loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Martha Eleen entitled I,Huck, and Mary Catherine Newcomb entitled Grassy.
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| Tough Luck (oil on wood, 30x30) by Martha Eleen (2011) |
I, Huck is the latest exhibition by Toronto-based artist Martha Eleen which maps the domestic space framing the artist’s relationship with her son Gabe, who is vulnerable and requires constant support. This is an inside view of a dynamic person whose natural gifts of sharp wit, emanating love, and disarming honesty are often obscured by disability bias. The titles used in the work are quotes from Gabe. Fascinated by analog audio technology, Gabe listens to several recorded versions of Huckleberry Finn and likes to call himself ‘Huck.’ He thinks the “n” word is “neighbour”.
Martha Eleen is an honours graduate of Emily Carr College of Art, Vancouver, Canada. Her artistic practice engages the ideas of cultural landscape, the construction of society, and the politics of space through painting. Her work has been exhibited in public galleries in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Mexico. Martha Eleen is represented by loop Gallery in Toronto. She teaches painting and drawing at the Toronto School of Art.
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| Untitled (detail), rabbit's ear, glass, silver, grass by Mary Catherine Newcomb (2011-12) |
In her exhibition at Loop Gallery Mary Catherine Newcomb combines an image of the hare, a recurring personal symbol, with her interest in working with living media in the 8’ long “Great Hare”. The exhibition also features a number of smaller pieces including a rabbit’s ear suspended in olive oil with a small silver cup, six silver beans on a small bed of grass, and a series of ink drawings on the rib bones of a cow. These works, together with the Great Hare, whose pelt of coiffed turf is literally alive to the touch, raise questions about relationship between different life forms.
Mary Catherine Newcomb is a sculptor based in Southern Ontario who was born and raised in Montreal. She has received numerous awards form both the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. Her work has been widely exhibited in Canada and internationally.
Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, January 7th from 2-5 pm. Learn more about Martha Eleen and Mary Catherine Newcomb’s work during a Question & Answer Session at loop on Sunday January 15th, 2PM.
