Tag: Painting

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Imagine Van Gogh: the good, the bad and the ugly

Read our take on the exhibition on everyone’s newsfeed

THE GOOD

Youmna El Halabi, Opinions Editor

It comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me that Van Gogh is one of my favourite painters ever. Imagine Van Gogh can be described as a visual presentation of all of the artist’s life’s work on several screens filling the gallery — even the floor.

The room goes dark, and suddenly a pair of familiar eyes stare right into my soul. As the image zooms out, the artist’s self portrait comes into view, and my eyes instantly teared up. Such pain, such agony, such melancholy, and such passion. Van Gogh disappears, his sketches make an appearance, and begin paving the way to what eventually made him famous.

The exhibition was all-consuming, all-too-captivating, and at times, even overwhelming. Normally I would walk around in a gallery, my own music in my ears, trying to depict whatever the artist attempted to convey. Imagine Van Gogh, I felt, was not like a normal exposition. I didn’t walk around, nor did I feel the need to. I remember feeling the urge to find a corner in the room, sit there comfortably, and watch.

As Van Gogh’s work unfolds right in front of me, I am engulfed in all the colours of his palette. From the blinding yellow of his decaying but bright Sunflowers, to the depth of the indigo blue in Starry Night.

There are very few things in this world that would make me cry in public, and Imagine Van Gogh definitely made the list. Imagine Van Gogh brought me into a world I never wanted to leave — if I were without responsibilities and bills, I wouldn’t have.

THE BAD

Lisa Massa, Contributor

I love a good blockbuster exhibition every now and then. Between the many advertisements plastered on social media and the many queries from friends and family, I knew Imagine Van Gogh had to make its way on my checklist.

Before getting into the actual exhibition, there is a room dedicated to contextualizing the life of Van Gogh. Chronologically organized, suspended placards provided visitors with a significant amount of information of the artist’s journey, from his youth until his death in 1890, at 37.

For those interested in art and art history but sometimes feel intimidated by being within a traditional museum atmosphere, Imagine Van Gogh offered a new perspective on engaging with art. The space is dynamic with people of all ages, freely conversing and laughing while looking at the projections of Van Gogh’s stunning paintings.

I view Imagine Van Gogh much the same as I do many major art exhibitions – a great way to immerse the general population into the art world, drawing interest from various age groups and backgrounds.

The exhibition was pretty lackluster overall to say the least. In total, I spent approximately 45 minutes in the space, unsure of whether I had seen a full loop or not, and not caring to stay any longer. After a while, the exhibition was boring. The way I see it goes as follows: when one enters a museum for a solo visit, the guest has full autonomy in choosing what they wish to see, and in what order (most times, anyway).

Imagine Van Gogh only had one room of projections, which felt incomplete. Once in the space, the novelty of being immersed in the paintings wears off, leaving me wondering what made this different than a blown up PowerPoint presentation. Van Gogh’s works were originally quite small, averaging approximately 30cm x 40cm so, by increasing the scale of his works to be greater than human, I did not exactly feel immersed into the paintings. Rather, I felt surrounded or trapped by them.

THE UGLY

Lorenza Mezzapelle, Assistant Arts Editor

My initial reaction to the advertisements for Imagine Van Gogh in Montreal was along the lines of “Oh wow, that’s where all those Instagram photos come from.” I had seen many Scandinavian and European influencers posting photos of the large projections, but never bothered researching the source. I simply assumed the photos were from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

The idea of a renowned artist’s work being this heavily marketed intrigued me for numerous reasons. I wondered, why Van Gogh? I came to the conclusion that everyone knows Van Gogh, and thus, displaying his work meant accessibility. But therein lies the dilemma. With tickets prices varying by age, day and time of attendance, the show is in no way accessible. While Van Gogh is known by even non-connoisseurs, the exhibition does not lend itself to the democratization of art. While a fantastic idea in theory, Imagine Van Gogh remains fundamentally problematic.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t mesmerized by the colours that seemed to dance alongside some of my favourite classical music. Seeing the enlarged brushstrokes of the artist’s famous self-portraits was definitely a remarkable experience.

However, as marketed, and much along the lines of my initial association to Instagram influencers, the exhibition remained a marketing trap. The majority of visitors skipped past the biographical information and curator’s statement, immediately taking out their phones to document the experience. The amount of phone screens lit up in the room made it feel less like an artistic experience, and more like an elitist, social media trap disguised as culture.

While I wish I could say that Imagine Van Gogh will continue to enable the general public —  both those well-versed in art, and those not — to experience and understand the history of a great artist, I cannot.

There is no doubt the experience was beautiful, but it remains too inaccessible to be appreciated by most.

 

 

Photo by Lorenza Mezzapelle.

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Arts

Spotlight on Liza Isakov

Liza Isakov, 4th year Studio Arts

Liza Isakov is an emerging artist based in Montreal, creating works on paper. Her expressive practice draws inspiration from everyday objects and observations – the process of gathering items, imagery, textiles, and loose sketches forms the delicate manner of her work.

Originally from Russia, Isakov was raised in Israel, later moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba and now lives in Montreal. Moving from one place to another helps her practice grow and evolve by creating new connections and finding new ways to challenge herself. Her work has been exhibited around Winnipeg and Montreal, both in solo and group shows with fellow students and artists. She is currently in her fourth year at Concordia University, majoring in Studio Arts.

