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| Top: Maria Gabankova Bottom: Libby Hague |
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.
