Another Conversation with Jane LowBeer

Until I saw the wall of Jane LowBeer's small oil paintings of toothpaste tubes, I had no idea that toothpaste tubes could take on a romantic quality. The rich colours and captivating forms create an intimacy and sensuality that I would not normally associate with an everyday object like the toothpaste tube.

I had to follow up my earlier conversation with Jane LowBeer to find out more:

Ingrid:  In your artist statement, you mention that the toothpaste tubes heralded a return to painting for you. Why did you chose toothpaste tubes to return to painting?

Jane: Toothpaste tubes are everyday household items. An empty toothpaste tube is flexible and can be bent or twisted into a variety of shapes (although some brands are much more malleable than others!). The painterly possibilities of two toothpaste tubes seemed perfect for the intimacy of a small canvas.

Ingrid: How long was your hiatus from painting?
Jane: I use brushes with the monotypes in my printmaking practice but it has been about ten years since I used a brush, oil paint and canvas.

Ingrid:  In our previous conversation, you said that lately you have been using a lot of colours to make up black. What is it about black and white that you find appealing?
Jane:  In the monotypes, I put the plate through the press multiple times building up the layers of colours. It is interesting to see a black made from a layer of orange then violet compared to a black made with red and turquoise. There is the quality of drawing that I like in black and white.

Ingrid:  Does that come from your printmaking background?
Jane: Not really. A very long time ago, I did viscosity printmaking which is all about colour. I mostly use the same inks for the monotypes.

Ingrid:  Your every day objects seem to have a landscape monumentality. Is there an underlying symbolism to you?
Jane: Perhaps...small is beautiful.

Ingrid: Will you continue with this series? 
Jane: Yes, I ran out of time in preparing for this show and would like to paint a tubes of toothpaste all jumbled together...an orgy of toothpaste tubes.

Ingrid:  There seems to be a shared affinity for black and white imagery with Sung Ja Kim. Was this deliberate or happenstance?
Jane: It was a happy happenstance. I am a new member of LOOP so I had no idea who I was paired with.

The show of Jane LowBeer's work continues this weekend and through to Sunday, February 20th, 2010.  Visit Loop Gallery at 1273 Dundas Street West in Toronto or see more of Jane's work on her website here.

Artist Profile: Suzanne Nacha

As a child, Suzanne Nacha created signs alongside her father in his sign painting business, but did not consider fine art as a career until after she completed her undergraduate degree in geology in 1989. She then pursued a BA in Visual Arts from Guelph University and an MFA from York University. Although Suzanne's preferred medium is oil paint, she has been influenced by sculptors such as Eva Hesse and Louise Bourgeois, finding their "interest in the organic form and its ability to deliver psychological import" compelling. Painters that approach their subjects in sculptural ways such as Giorgio Morandi and Wayne Thiebaud, have also been an influence.

Taking inspiration from the natural world and from "something that an image suggests", Suzanne  begins her exploration of the subject matter by making many studies in gouache, manipulating these in terms of composition, colour and overall format. Sometimes this process leads to a larger work or will result in an image being abandoned in favour of others. In her current series of work Origin currently on display at Loop Gallery, Suzanne explores the underground imagery of tunnels, caves and mine shafts manipulating them to "create a sense of physical unease". Many of the titles are derived from the descending rings of Dante's version of hell.

1.  You work on very unusual formats of supports. Do you construct these yourself? Was this just for this particular show or do you usually work that way?

"In my last body of work entitled 'the geology of morals' I paired sculptural forms with simplified landscape paintings in order to animate a reading of something unseen within the landscape. I felt that at the time the sculptures were more successful in capturing a sense of form and materiality than the paintings they were paired with. With this new series entitled 'Origin" my strategy was to try to make the paintings do the things that the three dimensional sculptures did so well. Shaped canvases were an obvious solution to me and this meant that the internal visual logic of the picture plane was dictated by the external structural edge of the support."

2.  What fascinates you about underground tunnels, caves and mine shafts? And have you ever climbed into a cave?
"I was thinking about these underground spaces as the hidden darker side of landscape and somehow opposed to what we know exists on the surface of the earth. I imagined these to be hollowed out sites - the caches or storage basins of history. I wondered what these spaces might have to say to us now - in light of recent histories and thus began the Origin Series.  
In the past I've been in a couple of small minor caves, in several underground mines and very recently, I visited the catacombs in Rome."

3. If you could chose anywhere in the world to travel and paint, where would you go?

"I'd really like to go to the Caves of Drach in Mallorca, Spain and also to the Mommoth Caves in Kentucky."

4. What is your next project?

"I am working on some large diptychs that continue the Origin Series (showing right now at Loop). I also have some side projects...a large group of works on paper that continue the narrative of the Origin series and an animation project on the theme of mining and the human condition."

Loop Gallery has Suzanne Nacha's Origin Series on display until December 20, 2009. To see more of Suzanne Nacha's work, visit her website here.