Her work often notes everyday life moments, a sense of belonging, and the natural world. Coloured pencils and paper are her medium of choice. The coloured pencils help capture the delicate mark making and everyday life in the simplest way possible.

In addition to drawing and painting, Izakov works in collage and embroidery. Her most recent collection of embroidered t-shirts can be purchased on her website, lizaisakov.com, and at Ex-Voto, a sustainable fashion boutique in the Mile End.

You can spot Izakov curating for the Festival de Nouveau Cinema: Spotlight on Concordia Fine Arts, and various pop-up exhibitions in restaurants and bistros around the city. 

With files from Liza Isakov.

 

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For the sake of painting and photography

ANTES is an artist-based curatorial collective run by third-year painting students and partners, Alexia McKindsey and Jose Guillermo Garcia Sierra. Garcia Sierra, who is also the financial coordinator at the VAV Gallery, revealed that ANTES has been a long time in the making.

After six months of planning, their first exhibition is around the corner and they have already begun plans for their second show, scheduled for later this spring. Contre-Sens is a collaboration with For The Sake of Analog, another student-run artist collective developed by Tyra Maria Trono and Edson Niebla Rogil. Both groups chose to highlight their fascination with traditional methods of painting and analog photography. But Contre-Sens is much more than a process-based collection of work. The exhibition presents work from the collective leaders themselves, as well as four other students with drastically different approaches to their craft.

Katherine Parthimos, currently in pursuit of her BFA in studio arts, has a much more post-modern approach to traditional painting than Garcia Sierra or McKindsey, according to Garcia Sierra. Her brush strokes are much softer and facial expressions quirkier than Garcia Sierra’s ultra-detailed, surreal work and McKindsey’s vibrant colour palette, familiar imagery and multi-dimensional style. She has also curated and exhibited in many exhibitions since 2015, including the Art Souterrain festival in 2017.

Parthimos is interested in portraying people and relationships in motion, questioning the physicality of space between them. “When dealing with the figure, I believe composition to be a key element that every artist is aware of,” explained Parthimos. “In my case, to go along with my thematic, I like over emphasizing the composition and turning the figure into shapes.” For example, in Copy Cat, to add a comedic element, essential to the artist’s playful intentions, Parthimos has lined up all of the heads on the right side of the canvas.

To add a comedic element essential to Katherine Parthimos’s playful intentions, she has lined up all the heads on the right side of the canvas in Copy Cat. Photo courtesy of Katherine Parthimos.

Her environments are active, candid spaces which are thematically similar to the work of figurative portrait artist, Emily Spooner. Much like Parthimos’s, Spooner’s work is also based on photography, a softly spoken link throughout all the pieces in this exhibition.

Painting from old family photographs, Spooner sometimes purchases used albums on eBay to shake things up. Her paintings may merge elements of multiple photographs to create a new image, or zoom in on one particular detail. Her portraits often obscure the figure’s face, leaving their expression entirely up to the viewers’ interpretation. Spooner is captivated by fleeting moments and subtle emotions of the everyday, which converses nicely with Parthimos’ collection in Contre-Sens.

“Working with photographs I have taken as reference, I then focus on altering it for painting with intensity in colour theory, placement of shapes and pattern, to make it interesting,” revealed Parthimos, whereas ANTES Co-Founder Garcia Sierra works “half and half.” “Some elements are based on images, to make sure I get the details right, while others are completely imaginary,” revealed Garcia Sierra. The artist often uses himself as a model, making lots of his paintings self-portraits, even though he doesn’t consider them as such. “They aren’t about me,” he said. “They’re about everyday absurdities, time, mechanics and engineering, chance, history, life cycles….”

Garcia Sierra is engrossed not only with astronomy and science, but also boardgames, which are all recurring elements in his work. His latest painting depicts absurd events taking place on a street corner. A lobster waits on the sidewalk and a man, pondering something that has cracked the cement street, is accompanied by a seal wearing what looks like a large watch, or perhaps this form is the man’s shadow? A plastic family van, from The Game of Life, is parked by the side of the street, and behind it are ice cream sundae mountains, which look entirely like storm clouds, with a cherry on top.

Woven in among these painters are the work of analog-abstract photographer, Irela Sara, large-scale graphic artist, Peniel Benjamin Hong, documentary-purist photographer, Trono and film production student, Rogil. Co-Founders of For The Sake of Analog, Trono and Rogil are selective when making prints of their work, ensuring they are not mass-produced. Trono’s work is surprisingly small compared to that of Hong’s, which drags on the floor of the gallery, bringing the exhibition to life and breaking away from traditional means of exhibiting 2D artwork. This is a theme that both collectives intend to emphasise in their spring show, which will aim to break down painting and photography as strictly 2D concepts.

Contre-Sens will be exhibiting at Atelier Galerie 2112 until Feb. 8. Their vernissage is on Friday, Feb. 1 from 6:30 p.m to 9:30 p.m. Follow @ANTES and @forthesakeofanalog on Facebook and @an.t.e.s and @forthesakeofanalog on Instagram.

For more information visit the artist’s websites:
emilyspooner.com
katherineparthimos.com
alexiamckindsey.com
garciasierrart.com

 

Feature photo courtesy of ANTES.

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Arts

Emotion, representation and identity

Photos by Mackenzie Lad.

Painting is a medium with a complex yet polarizing history; how does one contemporize it? Le Salon, an exhibition featuring works by Gabriela Avila-Yiptong and Florence Yee, focuses on the medium of painting in history and within the contemporary world.

