Opening on Nuit Blanche! Kelly Cade and Sheryl Dudley at Loop Gallery

September 29th – October 21st, 2012
Reception: Saturday, September 29th, 7–10 PM

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Kelly Cade entitled My My, There There, and Sheryl Dudley, Skirting Damocles. 

My My, There There echoes our relationship with the worlds we inhabit – the natural phenomenal world and the manufactured world we create. As the world bends, fragments, pixelates, becoming more and more a place where we are drawn away from ourselves, Cade looks to the natural world and its resilience and readiness to push its way through, to regenerate, rebalance and calmly assert itself in the midst of all we’re creating. This work is an interpretation of that assertion, an optimistic take on the intertwining of these disparate worlds.

Cade is a Toronto based artist and graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design who has exhibited in both solo and group shows. Her work can be found in private and public collections throughout Canada, the United States and the U.K.

Skirting Damocles presents a suite of oil paintings on aluminum that position majestic ice giants within the technology for tracking and charting the arctic waters for safer passage. Revisiting images taken during an arctic expedition more than 5 years ago, Dudley paints isolated glacial masses onto discarded circuit board sheets, transforming the weathered metal into a dynamic surface that is at once a field and a void. The oil paintings are shown alongside a collection of intimate watercolours which cast an ironic gaze on arctic tourism.

Dudley’s paintings and photographs have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States and Canada. Her work can be found in many private collections on both sides of the border.

Images: Kelly Cade, My My, There There, mixed media, 2012; Sheryl Dudley, Skirting Damocles, oil on aluminum, 2012. 

              

Q&A + Canadian Art Gallery Hop Tour on Saturday, September 22

loop Gallery is delighted to announce that we have been included on the Canadian Art 2012 Gallery Hop's tour of Dundas West galleries alongside Art Metropole, Cooper Cole, Jessica Brandley Inc, LE Gallery, and MKG 127. 

Join us on the weekend of Saturday, September 22 for the last remaining days of our two current exhibitions and a Q&A panel for Plus 2 by Linda Heffernan and False Fractions and Relations by Ester Pugliese. The Q&A will be from 3PM, followed by the Gallery Hop at 4:05PM. 

In the meantime, here are some pictures from the shows' opening reception. If the photos appear too small, click to enlarge! 

Linda Heffernan and friend

Ester Pugliese speaks to visitors

Photos by Patricia Njovu

out of the loop (for a while): Scotland View

At the recent Edinburgh Art Festival, I took a tour with Anthony Schrag who was commissioned as Tourist in Residence for the Festival. His series of participatory tours invited participants to engage with the city in different ways. This particular tour was called A Guide to Being a Tourist in Edinburgh.
One part of the tour involved walking along Princes Street Garden, a very busy area of Edinburgh, very SLOWLY, then STOPPING suddenly for no apparent reason, then POINTING to something. It also included going to the top of the Scott Monument, then stepping out blindfolded, at the top, to have the view described. Later, we were able to look at the view, through a mirror.

Another section of his tour involved a 4 and a half minute tour of the Talbot Rice Gallery. We walked through exhibits of contemporary work and the historical collection glancing briefly at the artworks while Anthony gave us an animated and fast audio tour. It was brilliant and hilarious while considering how, as tourists, we strive to see it all, do it all. 

While living in Edinburgh for the year, I have been 'doing' galleries and the city, but have also been going on hiking excursions out of the city with a walking group. My latest walk was a Munro in the Trossachs area. (A Munro is a mountain in Scotland with a height over 3,000 feet. There are people known as 'Munro baggers' whose aim is to climb all the Munros; there are 282 Munros in Scotland, and 227 further subsidiary tops.) 

One of the things I love about the Scottish landscape is the sheep dotting the hills. They seem to eat incessantly. I like their watchful presence. They remind me not to 'do' it all.

Photos by Sandra Gregson

In the Loop: Yael Brotman and Gareth Bate

What have our talented members been up to lately?

