The Nude in Nature – and in Photography

Exhibition view arts & architecture gallery, Ottawa

Since photography is my academic specialization, I was very excited to see the current photography exhibition “The Nude in Nature” at the arts & architecture gallery in Ottawa. It shows some of the impressive results of a workshop that was let by the accomplished photographer Karin Rosenthal in Maine last year. The exhibit shows a broad spectrum of stylized depictions of the nude body with emphasis on the line and form of the human figure as part of the nature and landscape. 

Karin Rosenthal's works in "The Nude in Nature"

Rosenthal's (www.krosenthal.com) photographs have been published internationally and are represented in numerous museum collections, like e.g. the Yale University Art Gallery. She has received several grants and prizes including Grand Prize in the 2010 Renaissance International Photography Competition and First Prize in Nudes for the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards. Like the web site of the gallery states “Rosenthal’s work expands the concept of nude from the erotic to the metaphysical, seeing our bodies as vessels of Being within all of nature’s components.” Her black and white photographs that show a detail of the human body in front of a black background, and that gain geometric balance through reflecting surfaces, seem to refer to Man Ray. 

Photographs by Len Ward "Origami"

Indeed, most of the photographs in the exhibition seems to be inspired by renowned photographers of the first half of the 20th century. For example Len Ward's photo series of a model standing on a rock and holding a long, white scarf in the wind that creates astonishing effects, reminds me on German photographers of the 20s and 30s like Horst P. Horst, Erwin Blumenfeld and George Hoyningen-Huene. These photographs are examples for a classic elegance and style.

Photographs by Steve Schmidt

Steve Schmidt's nudes in landscape, curled up in a rock ledge covered with thousands of Balanidae reminds me strongly at Edward Weston with his photographs of female nudes, landscapes and vegetables. In his artist statements Steve writes that he wanted to explore the relationship between human and natural form, between people and environment, and people and their own image. 

Photographs by Tony Schwartz

This weekend the Nude in Nature photography workshop takes place once again, this time in Wakefield. Again it's led by Rosenthal and I am already pretty curious to see the results at the arts & architecture gallery soon...

Facts:

arts & architecture gallery

The Nude in Nature

August 17-28, 2011

1181 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON K1S 3X7

http://www.artsandarchitecture.ca/

Works by:

Karin Rosenthal
Judith Monteferrante
Tony Schwartz
Trish Wright
Steve Schmidt
Sukumar
Len Ward

Summer Mosaic - Ottawa Printmakers Connective

Exhibition view of the Britannia Art Gallery, Ottawa

That's my personal tip for this summer: The first public exhibition of the Ottawa Printmakers Connective. Why? Because the exhibition at the Britannia Art Gallery shows not only a broad range of print techniques, but also of artistic sujets – and it offers original artworks by local artists for decent prices. Exhibited techniques are: woodcuts, linocuts, etchings, monotypes, drypoints, intaglio, collographs, aquatints, stone lithography and silkscreens. 

Woodcuts and linocuts at the Britannia Art Gallery, Ottawa

The woodcuts and linocuts with their formal simplicity caught my eye in particluar. In ther strong black and white contrasts and subjects like cityscapes and birds they reminded me on the German Expressionist movement. In particular Deidre Hierlihy's, Rozemarijn Oudejans' and Keith Bells' prints are worth to be mentioned. Their prices range from $100 to $350.

More colorful are the collographs by Paule Fournier that play with the concepts of abstract and figurative. Collographs are created by applying materials to a rigid substrate like cardboard or wood. In Fournier's case, the interesting structure in the print is made by using substances such as textiles, and leaves in creating the collograph plate. 