Many of the works in Le Salon feature landscapes—a subject matter very prominent throughout the history of painting, specifically in Canada. This was popularized through the works of the Group of Seven, a group of artists who were very successful across the nation for their paintings of the untouched Canadian landscape and wilderness.

Thought to be distinctive of Canadian art, the genre of landscape painting brought up many contemporary concerns and critiques. Most prominently, there are serious issues of representation, national identity and exclusion in defining a nation’s artistic identity based on the paintings of the Group of Seven, which was exclusively made up of white male artists. Other issues arise in the depiction of bare landscapes, with no human or industrial presence. This often ignores the presence of Indigenous peoples and communities on the land.

Yee, a recent Concordia fine arts graduate, is now attending Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) for her master’s in interdisciplinary art, media and design. Her work, which has been displayed around Montreal and at Concordia, focuses on themes of diaspora within her identity, issues of representation, the colonialist and patriarchal history of the art world and art canon.

Finding Myself at the MMFA III depicts Yee standing in front of landscape paintings, with her figure blending into the artwork.
Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Finding Myself at the MMFA IV depicts Yee standing in front of landscape paintings, with her figure blending into the artwork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yee’s pieces in Le Salon include Finding Myself at the MMFA III and IV. These self portraits were completed with oil paint and depict Yee standing in front of landscape paintings, with a projection of the painting covering her figure. Quite literally, Yee paints herself into these historically celebrated works.

Another work by Yee, Oh Canada, consists of embroidered yarn on canvas and recreates a Group of Seven landscape through the patterns of threading. Displayed in a glass case, the viewer can see the back side of the piece and further discover the detailing of a red flag, with the design of the U.K.’s flag in the upper left corner. This ensign on the back of the landscape can be considered as a way to remind viewers of the colonial presence across Canada’s lands, along with the patriarchal nature of the history of landscape painting.

Avila-Yiptong‘s works in Le Salon focus primarily on landscape. Florida Motel and I Could Die Here display idyllic landscapes in soft shades, featuring details of the sea and rainbows. The images are realistic yet dreamlike, as if they are a fantasy.

Through these works, contrasting with Yee’s focus on identity and ethnicity, Avila-Yiptong aims to remove the narrative and influence of culture and race, according to the artist statement on her website. Instead, she focuses on personal and emotional relationships with nature, through featuring places she has visited, and mixing styles of realism and abstraction.

This in itself also addresses the patriarchal nature of painting, by representing resistance against normative ways of viewing art and artists; white male artists do not have to fight for representation or opportunity within the medium, while women and artists of colour often do, historically and in today’s art world. By removing the focus on identity and race, and looking at the emotional relationship to landscape, Avila-Yiptong reclaims painting from these normative structures.

Avila-Yiptong’s work focuses on places she has visited, mixing styles of realism and abstraction.
Photo by Mackenzie Lad.
Avila-Yiptong’s work focuses on places she has visited, mixing styles of realism and abstraction.
Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

Early in their respective practices, both artists discovered an interest in painting and the subject of landscape, but experienced racialized discussions and reactions to their work, as discussed in “Keeping Painting Contemporary: Inserting New Perspectives in an “Old” Medium,” a gallery text by Ariane Fairlie. The significance of painting and the landscape depictions within Canada are very much promoted through university art classes, which adds to their relationship with painting. These aspects of personal experience and representation through academia influence the artists’s respective work. A conversation emerges from the way the artists react, reclaim and find influence from these experiences and historical representations.

While both Yee and Avila-Yiptong look at different themes within their respective works, both question and explore the presence of painting within a contemporary context. Both artists are concerned with how the history of the medium and the subject of landscape can be contested. They are spaces that require much consideration, critique and change.

Le Salon is showing at Articule until Oct. 14. The gallery is open Wednesday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

 

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Arts

Grab a pint and a paint brush

Jessica Di Giacomo, right, explains to Mia Anhoury how to add more definition by using white around the eyes. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Concordi’ART hosts an evening of artistic exploration in collaboration with Paint Nite Montreal

Rather than spend a typical night out at a bar, a group of 20 Concordia students participated in an evening of drinking and painting hosted by Concordi’ART, in collaboration with Paint Nite Montreal, at Peel Pub on March 7.

According to Nathalie Sjarova, the vice-president external of Concordi’ART, the aim of the club is to create a community of people who enjoy both art and business. Concordi’ART’s motto is “building bridges between business and art.”

Alizé Honen-Delmar, the club’s president who is currently on exchange in Australia, created Concordi’ART in February 2017. Sjarova, a marketing student, jumped at the opportunity to be part of the executive team when she saw a post on Facebook seeking candidates.

Concordi’ART aims to encourage and help connect two typically dichotomous worlds. “Art students can learn a lot from business students, but also business students can learn a lot from art students,” Sjarova said. “It’s a very huge asset to be creative in [the business] environment, and at the end of the day, artists are entrepreneurs.”

Concordi’ART executives from left: Céline Salibi, Diana Jane Tran, Yonathan Chu, Sarah Morstad, Vincent Letarte and Nathalie Sjarova. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Last week’s Paint Nite was an opportunity to bring people together to make art. Jessica Di Giacomo and Daniel Torchinsky, the co-producers of Paint Nite Montreal, led the painting tutorial.