Yael Brotman in Genius Loci at the Art Gallery of Mississauga
Yael Brotman, whose last show at loop featured beautifully constructed paper caravans, will have works exhibited in Genius Loci, an R. Stuart Keeler curated show at the Art Gallery of Mississauga. The exhibition brings together established and emerging Canadian artists, including Nuit Blanche stand out Jon Sasaki, to explore works from noted collections of Canadian Art – The McMichael Canadian Art Collection, The Tom Thomson Gallery and The Art Gallery of Mississauga Permanent Collection. Genius Loci opens Thursday, September 13 and runs until Thursday, November 4. 

Gareth Bate interviewed on Studio Beat
Gareth Bate talks about 401 Richmond and 'How to Get Fit as an Artist' while working on Jewel Net of Indra, a series of mirror drawings. Read the interview on Studio Beat.

Want to know what else we're doing in and outside of the gallery? Stay in the loop by joining us on Facebook for artist updates, behind the scene pictures and more. 

Linda Heffernan and Ester Pugliese at loop Gallery

September 1 –23, 2012
Reception: Saturday, September 8, 2012, 2-5 PM
Q&A Session: Saturday, September 22, 3PM

loop Gallery is pleased to announce two exhibitions by loop members Linda Heffernan entitled Plus 2, and Ester Pugliese entitled False Relations and Fractions. 

Linda Heffernan, 'Plus 2' (2012)

Plus 2 continues Linda Heffernan's exploration of the potential ramifications of extreme climate change and the opposing points of view that make a considered global response so challenging. The textured semi-abstract paintings in this exhibit use satellite views of major cities and snippets of media commentary as a jumping off point to depict the consequences of choosing to explore or ignore the search for a green economy. 

Linda Heffernan is a Whitby-based artist exploring themes of consumer capitalism and bureaucracy in an ever more interconnected global economy. She has a BFA from OCAD University and her work is included in a number of private and public collections in Canada. Linda Heffernan is a member of loop Gallery and has exhibited her work in a number of galleries in Toronto 's Queen West district as well as Whitby's Station Gallery and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa. 

Ester Pugliese, 'False Relations I' (2012)

The mixed media works in Pugliese’s False Relations and Fractions offer up an arrangement of incongruous image pairings and split second variations that layer cultural references, natural elements and imagined realities. Roofs of Toronto houses open up to reveal ephemeral hierarchies; output graphs from Ontario's wind power facilities intertwine with musical notation spectrograms of Italian madrigals; and groupings of fragile objects invite closer inspection. 

Pugliese is a Toronto-based artist who has exhibited her work in Canada and England. She holds a BFA from York University and received the Humber College Board of Governors Achievement Award with her post-graduate certificate in Arts Administration/Cultural Management in 2004. Her work is in private and public collections in North America and Europe, including the Donovan Collection at St. Michael’s College, Toronto.

Photos from Don Allain's show

'anti-gravitational particle acceleration' by Don Allain ends this Sunday, August 26!

Photos by Patricia Njovu

'anti-gravitational particle acceleration' at loop Gallery

August 15th – 26th, 2012 

Reception: Saturday, August 18, 2012, 2-5 PM

loop Gallery is pleased to announce a guest exhibition by Don Allain entitled ‘anti-gravitational particle acceleration'.

Don Allain is an abstract painter currently based out of Toronto, Ontario, (b. Summerside, P.E.I.) whose studio practice and theoretical research focuses on evolving temporal states and overall spatial cognition. Allain explores multi-dimensional contemporary understandings of physical and cognitive reality by investigating various concepts from the frontiers of theoretical physics and neurological scientific research. They both serve as points of artistic departure and are echoed throughout his paintings, ie. (CERN’s LHC, the large hadron particle accelerator and collider in Geneva, Switzeland). Specifically, this research motivates an expressionistic studio practice and style that explores offshoot trajectories of the drip, line, geometry and colour theory by layering many different optical and abstract strategies. He engages in this method as a way of potentially discovering, re-envisioning and collapsing historical abstract wave functions towards new vistas of thought. To translate and articulate this discursive formation he has been considering and maneuvering via multiple routes so as to not consider things in a similar manner while simultaneously opening potential for visual growth. Allain does this via an interdisciplinary blend of art, philosophy, physics, neuroscience, and mathematics with the psychology of colour, optics and perception.