The prices of prints in the show range from $85 (e.g. for a small etching by Jeanne Vaillancourt) to $750 (a stone lithography by Lynda Turner) and include the frames. These decent priced works of art might be a good start for an own art collection. The Connective has also a blog: http://ottawaprintmakers.wordpress.com/

Artists in the exhibition:

Leigh Archibald

Mary Baranowski-Lowden

Keith Bell

Manon Boulet

Kathryn Davis

Paule Fournier

Leonard Gerbrandt

Deidre Hierlihy

Maya Hum

David Ladouceur

Louise Lépine

Rozemarijn Oudejans

Debra James Percival

Rod Restivo

Nathalie Roy

Jen Simpson

Denise Tremblay

Lynda Turner

Jeanne Vaillancourt

Shirley Yik

Britannia Art Gallery

Summer Mosaic

August 4 – September 6, 2011

2728 Howe St.

Ottawa

Tuesday thru Saturday 10 am to 5pm

Sunday: 1 pm to 4pm

Monday: Closed

http://www.britanniagallery.ca/

kipjones - interstices: an intervening space

interstices (installation view), 2011, mixed media

“Space is not unlike a living organism. It can change or be changed, affect our moods, be mysterious and even ambiguous.” [From the City Hall Art Gallery exhibition booklet]

The current exhibition at the City Hall Art Gallery opens our senses for space by moving through the installation by kipjones. His intensive installation connects the gallery walls with long, wooden horizontal and vertical wands – and it feels like the room became alive.

interstices (installation view), 2011, mixed media

In particular the walls seems to breath and move because their surface was furnished with organic, round shapes from which the lines reach into the space. The title “Interstice” refers to the space created between two objects and events; and that's what the exhibition is all about: The spatial environments between linear lines in the room, and the relationships between mental and physical spaces.

interstices (installation view), 2011, mixed media

From the gallery's website:

linear gesture

A question of place as it relates to a uniquely defined space.

The modular long thin line gently emerging from an intersection,

a point, diverging,

re-focus,

into a long arcing waves,

defining boundaries, spatial edges.

A delineation of space, a dimensional gesture,

bound to the parameters of the temporal place,

a linear gesture

The experiential movement through the gallery leads to stunning perspectives of the installation that also illustrate movements itself by wavelike forms. We also seem to become a part of the space when we discover the installation from different angles, experience the interstices and become aware of interspace and spatial relations.

interstices (installation view), 2011, mixed media

Facts:

kipjones

interstices: an intervening space

Ottawa City Hall Art Gallery

July 1 to August 21, 2011

Stephen Frew's Colour of Flesh

Stephen Frew at Orange Art Gallery

Ottawa based artist Stephen Frew opened his impressive show with mainly recent works at the Orange Art Gallery last week. I really enjoyed talking to him and he gave me an enlightening insight in his artistic working process. Stephen draws from portrait photographs mostly in the middle of the night. That's why he doesn't use live models so often; and it is the most convenient way for him, as he mentioned.

Orange Art Gallery: Exhibition view

He also doesn't work often with professional models – most of his expressive portraits are actually friends and family. Frew is interested in particular in portraits; but he also tried recently some abstract work. Unfortunately, this is not included in the exhibit.

But he included some of his very impressive self-portraits in the show. Strong lines (in drawings) and almost pointillistic colour dots (in oil paintings) take an expressive effect. The self-reflection is an important part of his oeuvre.

Self-Portraits by Stephen Frew

Stepen Frew holds a Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the Concordia University, Montreal; and he mentioned that the etching technique – nevertheless he doesn't use it any more – strongly influences his drawing skills. The base of each work of art is indeed drawing; in strong, energetic lines.

Stepen Frew: Why Not Two

He is interested in precise streaks and therefore prefers wood and strong paper as surfaces, rather than canvas. Some of his recent works oscillates between figurative portrait and abstract geometries – also a reference to Francis Bacon by whom is strongly influenced.

The two works in the centre are also self-portraits.

The Colour of Flesh by Stephen Frew

Orange Art Gallery
July 6 to July 31, 2011

http://orangeartgallery.ca/

More about Stephen Frew on his website

Art as Money - Money as Art

“During today’s financial crisis, art has been frequently cited as an advantageous alternative asset class. But do the millions of dollars that might buy you a Koons or a Picasso speak about the social and spiritual value?” is the question asked by The Art-as-Money-Blog.