A plate with large drops of paint in the primary colours—blue, yellow, red—as well as black and white, four paint brushes and a nicely rolled up apron were set up next to each white canvas sitting on a mini easel.

The goal for everyone was to recreate a painting that illustrated a close-up of an owl’s face. The first step was to outline the eyes with bright yellow and orange, and outline the beak with intimidating and unforgiving black.

Slowly but surely, the canvases went from white to covered in different self-made shades of green and blue.

With “drink-and-dry breaks” between each of the three layers of paint, participants were able to socialize, encourage one another and take a look at all the owls being created.

Paint Nites combine art and drinks for an evening of creativity and socializing. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

The final layer of paint required short brush strokes dipped in shades of blue, green and white to create a feather-like texture.

Despite all participants following the same steps and recreating the same painting, there was still room to express creativity. Some participants preferred to blend out the feathers, while others had a distinct ombré effect, going from light green to dark blue. Each eye varied in size from canvas to canvas, and one participant, Nathan Marrache, decided to paint Angry Bird-like eyes.

“It’s amazing how everyone’s painting looks so different even though it’s supposed to be the same,” said Marrache after he looked at everyone’s final paintings.

Paint Nite hosts events almost every day at various venues. More information can be found on their website: www.paintnite.com. Further information about Concordi’ART and any upcoming events can be found on its Facebook page.

Photos by Alex Hutchins

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Painting with intuition and reason

Concordia alumna Sylvie Adams exhibits three series of serendipitous paintings in The Time, the Mark , the Space. Blueberry Lime Sorbet (left), Portrait de Genre IV (centre) and Winter Day at the Lake (right) illustrate two of the three series. Photo by Mackenzie Lad

Concordia alumna Sylvie Adams exhibits three series of serendipitous paintings

When it comes to abstraction, the eye tends to search for familiar shapes. Each person’s perspective and interpretation of an abstract work will be different. Concordia alumna Sylvie Adams’s solo exhibition, The Time, the Mark , the Space, is no different.

Adams chose the title of her exhibition to be representative of her artistic process, which relies on time and gravity. The artist allows the initial application of paint to drip down the canvas, letting physics create her underpainting. The colours mix without the artist manually affecting the nature of the paint. Once Adams feels ready, she will make intuitive markings with acrylic paint, India ink or spray paint. She lets the piece speak to her; the universe pulls her towards making specific marks on some pieces and not on others, she explained. It is in this phase that the image begins to take shape.

Concordia alumna Sylvie Adams will exhibit three series of serendipitous paintings at Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay (6052 Monk Blvd.), until March 25. Photo by Mackenzie Lad

The artist graduated from Concordia University in 1987 with a major in design and a minor in visual arts. At the time, Adams did not spend much time painting, but when she did, she preferred creating realistic depictions. It was Marilyn Rubenstein, an abstract artist, who encouraged Adams to begin her abstract practice. When the two met, Rubenstein was a drawing and painting teacher at the Saidye Bronfman Centre School of Fine Arts, now the Visual Arts Centre.

Today, Adams practices lyrical abstraction, a form of abstraction that uses softer, looser brushwork. The practice is largely based on the artist’s painterly intuition. “I start with a neutral, black-and-white background, and I start to play with different mediums, experimenting with their fluidity. Some parts I will wet, others I will not,” Adams explained. She said she also likes to leave some sections untouched, exposing the raw canvas to create a balance between the strokes, dripping paint and sprays of colour. The artist uses a paper cut-out to shield sections of the painting and isolate some elements, enforcing the negative space between one part and another.

“When I start painting, I don’t know what it will look like, I don’t know what colours I’ll use,” Adams said. Intuition and reason are key in her practice. She must be sure the mark she will make is the right one. Some abstract work is created chaotically, but Adams’s isn’t. Her paintings are carefully crafted, just as a realistic painting would be. Yet unlike realism, Adams has no set subject matter.

Adams forms a dialogic relationship with her work. Each mark she makes utters a response, leading the artist to her next movement. “It is as though the painting is saying something to me,” she said. “I just have to be open to it.” The final result is a painting symbolic of a conversation the artist has with herself and her work, bringing her intuition, dynamic actions and personal thoughts, feelings and emotions into play.

The dialogue Adams holds with her work is a meditative one, which she admits can be quite frustrating. Some pieces, like Cookie Monster, are kept in the studio for a few months before the artist realizes the mark she is compelled to make. In its early stages, Cookie Monster was without the two strokes shaped like the number six. Adams recognised the body of a monster in her application of dark paint as it dripped in a way that illustrated teeth. To highlight this idea, Adams felt the need to give it eyes.

Despite the monster appearing in Cookie Monster, Adams’s paintings are comforting and can be relatable to viewers who look closely. Individual experiences draw people to different pieces and change what people take away from her work.

In its early stages, Cookie Monster was without the two strokes shaped like the number six. Photo by Mackenzie Lad

The Time, the Mark , the Space also features a series of portraits. The artist uses a combination of warm flesh tones, black and white to create a hidden visage. In Portrait de Genre I, Adams saw the face of an old man, while one viewer saw the face of a baby wrapped in a pink blanket, and another recognized U.S. President Donald Trump.   

Adams uses three distinct colour palettes in The Time, the Mark, the Space: a series of warm tones (pinks, beiges, oranges, browns) as seen in the Portrait de genre series I-IV and Cookie Monster; cool tones ranging from blues and greens in Frostbite, Cri Primal, Winter Day at the Lake and Blueberry Lime Sorbet, and finally a series of rich burgundy, orange, green, and red tones in Close Call, La marche du temps, Chemin en Mutation and Mango Chutney.

