This collection of thirty two large format photographic colour prints is selected from a body of work that focuses on arctic and sub-arctic regions of Canada. The images are captured using a traditional large format 4×5 view camera, technology that is unsurpassed for landscape photography in this digital age. The method allows for fine details and subtle nuances of form and texture to emerge. Though you might think the colours and contrasts have been enhanced, these works have no special filters or treatments. Zageris states his commitment is “to search and find the quality of light that can inspire the imagination.”

His combination of traditional technique and methodical patience lends him the ability to show us a world we may not see otherwise; an extraordinary view of a geographic region not often travelled. The result is a photograph with a painterly quality, bewitched with startling colours.

Such a dramatic beauty emerges that it may make you question the accuracy of the camera in portraying the subject matter. Depicting scenes both serene and rugged, these images are timeless. Beauty is extracted from the harsh landscape of rock and cliff in Labrador, creating images of curiosity.

This exhibition is Zageris’ first in Southern Ontario.

An exhibition that deals in nostalgia, humour and disorder, Adrian Norvid’s installation of drawings Showstoppers, Whoppers, Downers and Out Of Towners may be ornamental in design but are monumental in size.

Breaking boundaries using rock-and-roll references, wordplay, visual jokes and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour, his work demonstrates wry wit and a passion for the craft of drawing.

The works muse on 1960’s psychedelia, while filled with components that resemble Victorian and Rococo decoration; they are nostalgic yet fresh in interpretation. Installed directly on to gallery walls, they are highly detailed, illustrative murals chock-full of detail and pun.

Each work takes considerable time to digest.

In one example, Sit Your Sorry Asses Down, a dinner party is portrayed; an event inhabited by a dozen disreputable sorts that include top-hat wearing whisky drinkers, feet-on-table hippies, sleeping or bug-eyed characters and scripts of French and English text, play-on-word brand labels, decorative scrolls and action moving in all directions.

Norvid emigrated from the UK as a child and grew up in Southern Ontario. The characters that are portrayed in his drawings are perhaps explained by this mid-childhood cultural shift as his perception of personality could be seen as an outsider’s view on those even farther outside—an adult’s eye put to the experiences viewed in childhood. Now a drawing teacher at Montreal’s Concordia University, Norvid received a BFA in music and an MFA in studio art from York University.

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, in partnership with the Oshawa Senior Citizens’ Camera Club, is proud to present the Oshawa Creek Project: Then and Now. Using historical images from the Thomas Bouckley Collection as a starting point, members of the Oshawa Seniors’ Citizens Camera Club have photographed the Oshawa Creek as it appears today.

Historically, the Creek’s water transportation was the primary reason for the first European settlers to call the Oshawa area their home. The Creek would later contribute to industry; without it “there would have been no power to turn the water wheels of the first grist and lumber mills.” (M. McIntyre Hood, Oshawa: The Crossing Between the Waters – Canada’s Motor City)
Today, it is enjoyed more recreationally but is still a central part of the city. The Thomas Bouckley Collection and Oshawa Senior Citizens’ Camera Club’s photos are juxtaposed, allowing for examination of the evolution of the Creek, then and now, and illustrate its continued importance to the foundation of this community.

In most cases, art is a visual experience that is meant to be experienced in person. However, the far reaching impact of the internet has undoubtedly done wonders for the art world—bringing otherwise inaccessible art into homes around the world.

Despite this wider access, can one truly appreciate an artwork by viewing it online? Details that greatly affect the impact an artwork has can be lost when viewing on screen: size, texture, presentation and location.

Though the human animal is historically unconcerned with the welfare of the non-human animal, in increasing prominence the philosophical ‘‘question of the animal’’ (that is one which concerns the ethical and political stakes of the relationships between human and non-human animals) has been made possible by challenging the human as universal and instead allowing us to be seen as a component in a grand scheme. After all, humans are animals.

Through the works in this exhibition, artists Lois Andison, Kenn Bass, Dagmar Dahle, Tom Dean, Rebecca Diederichs, John McEwen, Arnaud Maggs, Lyndal Osborne, Su Rynard and An Whitlock propose different views on animals. The complement between representations of cultural objects and natural ones come to the fore as each artist seeks to categorize, identify, or draw distinction between species highlighting relationships and telling narrative stories. Each work speaks for itself, but a general trajectory emerges among them, due to the sequence in which they are presented.

An exhibition that includes sculpture, installation, book works, photography and video, Animal references Darwin’s ideas of evolution, implying that animals live very real lives; lives that are often romanticized in culture but none the less can include suffering, just as those of human animals can. These works allow questions and in some cases provide answers that help us make sense of the world. By telling stories, this exhibition encourages us to explore animals’ experience with imagination and fresh perspective.

Kelly Mark and Micah Lexier both studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NASCAD). They both live and work in Toronto and at times, work with similar materials. Both artists have designed tattoos, use text or counting in their work frequently, and are conceptual artists whose works have quantified the passage of time.

It can be understood then how two artists who share a sensibility, but have differences in style and approach, could with competitive and collaborative spirit, come together to create an exhibition such as Head to Head.

Executed with playful spirit, Head to Head presents eighteen pairs of works. Mark’s work finds humour in repetitive tasks, routines and rituals of everyday life. Lexier’s art often devises systems for counting the passage of time. In some cases, they use the same materials, other times it is the imagery that is shared. Still other times it is only a concept that is shared.

The works in this exhibition illustrate the differences of approach as much as the similarities.

Betty Goodwin (1923-2008) became a presence in the art scene of Montréal in the late 1960’s, a time when figurative works and Pop Art were each enjoying success. What is probably her most recognizable work, her vest prints, are from this era. Goodwin’s vests appear infused with life, almost as if they are ghosts without bodies. A correlation can be drawn between the floating fabric shapes and the human forms of her later work, also found in this exhibition. The vests are flattened in appearance, akin to dried flowers and though they rest on the surface of the paper, appear to have physical depth. The human figures in her later works also float, or perhaps drown, amongst clouds and space.

Goodwin’s work was not limited to printmaking and drawing. It also included collage, assemblage, sculpture and installation, examples of which are included in this thorough examination of her work. The works, though varied, each sensitively explore themes related to our fragile human condition.

Organized and circulated by the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, this exhibition, from their permanent collection, serves to tell the story of one of the leading figures of contemporary Canadian art. The national tour of this exhibition has been made possible with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through its Museums Assistance Program.