The Zero Bill © Exchanghibition Bank

Or do these millions of dollars speak even about the artistic quality, I am wondering! It is indeed an interesting question. I am just reading a book about the the “curious economics of contemporary art” entitled “The $12 Million Stuffed Shark” - clearly referring to Damien Hirst's unbelievable success. The author Don Thompson (a collector himself) states that the art market bases on branding of artists, museums and auction houses – and these brands determine the price and value of contemporary artworks. He writes: “Since art collectors cannot always fathom the value code, the understandably do not trust their own judgement. Their recourse is often to rely on branding. Collectors patronize branded dealers, bid at branded auction houses, visit branded art fairs, and seek out branded artists. You are a nobody in contemporary art until you have been branded.” [Don Thompson: “The $12 Million Stuffed Shark”, 2008, p. 12.] As current art market developments show, outstanding prices are reached mostly by big names and big players, and the quality of works of art is often not proportional to its price.

The Infinite Bill © Exchanghibition Bank

So, why not just doing it the direct way? Turning art into money, I mean. The “Exchanghibition Bank“ had exactly this idea of turning art into money – in the fully literal sense. The Netherlandish artist Dadara creates candy-coloured bills with amounts of “Zero”, “Infinite”, and “Million”. They also provide exchange rates (for the CAD it is currently 1.39).

“The Art-as-Money-Blog” also asks: “Do you want to buy art as an artifact of beauty and spirituality or as a financial investment? Money has always invested in art, though in an admiring, even worshipping way, since it respected art as its superior, something, which can’t be measured by financial values. But today’s hyper-investment in art seems to be an implicit attempt to overwhelm it, demonstrating in this way that money is superior to art.”

Link: http://exchanghibitionbank.com/

Erik Nieminen – Anonymous Reality

Man in the Mirror, 2007, oil on canvas, 142 x 97 cm, Copyright photo courtesy of Erik Nieminen

“The goal with the paintings is to create an alternate reality, one that may refer to our real world, but that also functions and a convincing space and situation all on its own.” Erik Nieminen's paintings create indeed an alternate reality that seems so random and in motion. They create an almost photographic contingency, like the German art historian Max Imdahl would say (see his essay on Degas' "Place de la Concorde” (1876), 1970). Distorted reflections on surfaces in modern urban spaces show people walking around, waiting at intersections, absorbed in thought - in interaction with others and in the same time isolated. 

City Swish, 2010, oil on canvas, 142 x 203 cm, Copyright photo courtesy of Erik Niemine

Nieminen's urban spaces are all based on real ones. But as he states, he does not particularly care if the viewer recognizes a location – because his intention is not documentation. He says: “I’m interested in creating a situation, a condition that takes place on the stage created in the paintings. People might sometimes recognize a particular space as something they know, but I try to avoid making a painting of a location that makes it read as an icon. For example I would never paint Times Square by showing the usual view of the Coca-Cola ad tower, as that would bring the painting directly back to our world, and what I’m attempting to do is to create a unique world… like a theatrical stage set.” The paintings in the current show at the Karsh-Masson Gallery are based on locations from Montreal, Toronto, Paris, Ottawa, and New York. 

Installation view, Karsh-Masson Gallery, 1st floor, Copyright photo courtesy of Erik Nieminen

Nieminen usually starts from a photographic source. As he says, he takes literally hundreds or thousands of photos of something on location. In a selection process, he then filters them down to a few dozen, and uses bits of information and imagery from several to create a whole. “Then, I take that information and make a drawing... sometimes loose, sometimes a bit more detailed, to make a new kind of space... changing perspective lines, warping, etc... then I go back to the digital images and try to (as best I can with my limited photoshop ability) manipulate my photos to get close to what I did in the drawing... then finally I start the painting (and it changes again during that process through the spontaneous decisions that are made along the way). The degree to which I edit or warp space depends entirely on the needs of each particular work.” 

Installation view, Karsh-Masson Gallery, ground floor, Copyright photo courtesy of Erik Nieminen

I also asked him which artists influence his artistic style and approach:

“My influences are generally from artists who are concerned with space… with depiction. My original influences were the Italian Futurists, due to their interest in movement through space and their urban subject matter. Cubism interested me as well for similar reasons (the breaking up of space). David Hockney is someone who I’ve looked at closely, also because his main concerns are visual depiction and it’s relationship to photography. Also the works of other realist painters such as Edward Hopper, Robert Bechtle, Richard Estes, and Chuck Close. They all have a strong connection to photography, and I’ve always been attracted to their particular aesthetic.”