The exhibition’s 13 paintings were all created last year, and each one symbolizes the creation of a world, as stated in the galley brochure.

The Time, the Mark , the Space is open from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, until 6 p.m. on Thursdays and until 5 p.m. on Friday and weekends. It will be displayed at Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay (6052 Monk Blvd.) until March 25.

Photos by Mackenzie Lad

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Two artists, two mediums, one exhibition

From left, Rosamunde Bordo and Laurence Pilon pose next to their work. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Deçà Delà: From painting to printmaking, artists share meditative processes in a joint exhibition

“Deçà delà” is a French expression meaning to unite two separate sides, places or ideas as a way of expressing variety and highlighting differences, while introducing a subject as one cohesive matter.

The current exhibition at Ymuno Exhibitions takes inspiration from this expression, and unites two artists of different mediums—painting and intaglio printmaking. Rosamunde Bordo and Laurence Pilon are both recent Concordia graduates, and share similar approaches to their art. Both artists work in layers and restrict themselves to simple colour palettes.

Bordo holds a bachelor’s degree in Western society and culture, and a minor in print media. Her work is inspired by landscapes, topographies and maps. “In my practice,” Bordo explained, “I toy with the notion that the physical act of making is like an act of remembering. Through recording, repeating and multiplying, I use different techniques in print media as forms of documentation that undergo processes of mediation and transformation.”

Bordo transforms her initial inspirations into symbols, such as the arch and the window, two of the most prominent symbols in her work.

Arch IV is a small, unique print of 12 variations. It was created by Rosamunde Bordo this year. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Bordo starts by etching into a copper plate covered with resin. She then dips the plate in acid, which eats away at the areas where the resin has been removed, creating an image or template. Bordo has made 12 of these etchings, and each final print is composed of at least one plate. Some are created by layering several different plates. Arch II and III are nearly identical, but one has one less plate than the other. Arch IV stands out from the rest as Bordo used fewer plates and focused more on the colour. Bordo said she wishes to “emphasize tactility as a way of addressing notions of presence, temporality and change, and use subtle gestures and suggestions to consider broader cultural implications.”

The idea behind the use of arches in Bordo’s work comes from her experience in Maine this summer. According to Bordo, the arch symbolizes the sun. Whether it sets or rises, the sun always encompasses the whole sky. Its light seems endless, yet Bordo limits it by containing it within a geometric shape in her etchings. One striking commonality between Bordo and Pilon is the size and colours of their work. Bordo’s prints are, on average, three by four inches in size, while Pilon’s paintings are all about five by seven inches. The size of their work renders the exhibition quite intimate because the pieces change drastically when viewed close up or from a distance.

Arch II and Arch III are nearly identical. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Pilon graduated from Concordia in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. Her work has received great distinction, and she has been awarded several grants and scholarships in support of her art, including the Betty Goodwin Prize in Studio Arts and the Lise-Hélène Larin Scholarship, both awarded by Concordia.

Pilon’s process begins with flipping through books and studying archives, art history and music. The musical influence of Claude Debussy, a classical French pianist, is prominent in her work. Pilon urges viewers to listen to Debussy’s music and think of the light it emits when looking at her own work. Like Debussy’s compositions, some of Pilon’s pieces are light and airy, while others are dark and sombre.

Pilon may start painting based on what she sees around her, but ends up with something completely different. This journey is the most important part, in her opinion. In the transformative process of layering and uncovering, Pilon’s work is muddled with the regeneration of her paintings. That is, she paints over something, sands it down and repeats this action until she is satisfied.

Pilon alludes to industrial materials like concrete and steel, shown here in Multi Blue (Clematis) and Avant Garde (Peony). Photo by Alex Hutchins.

The artist regards her pieces more as objects than works of art. In her artist statement, Pilon wrote, “my paintings-objects can also be interpreted as critical responses to contemporary conditions of consumption, endless expansion and instantaneity.”

She is inspired by the arts and crafts movement of the 1920s and postmodern strategies of artmaking. The artist also listed the post-impressionist artists known as the Nabis, the set designs of the Russian ballet and colour field painters as specific inspirations to her work.

Some of Pilon’s paintings have an intentional dusty quality. The artist allows her paintings to gather dust as they dry. She mixes paint dust gathered from the sanding process to emphasize this effect. She paints to capture changes in her subject’s form and its relationship to light.

Pilon’s paintings often mimic other materials, like cement, sand and metal, as is evident in Multi Blue (Clematis), and Avant Garde (Peony).

“Encouraging in their viewers a prolonged visual engagement,” Pilon said, “the resulting objects evoke a sense of timelessness and indistinct familiarity, while communicating paradoxical feelings of fatigue and hope.”

Deçà Delà will be on display at Ymuno Exhibitions until Dec. 16. Ymuno is a joint gallery space and studio for artists Madeline Richards and Ben Williamson, and is located on the fifth floor of the Belgo building (372 Ste-Catherine St. W., studio 530). The gallery is open Thursday to Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Feature photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Exploring biodiversity and natural ‘muck’

Julia Woldmo, a second-year fine arts student at Concordia, in her studio space. Photo Courtesy of Julia Woldmo

Get to know Julia Woldmo, a painting and drawing student and salmon enthusiast

Julia Woldmo grew up in Vancouver and spent a year studying psychology and women’s studies at Capilano University before deciding to move to Montreal and pursue art. Now a second-year fine arts student at Concordia, Woldmo is completing a major in painting and drawing with a minor film studies.

