Last Chance to See Heather Carey and Ian McLean at Loop

Ian McLean

Heather Carey

This is the last weekend to see Ian McLean and Heather Carey's exhibitions of paintings at Loop Gallery. Globe & Mail art critic R.M. Vaughan mentions them in today's Visual Arts Review Other Venues and says "Last chance to see Carey & McLean's separate but blended sets of paintings. Carey mixes abstract forms with architectural details - bttresses and blobs. McLean recreates mid-century luxury homes but paints them as if they've been dunked in acid. Clearly home is where the (broken) heart is."

The gallery is open today, Saturday August 13 from noon to 5 pm and tomorrow Sunday from 1-4 pm.

Installation Shots Heather Carey and Ian McLean at loop Gallery

Ian McLean (right) with Friends

Heather Carey

The exhibition of works by Heather Carey and Ian McLean will continue at loop Gallery until Sunday, August 14.

Photo credits: Ian McLean

Heather Carey at loop

Arbutus by Heather Carey

Heather Carey exhibition of paintings called Plastic Geometry opened at loop on July 23, 2011.

Heather Carey’s work deals with perception, both the psychological and the physiological sides of it. Carey explores the visual and imaginative possibilities of painting, considering the history of painting and the different languages of mark-making included in this history. She is most interested in the experiential side of visual arts, and how this experience can be influenced by our living and interacting within man-made environments. Her work examines space, constructions of reality, and choices involved in navigating through our everyday spaces.

Alleys by Heather Carey

Plastic Geometry features new paintings which present a way of seeing the world which is both calculated and malleable. Pictorial space assembles itself in an understandable way, and then collapses in on itself or deflates. The experience of these pieces relates to how we interpret images in the world on a day to day basis, how the brain functions both instinctively and through making choices about new information that has been given. Carey engages viewers in a challenging visual experience where the work remains the same but perceptions change for the viewer- confusing, revealing, changing, and resting.
 
Heather Carey was born in Guelph, Ontario.  She is currently a Master in Fine Arts candidate at the University of Victoria. Carey completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph in 2009. This is her second show at loop.  To see more of Heather's work, visit her website here.

The show continues at loop until Sunday, August, 14, 2011.

Heather Carey and Ian McLean at loop Gallery

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Heather Carey entitled Plastic Geometry, and Ian McLean entitled Recreational Use.

Heather Carey, Wharf St, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches, 2010

Heather Carey’s Plastic Geometry features new paintings which present a way of seeing the world which is both calculated and malleable. Pictorial space assembles itself in an understandable way, and then collapses in on itself or deflates. The experience of these pieces relates to how we interpret images in the world on a day to day basis, how the brain functions both instinctively and through making choices about new information that has been given. Carey engages viewers in a challenging visual experience where the work remains the same but perceptions change for the viewer- confusing, revealing, changing, and resting.

Heather Carey was born in Guelph, Ontario.  She is currently a Master in Fine Arts candidate at the University of Victoria. Carey completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph in 2009. This is her second show at loop Gallery.

Ian McLean, Parts Per Volume, oil on canvas, 54 x 72 inches, 2011

Ian McLean’s Recreational Use includes images of residential environments that depict living rooms, backyards, swimming pools, hot tubs, and muscle cars.  McLean is inspired by discrepancies between setting and mood and the use of ornamentation as distraction. Efforts to keep elements of dissolution or entropy at bay are evident in these settings.  The success of such efforts is challenged. There is an emphasis on surface quality as well as a play with colour that is at once hallucinogenic, anxious, impulsive, and seductive.

Ian McLean was born in Sarnia, Ontario and studied at the University of Guelph. He lives in Bright’s Grove on the shores of Lake Huron with his wife and daughter and is represented in Toronto by Gallery Moos and loop Gallery.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, July 23rd from 2-5 pm. The show runs until August 14, 2011.

Question and Answer Session with Heather Carey and Larry Eisenstein

LOOP Gallery member Audrea DiJulio will be moderating a Question and Answer session with Heather Carey and Larry Eisenstein on Saturday, January 23, 2010 at 3 pm.

This is the last weekend to see the vibrant juxtaposition of Heather Carey's colorful paintings in Approaching Mimesis and Larry Eisenstein's energized and mystical drawings in Phoslogica.

LOOP Gallery is located at 1273 Dundas Street West.

Gallery Hours this weekend are:

Friday/Saturday 1 to 5 pm

Sunday 1 to 4 pm

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.

Heather Carey and Larry Eisenstein at Loop Gallery

Loop Gallery invites you to join Heather Carey and Larry Eisenstein for their opening reception on Saturday, January 9, 2010 from 2-5 pm. The exhibition of their work will run until Sunday, January 24, 2010.

Heather Carey's exhibition of paintings Approaching Mimesis explores perception and how the mind completes or interprets images based on the knowledge we have. Spaces empty of human presence are given character by the brightly coloured abstract marks placed on top which appear to float in front and create an illusion of space. In this series, Heather demonstrates what is possible in painting by the re-invention of images.

 

In his exhibition of drawings entitled Phoslogica, Larry Eisenstein explores the New Biology's concepts of human unconscious processes, morphogenetic fields and morphonic resonances. This work is part of a series called Cellves and seeks to answer the questions: Are the laws of nature merely habits? And can art influence these habits?

Loop Gallery 
1273 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario
416-516-2581
email: loopgallery@primus.ca