Flow, 2011, oil on canvas, 137 x 183 cm, Copyright photo courtesy of Erik Nieminen

But he also mentions that his main interest lies in painting, not so much in photography. He understands himself not as a good photographer; taking photos provides rather the pictorial model for his paintings.

Installation view, Karsh-Masson Gallery, 1st floor, Copyright photo courtesy of Erik Nieminen

The paintings in “Anonymous Reality” focus on perception of reflecting and semi-transparent surfaces that he transfers in an introspection. In doing so, he is reconfiguring reality in a surprising way. An impressive exhibit!

Stepping, 2010, oil on canvas, 142 x 142 cm, Copyright photo courtesy of Erik Nieminen

 

Facts:

Erik Nieminen – Anonymous Reality

Karsh-Masson Gallery

136 St. Patrick Street, Ottawa

June 10 to July 24, 2011

Link to the exhibit 

Place and Circumstance @ City Hall Art Gallery

Take your last chance to see the exhibition of recently acquired artworks through the City of Ottawa’s Fine Art acquisition program. Today is the last day!

left, top: Fouhse, Tony, Yvon, Ottawa, 2007, digital photograph on paper

left, bottom: Wonnacott, Justin, Intersection of Booth Street and Somerset looking southwest, summer evening, 2004, digital photograph on paper

right: Harrington, Michael, 401 GAS, 2010, oil on canvas

The exhibition shows places and incidents that shaped our public memory and experience – and the artistic expressions provide a new and unexpected view on our home city and the Nation's capital.

Due to the excellent hanging of artworks in different media such as painting, photography, prints, and sculpture, the stunning correlations between them become clear. Juxtapositions of street views, portraits, cityscapes, installations, and still lives compare and contrast each other, whereas the motives like Ottawa at night, the river, or documentation of the residents emerge through the exhibition.

Like the exhibition booklet says: “Distorted structures and shapes represent contemporary, ambiguous relationships between place and circumstance. Whether relying on images of familiar places and events to produce meaning through comparison, or destroying pre-existing notions of order and identity through the impositions of new narratives, these artworks explore what shapes our experiences as residents of this city.” [Jonathan Browns]

Argyle, Katie, day by day, week by week, month by month: Ottawa Bus Strike, 2009, linocut on paper

Some of the artworks refer to recent episodes that had a great impact on the life in Ottawa. E.g. we all remember the Public Transit Strike in winter 2008/2009. 

This painful cold experience is the subject of Katie Argyle's large-scale linocut print. In the style of Expressionists like Emil Nolde, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Ludwig Kirchner she documents the strike from its first strike day in December to the last day in January in a few rows of small prints. “52 days of transit hell” - like one of the signs in one of the prints states.

left: Mollineaux, Melinda, Ottawa Insomnia #6, 2007, photograph on paper

right: Reid, Leslie, Calumet - Current I, 2006, oil on canvas

Mollineaux captures night time experiences in her pinhole camera that she set up on her down town balcony at night. Due to the fact that the camera remained open the whole night, we can see how the moon travelled through the sky, leaving a glowing light...

Lasserre, Maskull, Lexicon, 2008, steel and newspaper

The sculpture that impressed me most in this show, is the large stack of tightly compressed newspapers that were cut in shape of a human torso skeleton. Lasserre understands his work “as a physical metaphor for the union of nature and artifice, and the paradox of their reconciliation.”

top: Thomas, Jeffrey, My Conversation with Edward S. Curtis: Return the Gaze, Swallow Bird (Crow Tribe), Joseph Crowe (Salteaux Tribe), 2006, digital photograph on paper

bottom: Berry, Judith, Disparate Elements, 2008, oil on MDF board

Also interesting is the photo of a powwow dancer, that Thomas set in juxtaposition to a portrait by Edward S. Curtis, who is well known for his series of the Natives in the early 20th century. By combining these two images, Thomas demonstrates how colonial his perspective was. Berry's “Disparate Elements” of build structures, a fallen tree, and a children's toy train bridge produce a “convoluted rerouting of plans” [from the exhibition booklet].