Woldmo has always been involved in the art community. She was in an advanced art placement program in high school, while simultaneously enrolled at an art academy. She is most comfortable with portraiture, and often distorts facial features. “I’m not really concerned with proportion,” the artist said. “It’s definitely a helpful tool, but I’d rather embrace distortion […] and as soon as I notice that I’m falling into a pattern, I try to do something radical to switch it up.” In some portrait pieces, Woldmo transforms a regular eye into a squint, puffing the edges and increasing the size of the lids.

Self as Summer. Graphite and gouache on arches paper. 15″ x 22″ Photo courtesy of Julia Woldmo.

Her distorted portrait style began a few years ago when her friend’s baby cousin was stung by a bee on the corner of the eye. Initially drawing from a photograph, Woldmo translated the image of the baby beautifully, capturing a still discomfort and the baby’s rosey complexion.

More recently, her style has evolved significantly. Woldmo has begun exploring her inner-self, reflecting on the beauty and the grotesque of the natural world around her. She said she considers herself to be in a transient learning stage, absorbing the techniques and suggestions her professors and their teaching assistants have to offer, and is slowly growing more comfortable with abstraction.

Her final assignment this semester is to explore something in-depth. The assignment was vague, but Woldmo decided to focus on mold, decay and human “muck.” Coincidentally, Woldmo came home last week to find a container of the most wonderfully disgusting mold at the back of her fridge. The yellow ochre, navy blue and hints of coral in this particular container of mold pair beautifully with her recent work. Fleshy, seeping goo is not uncommon in the artist’s paintings, so the shift of focus on “muck and gunk” seemed like a natural transition to her.

Fish are also a recurring motif in Woldmo’s recent work. Between her West Coast roots, her mother’s work in salmon conservation and her father’s job as a tugboat captain, Woldmo’s family has always been one of salmon enthusiasts.

Acrylic on raw canvas. 4.5 x 45 ft. The backside of Produco, symbolic of death and decay. Photo courtesy of Julia Woldmo

Woldmo spent this past summer in Vancouver assisting Ron den Daas in painting a salmon conservation mural with a group of local students. Some of her first drawings of this school year, Self as Summer and Fish People, document this experience while continuing to play with biodiversity and salmon conservation.

“My obsession with salmon [is rooted in] my family, personal concern, a beauty and appreciation for these majestic, prehistoric creatures,” Woldmo said. “It’s amazing […] salmon are born in one spot and swim around the ocean for four years, only to return to the exact spot they were born to lay their eggs and die.”

The artist said she sees the salmon as a metaphor for her life, having left the spot she was born, knowing she will return when her four years in university are through.

See more of Julia Woldmo’s work on her website www.juliawoldmo.com and her Instagram (@juliawoldmoart).   

Photos Courtesy of Julia Woldmo

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Putting her mark on the walls of the city

Cedar Eve Peters working on her mural for this year’s Unceded Voices: Anticolonial Street Artists Convergence. Photo by Cecil Lopes.

Concordia alumna Cedar Eve Peters speaks about her mural painting and traditional jewelry

Cedar Eve Peters, an Ojibwe First Nations artist from Toronto, began beading because she wanted to try a different medium and explore her artistry.

Peters moved to Montreal when she was 18 and graduated from Concordia’s studio arts program in 2012. She now works in Montreal as an independent artist, creating brightly coloured beaded jewelry as well as drawings and acrylic paintings that she sells through Instagram.

One of the artist’s sets of beaded earrings. This pair is made out of Amazonite gemstones and sterling silver. Photo courtesy of Cedar Eve Peters.

Although she enjoys beading, Peters said she sometimes has to draw or paint to relax before starting a beading project. Beading requires a lot of concentration and is very tedious work, she explained. When the thread breaks, it can be frustrating. Nonetheless, she said she finds making earrings to be very therapeutic.

 

“I taught myself how to make earrings, but my jewelry is inspired by my mother and grandmother’s earrings,” Peters said. “I look at elements of nature for inspiration for my beading—from flowers to sunsets to the winter season.”

Peters’ work also includes mural paintings. She recalled that one of her most memorable experiences as a student was a trip to Peru in 2011. She volunteered alongside five other girls and had the opportunity to paint a mural for an elementary school.

This experience exposed her to the collaborative process of mural painting for the first time. From Aug. 13 to 21, Peters had a solo exhibition at a gathering called Unceded Voices: Anticolonial Street Artists Convergence, where she painted a mural on the corner of St-Jacques and St-Philippe Street. Unceded Voices is an event that brings together “primarily Indigenous-identified women, two-spirit, queer and women of colour street artists” to create murals in Montreal, according to their website.

One of Peters’ drawings, titled that’s a mouthful. Pen on paper. Photo courtesy of Cedar Eve Peters.

 

 

 

 

Originally founded in 2014, the most recent edition of Unceded Voices took place in Montreal’s St-Henri neighbourhood, which has a variety of bare walls, abandoned buildings and train tracks. This year’s event is the first to receive funding from both the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts de Montréal. “Unceded Voices is a call to action to rethink our relationships with the colonial cities, and to have the courage to listen to what the walls are saying to everyone,” said Camille Larivée, an Unceded Voices organizer.

