at Loop Gallery light up the gray winter days like bursts of warm sunshine. Infused with rich bright colour, she plays with our perception by inserting abstract forms into spaces devoid of people. I was particularly drawn to a pair of lush paintings from a fruit orchard as they seemed to wash away the gray days of winter from my psyche.

Ingrid:  What is your earliest memory as an artist?
Heather:  My earliest memory of making art is probably a pretty typical one. As a four or five year old, my favourite thing to do was take out my giant box of crayons and draw.

Ingrid:  What do you enjoy most about painting?
Heather: I enjoy the process (building up, taking away, correcting), the restrictions and freedoms which allow for focused invention and experimentation with different languages of marks, use of the painting space, sizes, colour!

Ingrid: Your work uses very high key colours. How do you chose your palette?
Heather: I'm not interested in realism so even when using a photographic source I am more interested in how the colours on the canvas work with each other. Sometimes I am looking to emphasize certain marks as being artificial or superficial to the image in the painting. In recent work, colours have been selected more as part of a method layering with different mediums, not necessarily knowing how the end product will turn out.

Ingrid:  How do you approach a painting? Do you begin with a photographic reference?
Heather: I often begin with a photographic reference, either for drawing purposes or as inspiration for a more abstract representation. I am not interested in being faithful to the photo, but it's often a useful place to start.

Ingrid: Your spaces have a mystical reverence to them. Is this deliberate? How do you chose which spaces to paint?
Heather: I try to chose spaces which are open, easy to modify and add to, which play well with light. Many of my spaces are chosen because of their lack of human presence and their anonymity which makes them more accessible for the viewer and less personal to me. This perhaps means that more viewers can make connections with the spaces.

Ingrid:  The addition of the abstract forms over top adds an unlikely morphism and an almost humourous waulity to your paintings. Is this deliberate? How do you know where to make these marks?
Heather: Yes, it is deliberate. The marks are attempting to be a part of the image displayed and do not quite succeed the way it might be expected. They are both separate and connected to the space. I see the images (spaces) depicted on the canvas as a sort of metaphor for the canvas itself and the marks as possibilities within or on top of the space. Because of the way perception works the viewer can complete the image and imagine the marks to be figures within the work. They are playful little invaders. I place them almost intuitively where they seem to fit best within the particular space I am putting them.

Ingrid: What is it about perception that interests you?
Heather: The way the brain is trained to experience the world around us - being able to tell where the edges of objects are, how to navigate around them, what they are used for - based on what we have learned in life. These learned cues can be played with through art to create an experience which is familiar - but not entirely...

Ingrid: You mentioned that you have applied to begin an MFA degree. What do you hope to gain from this experience?
Heather: I am interested in learning, teaching, networking. Basically becoming more aware of what kinds of things are being made and who is making them. I am interested in working closely with other artists, sharing ideas and opinions. I hope to come out of the program feeling more like an artist and less like a student. I have a habit of producing whatever is on my mind, wanting to experiment, and my practice can be a bit all over the place. Not that I want to stop experimenting, but I would like to create a more guided cohesive body of work.

Ingrid: What is your next series?
Heather: I'm looking to extend the ideas of combined spaces and imitation to include more illusions within illusions, doing a series involving bathroom tile patterns.

The exhibition of Heather Carey's work Approaching Mimesis at Loop Gallery will be on display until Sunday, January 24 at 5 pm. If you cannot make it to the show, check out her work on her website here.