Hussey, Danny, Signs of Language Video Stills, 2009, silkscreen on digital print on paper 

In the last year, local Ottawa artists submitted 2,733 artworks; and 57 artworks by 37 artists were selected through a peer-review jury. At least one work by these artists is now shown in “Place and Circumstance” - a unique opportunity to see recent additions the the City of Ottawa's Fine Art Collection.

Facts:

Place and Circumstance

City Hall Art Gallery

New Additions to the City of Ottawa’s Fine Art Collection

April 22 to June 12, 2011

City Hall Art Gallery 

Canadian Landscapes @ Gordon Harrison Garden Exhibit last weekend

Gordon Harrison Garden Exhibit in New Edinburgh

What do we all associate with Canadian landscape painting? Yes, of course: Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, Emily Carr... Their paintings of the Canadian wilderness with a broad range of vigorous colours and confident brushstrokes shape our reception of the Canadian painting in the early 20^th century. Gordon Harrison stands in this pictorial tradition – and a broad spectrum of his colourful paintings were displayed last weekend in a very unusual exhibition – outside, under the sunny sky, in a garden.

Gordon Harrison Garden Exhibit

Located in New Edinburgh, Harrison showed his newest paintings in and around his studio an John Street. From June 3^rd till 5^th, dozens of his paintings were displayed on brick walls, on easels, and even on the garden fence!

Gordon Harrison: Georgian Pine Collection 9

Harrison's paintings with strong, thick strokes of oil paint seem to gleam from the inside. In particular the almost abstract paintings caught my attention – when the autumn foliage is just indicated with a few strong brush strokes of warm red oil paint. To obtain his subject matter, stunning beautiful Canadian landscapes, Harrison does not have to travel too far. Some were created from motives inside Gatineau Park (like the Champlain Lookout), and he found a lot of inspiration in the Laurentians – where he and his partner Phil Emond have a B&B. According to the website of the Gordon Harrison Gallery, Harrison is mainly self-taught, and studied at the Ottawa School of Art. He was highly influenced by the Quebec painter Jean-René Richard (1895-1982). As Harrison says: “I refer to my art as ‘Impressionism-Realism’: my brush strokes are broad, loose and intense, yet my subject matter remains clear.”

Gordon Harrison: Panorama de bouleaux Collection 1 (Gatineau Park)

The exhibition was also combined – as every year - with Doors Open Ottawa; therefore a lot of people were attracted to see the artist's studio, listen to live music and spend some time relaxing in the shady garden. Also featured were glass artworks by Catherine Vamvakas-Lay. Her colourful glass vases, sculptures and paper weights were a meaningful addition to the exhibition; because they reflect, like Gordon Harrison's paintings, the thin boundary between abstract and figurative. Catherine holds a bachelor degree in Fine Arts and in Administrative Studies from York University, as well as a diploma in glass from Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.

This painting was inspired by the landscape in Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson (Laurentians).

The show was a success: According to the volunteers of Doors Open, more than 450 visitors came on Saturday and Sunday (for each day). And 17 paintings were sold, together with a signed and framed T-Shirt of the artist – full of colourful paint that is Harrison's signature feature.

Gordon Harrison: Convergence

Facts:

Gordon Harrison 9^th Annual Garden Exhibit

June 3-5, 2011 (I assume, next year again on the first weekend of June)

Gordon Harrison Studio

81 John Street

Gordon Harrison and Catherine Vamvakas-Lay are represented by:

Gordon Harrison Gallery

Japanese Prints, Canadian Feminist Art and Rita Letendre @ CUAG

To take a journey from 17^th century Japanese woodblock prints through colourful abstracts to recent feminist positions, the Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG) is the right place right now - with its three current summer exhibitions! I attended the opening on Monday and was astonished by these three completely different shows that work together so perfectly!

Exhibition view: "Patriot Loves". On the right side: Joyce Wieland's quilts, on the left: Cynthia Girard "Filles du roi/Filles de joie", 2002

So, I started with the feminist show that refers to Joyce Wieland's landmark exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada exactly 40 years ago, called “True Patriot Love”. The show at the CUAG is accordingly entitled “Patriot Loves: Visions of Canada in the Feminine”. It strongly refers to Wieland, who said: “I think of Canada as female. All the art I’ve been doing…is about Canada.”