Peters’ drawings and paintings, which she also sells through social media, often depict shape-shifting creatures that hover between human and animalistic. She described them as spirit beings with powerful energies. She said she is inspired by mythologies and stories found in Indigenous cultures.

“I hope my art can relate to Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike,” she said. “The language of art allows for people to communicate with one another through a non-verbal means and is integral to keeping First Nations culture alive. It is my way of carrying stories forward and a way to remember my ancestors.”

To see more of Cedar Eve Peters’ work or to purchase her jewelry, check out her Instagram page @cedareve.

Photos Courtesy of Cedar Eve Peters

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The vibrant landscape of our political climate

A viewer observes Grenier’s piece, titled What We Want / What You Want. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

“If I was to … think about how to position myself within the current political landscape, which words or concepts would I use to start laying down the ground?” This was one of the questions artist Nicolas Grenier asked himself when creating the works for his most recent exhibition.

The multi-disciplinary artist and alumnus of Concordia’s fine arts program teamed up with Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran to present Precarious Geographies, a collection of paintings examining ideas of political and social structures. Grenier, who is interested in contemporary politics and news, wanted to create works that expressed concepts like personal beliefs and activism and what they mean within our current political climate. He then came up with the idea of representing them by using diagrams to, essentially, “map” them out.

According to the artist, Precarious Geographies is about the relationship between activism and philosophy. Grenier explained that, since the election of the current American president, people have become more outspoken and committed to their political views. The artist said he believes that by taking an activist stance, a person must “believe in something enough to fight for it.” This idea can present some problems, however, because it assumes a person’s view or belief is absolute. In his life and work, Grenier enjoys questioning the concept of absolute ideas, and so he decided to explore it further.

Upon coming up with this idea, Grenier then asked himself: “How do I, as a painter, visually display [it]?” The artist, who sometimes spends months developing his projects, admitted he liked the idea of land as a starting point for the pieces in Precarious Geographies. He used it to build upon the ideas and concepts in his paintings.

From there, the artist decided to include elements of text and diagrams, as a way to surprise the viewer since diagrams are not usually in conventional paintings. According to Grenier, the use of words in his paintings “restricts the range of interpretations [of a piece], but it also pushes the work in a specific direction. It has some openness, but also some closure.” The exhibition is Grenier’s attempt to physically map out “philosophical and political ambiguities” that exist in the current political climate of the Western world by painting them in an abstract but concrete way.

One of Grenier’s larger works, Going for it, occupies an entire wall of the gallery. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

A piece titled Going for it occupies an entire wall of the gallery. A warm, brick-coloured background gives way to what can only be described as a “stack” of different coloured squares. The bottoms of the squares fade into horizontal lines that stretch across the bottom third of the canvas. Sharp edges and perfect gradients showcase Grenier’s practiced technique and make it hard to believe the pieces are in fact paintings and not graphic art.

The colours Grenier uses are extremely saturated and somewhat unnatural. The artist explained that it sometimes takes him months to develop and mix colours, and although he admitted that nature does influence his work, he wanted to create colours not typically seen in the natural world.

On a wall adjacent to Going for it hangs What We Want / What You Want, one of the more vibrant pieces within the exhibition. A large block of colour sits in the middle of the canvas, and resembles a cross-section of a piece of earth. The top layer of the block is a deep blue with white flecks, emulating a night sky. Lines cut across this layer, diagonally dividing the block into four sections—much like axes on a grid. At the ends of each axis is written—in small, inconspicuous text—the words “what we want” or “what you want.” Since the two axes travel in opposite directions, the piece suggests the two phrases exist in separate spaces. Underneath the blanket of deep blue are layers of bright reds, greens and burgundies. The block is suspended against a background gradient of vibrant yellow and red.

Both Going for it and What We Want / What You Want were created this year. The entire collection of works in this exhibition came together over the past 12 to 18 months. A self-proclaimed thoughtful and meticulous artist, Grenier allows himself ample time to mull ideas over and carefully assemble every piece. The artist, who works out of Montreal and Los Angeles, is excited to share his first solo collaboration with Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran.

Precarious Geographies will be on display until Nov. 11. The gallery is located at 1892 Payette St. and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, or by appointment. Admission is free.

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A Nigerian artist’s perspective of life in Montreal

Akintade said he was inspired to paint women of colour because of the difference in how they are treated in Nigeria and in Montreal. Photo by Mackenzie Lad

Emmanuel Ayo Akintade explores vulnerability and femininity through stunning portraiture

Emmanuel Ayo Akintade, with his tall frame and arresting style peppered with vibrant colours like canary yellow, seems imposing at first. Underneath, however, is a genuine, humble and talented artist who just wants his “paintings to do the talking” about a message he holds close to his heart—respect for women.

The recent studio arts graduate from Dawson College has kept busy this past summer. Akintade had his first solo exhibition at Studio 303, where he was grateful to have an overwhelmingly positive response from the audience.

“It was blessed,” Akintade said. “Students from Concordia and McGill invited me to an event promoting young entrepreneurs afterwards. It gave me more experience about what it is to be an artist and someone who creates art that involves an audience.”

Akintade’s oil paintings are unique in that almost all of them feature black women. When asked about his choice of subject, Akintade replied that he would like to paint women of all ethnicities. He said the message he wants to transmit with his paintings is not just in support of black women, but rather all women, young and old alike.