"I have been investigating the drip technique for over 10 years now and extensively as a form of expression over the last 5 years since graduating from the MFA program at York University in 2007. The paintings that make up this exhibition are examples of some of the experiments and discoveries that I have made along the way working in this style. They are formatted to echo and mimic HD flat panel televisions and engage the viewer in experiences of varying optical energies and resonances of hi-def colour, depth, and navigationally diverse visual trajectories encompassed within the cultural phenomena of electronic visual entertainment. Simultaneously, I have activated discoveries from the frontiers of theoretical physics as points of cognitive departure while maintaining an abstract visual vocabulary towards a means of conveyance and invites viewers to engage in an experiential menage of painting, optics and physics. Vestiges of past painterly tropes are strategically employed so as to arrive at a final abstract synthesis that is both contemporary and referential towards various historical abstract formations and artists.” - Don J. Allain

‘anti-gravitational particle acceleration' opens on Wednesday, August 15th, followed by the opening reception on Saturday, August 18th, 2-5pm. 

Image: Don Allain, anti-gravitational particle acceleration - lime rickey green, acrylic on canvas, 44.25" x 24.50", 2012.

Collective Vision Q & A

The Q & A on July 30 was moderated by William Huffman, Associate Director of Toronto Arts Council/Foundation and Grants Officer for Visual/Media Arts and Literary Arts, who for the next 18 months will be taking a sabbatical from that position to head up the Audience and Market Development Office at the Canada Council for the Arts in Ottawa.

Panelists were Richard Mongiat, who along with Catherine Beaudette, founded loop; Libby Hague, who just returned from a residency in Ireland, and Mark Adair, artist and Executive Committee Chair of loop.

Photos by Sandra Gregson

Collective Vision at loop

Loop's talent pool is overflowing, said Globe and Mail critic R.M. Vaughan, and it's none the more evident than in Collective Vision, our current group exhibition. Come in on Sunday, July 29 at 3PM for a Q + A session with member artists Mark Adair and Libby Hague, and loop co-founder Richard Mongiat. The panel will be moderated by Will Huffman, Associate Director of the Toronto Arts Council.

Collective Vision features works by John Abrams, Mark Adair, Elizabeth Babyn, Yael Brotman, Heather Carey, Tara Cooper, Tanya Cunnington, Elizabeth D'Agostino, Sheryl Dudley, Martha Eleen, Eric Farache, Adrien Fish, Maria Gabankova, Sandra Gregson, Charles Hackbarth, Libby Hague, Linda Heffernan, David Holt, JJ Lee, Jane Lowbeer, Ian MacLean, Mary Catherine Newcomb, Maureen Paxton, Ester Pugliese, Barbara Rehus, Rochelle Rubinstein, and Yvonne Singer.

The show runs until August 12, 2012.

Photos by Patricia Novju

Collective Vision

Collective Vision

July 21st – August 12th, 2012

Reception:  Saturday, July 21st, 2- 5 PM

Q&A session:  Sunday July 29th, 3PM
with panelists: Mark Adair, Libby Hague, and Richard Mongiat, moderated by Will Huffman
 
loop gallery is pleased to announce a group exhibition entitled Collective Vision featuring works by more than twenty loop members past and present. 

The year 2000 marked tremendous change for Toronto’s Queen West community. The introduction of loop gallery into the neighbourhood was one of several catalysts that would effectively transform Queen street’s gritty “wild west” into the vibrant, trend-setting, cultural destination it is today. In 2009, loop migrated north, joining yet another hotbed of burgeoning cultural activity on Dundas Street West. After more than a decade in operation, loop’s artist-led curatorial model in conjunction with the calibre of its member artists have allowed the gallery to retain its reputation as a fertile ground for inventive practices and projects.

Collective Vision is a special occasion in loop’s history. The exhibition brings together a group of works by a sampling of loop’s member artists for a glimpse at the diverse practices that have shaped the organization across twelve years and two gallery spaces. “I always dreamed that if loop got big enough,” says co-founder Richard Mongiat, “we would open up the space next door and call it pool.” Reflection, appropriately, is what Collective Vision is all about. The show is an occasion both to meditate on the gallery’s formative role in a particular neighbourhood and to imagine the future contributions loop can make to Toronto’s creative communities.