Nadia Myre: "Indian Act," 2002. She is an Anishinaabe Canadian from the Kitigan Zibi First Nation of Quebec. The printed pages of the law are covered with tiny red and white glass beads. 

The exhibition deals with Canadian patriotism from a feminist point of view. It presents several of Wieland's key works like the quilted “Reason over Passion” (1968), together with contemporary works by Nadia Myre and Cynthia Girard.

Joyce Wieland: “The Spirit of Canada suckles the French and English Beavers”, 1970-71

The exhibition examines some of the historical, political and cultural threads that inform the notions of Canadian patriotic love – like Wieland's little sculpture that shows the “The Spirit of Canada suckles the French and English Beavers” (1970-71)! Cynthia Girard and Nadia Myre also examine Canadian identities with sharp humour and they address topics like history, memory, and experience.

Exhibition view CUAG: "Against the Grain"

Going a few more meters into the main exhibition room: “Against the Grain: Japanese Woodblock Prints from the University of Alberta Art Collection” is a travelling exhibition by the University of Alberta Art Collection. In his talk on Monday, the Japanese ambassador focused on the fact that the woodblock print technique is used not only in traditional Japanese art but also internationally. For example, prints from Dorset were shown in “Inuit Prints: Japanese Inspiration” in the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo (January-March 2011). Ambassador Ishikawa emphasized how these exhibitions provide a wonderful opportunity to learn about different cultures.

Exhibition view CUAG: "Against the Grain"

The exhibition at Carleton shows Japanese woodblock printing from the Edo period (1603-1868) to the present and how this technique and its subjects has developed over the centuries. I was strongly impressed by prints by Hiroshige and Hokusai which had e.g. a major impact on European artists like van Gogh, Degas, and Cassatt. I am actually looking forward to the van Gogh exhibition at the National Gallery next year that will emphasise on van Gogh's reception of the close-up in Japanese prints.

Exhibition view: "Rita Letendre"

Going up the stairs, you will arrive at “Rita Letendre: Themes and Variations”. The winner of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2010 is presented with some of her most striking works, drawn from the gallery’s collection. As the curator Diana Nemiroff mentioned in her talk, Letendre's works are all about energy, light, and colour.

Exhibition view: "Rita Letendre"

The exhibition includes examples of Letendre’s lithographs, serigraphs, and aquatints as well as some pastels and a painting. In her talk, Letendre said that art is a form of communication that aims on individual feelings. The reception of each artwork is not only seeing the artwork but rather to “discover something from yourself” in that moment.

Rita Letendre at her talk, Monday, May 9th, 2011

Letendre made clear how much she loves what she is doing – working as a visual artist since five decades now! Her silkscreens with their bright colours and energetic lines are very striking and the exhibition shows her development from hard geometric forms in the 1960s and 70s to softer colour transition in the 1980s.

My conclusion: These summer shows are a must-go!

Facts:

“Against the Grain: Japanese Woodblock Prints from the University of Alberta Art Collection” 9 May – 24 July 2011

“Patriot Loves: Visions of Canada in the Feminine” 

9 May – 10 July 2011

“Rita Letendre: Themes and Variations” 9 May – 24 July 2011

CUAG

On the Carleton University Campus, St. Patrick's Building

Free admission

Eric Walker's Painted Constructions

Eric Walker's Painted Constructions follow an unusual aesthetic strategy: They show mostly aerial views of cityscapes by using mixed media in a really uncommon meaning. His large-scale artworks are made from common found materials, mostly tiny metallic plates in different shapes and colours which are fastened with again tiny, tiny nails to plywood. This must be such a detailed and difficile effort! 

The Colour of London is Red, 2007, 122 x 83 cm, mixed media collage on plywood fastened with nails

It is amazing to see these assemblages in a close-up view because it reveals how they were made of thousands of little pieces.

Detail of The Colour of London is Red, 2007

Visual and Media artist Eric Walker studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. You can find his works in both public and private collections and he has exhibited throughout Canada and internationally with shows in Tokyo, Mexico City and New York.

The Halifax International Airport in 2004, 2005

Eric Walker is represented here in Ottawa by Cube Gallery.

His blog gives an insight in his artistic development and statements on his works: http://www.ericjosephwalker.com/