Join artist and designer Jair Kale in conversation with RMG exhibiting artist Aaron Jones. Talking as friends and creatives, Jair and Aaron will discuss Aaron’s exhibition, “Fountain of Dreams” and the ideas and influences layered within this new body of work.
Fountain of Dreams is an immersive installation of video, audio, and photo murals that considers the spatial and multi-sensory qualities of haunting and remembrance. Playing with physical and conceptual layers, the exhibition is interested in the interplay between permeable borders – geographical and generational – and between dream states and wakefulness.
This event is free and open to everyone. Please register here.
Seating will be provided for all guests.
For more information on our facilities, please click here. If you have questions about the event or other requests, please email Hannah at hkeating@rmg.on.ca.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Aaron Jones describes himself as an image-builder who reconfigures materials from books, magazines, newspapers and personal photos into new characters and realities. His collages and photo-based installations are a form of self-and world-exploration; he uses paper as a medium, where rips and tears become painterly brush strokes. Through a cathartic practice of constructing and deconstructing, Jones joins opposing visuals and colours in search of ‘peace’; a spiritual satisfaction. Recently, Jones has been exploring his birthplace of southern Ontario. The circumstances of the last two years have sparked a consideration of how he might survive off his own basic skills and natural resources. Jones has been exploring the natural landscape, as well as researching plants, wildlife, and the natural conditions near his mother’s home in Pickering, to understand their offerings and inner workings. His new intimately scaled, figurative collages are set against large-format pictures of rural landscapes and a video performance, contrasting scale and the ethereal with the real.
Born 1993 in Toronto, Jones graduated with a BA from OCADU in 2018. His work has been included recently in a special project for Nuit Blanche and the Art Gallery of Ontario’s We Are Story: The Canada Now Photography Acquisition exhibtion. He’s also been included in the exhibitions Three Thirty at Doris McCarthy Gallery, From the Ground Up at NIA Centre for the Arts, Ragga NYC at Mercer Union, all in Toronto, and Propped at Oakville Galleries, Oakville, ON. Jones was awarded The Gattuso Prize for his exhibition Closed Fist, Open Palm for the 2020 CONTACT Photography Festival.
Aaron Jones is represented by Zalucky Contemporary, Toronto.
Jair Kale, born and raised in Claxton Bay, Trinidad, grew up in a nurturing nuclear family. Throughout his childhood, he often accompanied his mother to her classes while she pursued her Master of Social Work. During this time, any literature with creative writings captivated his imagination, laying the foundation for his artistic journey and that which would become a cherished pastime, the quest for knowledge.
Embracing multiple artistic facets, Kale emerged as a talented poet, photographer, and designer. His work reflects a keen eye for colour and negative space, a defining aspect evident in his photography and design projects.
Driven by a vision that juxtaposes geographic societies to highlight their parallels and distinctions, Kale delved into exploring the coexistence of diverse cultures in ways outside of the status quo. Holding significant depth, his work encourages viewers to contemplate the nuance and metaphors in the intricate beauty of human relationships.
Kale writes lyrics for Toronto artists, designs clothing for Brands featured in Adrift Skateshop, and recently he has exhibited an installation, Blue Crabs from Claxton Bay at Project1616, an artist run gallery/project space in Toronto. He received his AdvDip as a Fashion Management graduate from George Brown Casa Loma in 2021. Currently living and working in Toronto, he aspires to provoke perception and challenge stereotypical ideologies.
We’d like to thank TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment for their sponsorship of Fountain of Dreams.