The reason he hasn’t painted a more ethnically-diverse set of women: laziness.

“I call myself the lazy artist because I don’t like blending paint and making colours. I found my technique and I continued using it,” he said.

His reason for using oil paint also relates to his dislike of the preparatory work that must be done before painting. Acrylic paint, for example, dries too quickly for Akintade’s liking and renders the process of preparing paint on a palette much more difficult than it is with oil paint.

Although most of his practice has been focused on portraying women of colour, Akintade said that in the future, he hopes to paint people of all ethnicities. Photo by Mackenzie Lad

Akintade’s inspiration for his paintings stems from the dichotomy between attitudes towards women in Nigeria—where he lived as a young boy—and the attitudes he has witnessed in Montreal as a teenager and young adult.

“Where I come from, ladies are respected,” the artist said. “Here, there’s so much disrespect of the female character. They tend to be judged by what they do. Back home, there was so much respect.”

Akintade, who has been painting for about three years, said he is surprised by how much his art has evolved, and by how much attention and appreciation his paintings receive. He began painting for fun at home and initially never intended for his paintings to be displayed. After his first exhibition this summer, Akintade said he is still quite shocked by how much of a positive response he got.

“The first time I got my art out, people got really involved with the message right away,” he said. “People started talking about [elements in my work] I wasn’t even planning to paint intentionally.”

Though the so-called “artist gene” does not run in his family, Akintade said his parents are very supportive of his work. His mother often helps him advertise his paintings and occasionally purchases some of his artwork.

Akintade is trilingual, speaking French, English and Yoruba, a dialect spoken in Nigeria. He doesn’t always find it easy to express the thought process behind his paintings, especially in English, which is not his mother tongue.

“As an artist, my goal is to let my paintings do all the talking,” he said.

Though he is not one for many words, Akintade did share a bit of the creative process behind his work. He said he noticed that women in Montreal tend not to talk about the hurtful and disrespectful things they experience on a daily basis. They tend to keep these experiences to themselves, he said.

“That’s why in my paintings they seem so quiet,” Akintade said. “They have their eyes closed. They’re not engaging with their surroundings. They’re just in themselves. The idea is that through their quietness, they are speaking.”

The blossoming artist has a new project in mind for the future. He wants to paint a series of male portraits. He said he feels men are often put into a box and are constantly labeled based on their appearance.

“The new project is about guys,” Akintade said. “I don’t like this idea of labelling guys [by the] way they dress. They should be free.”

Photo by Mackenzie Lad

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Tackling social issues from bud to bloom

Evangelos Michelis’ first solo exhibition explores artistic liberation while engaging in community aesthetics. Photos by Alex Hutchins.

At the start of a journey, BLOOM engages artistic liberation within a social community

This summer, artist Evangelos Michelis began a new journey by steering away from his usual painting techniques. He described BLOOM, his first solo exhibition, as “fun, free and expressive.”

Michelis’ exhibition experiments with colour and form, using techniques that resonated with him the most from his time in art school. Having graduated from Concordia’s BFA studio arts program in 2016, Michelis said he is still adjusting to life as a working artist.

A vital aspect of Michelis’ creative process is interacting with other painters and being exposed to a variety of creative practices. Michelis said Concordia’s fine arts program had a strong sense of community. Therefore, going from large, shared studios to a private one was a big challenge for him.

The change in environment prompted the artist to experiment with different styles. He decided to branch out from his usual focus on contemporary social issues. BLOOM is a body of work that includes the personal, emotional and aesthetic experiences of its viewers, as opposed to being an illustration of social problems.

Rabbit Hole, shown here, was the first piece Michelis created for BLOOM. Photos by Alex Hutchins.

Many of the artist’s early works depict social issues surrounding capitalism, from the consumption of technology (Screen, 2016) to the labourer’s experience in the workplace (Love Thy Labour, 2015). Setting the contemporary narratives of his paintings in familiar scenes such as in supermarkets, bars and restaurants, Michelis’ previous work speaks truth to all who view it.

The pieces in BLOOM are a response to a long winter and are heavily influenced by a residency he did at a studio in Detroit last spring. “When I got there, I had such a clear idea of how I was going to work, what I was going to work on and why,” the artist said. After returning to Montreal a month later though, Michelis said he knew he needed a “pause.”

With summer around the corner, Michelis jumped at the opportunity to explore a new style. Free from the academic restrictions of university, each painting in BLOOM came naturally to Michelis, who was inspired by the background foliage in one of his older pieces, titled Invasion (2014).

In Rabbit Hole (2017), the first piece he completed for BLOOM, Michelis experimented deliberately with complementary colours. The contrast between the deep cadmium red and rich forest green provides a vibrant intensity, a visual technique which kicked off Michelis’ inspiration for this body of work.

BLOOM  is promoted by Feat Management, a three-month-old initiative dedicated to supporting emerging artists and showcasing unseen work. “Our aim is to help these artists flourish and attain boundless feats,” according to founders Rafaёl and Max Hart Barnwell.

The Hart Barnwells are both Concordia graduates—Rafaël from communications and Max from photography—and friends of Michelis’. The trio worked together to organize BLOOM, appropriately titled to represent a blossoming of both Feat Management’s initiative and Michelis’ new approach to his work.

BLOOM’s vernissage will take place on Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. The exhibition will be open from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. everyday until Oct. 2 at the MainLine Gallery. Find Feat Management online and on Instagram @feat.mgmt.

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