Aganetha Dyck, Reva Stone, Diana Thorneycroft: Bees, Beasts & Binaries

OPENING NIGHT: SEPT. 4, 7PM
ON DISPLAY UNTIL SEPT. 26

Although they’ve been sharing a studio space for more than two decades, Aganetha Dyck, Reva Stone and Diana Thorneycroft have never exhibited together. September 4 marks a monumental occasion as these three internationally renowned artists open Bees, Beasts and Binaries.

“We deeply respect each other’s practices and exhibiting together is a wonderful way to celebrate what we feel is a very special relationship,” say the artists of this exhibit.

Bees, Beasts and Binaries, which runs until September 26, brings together the artists’ distinctly different, yet complementary works into a provocative and engaging exhibition. All three artists use materials in unconventional ways, which challenges the viewer's perception of the issues being addressed.

2007 Governor General Award in Visual and Media Arts winner Aganetha Dyck’s interests lie in inter-species communication and the power of small, and how that manifests itself in the world. Her research asks the question regarding the ramifications all living beings would experience should honeybees disappear from earth. In her new body of work, Book Covers, Dyck uses apiary feeder boards, antique hive blankets and her library of bee related books.

2015 Governor General Award in Visual and Media Arts winner Reva Stone is a digital artist whose work explores how technology changes the relationship between our selves and our surroundings. Her latest work,  Radiopticon, is the binary component of Bees, Beasts and Binaries, and consists of an early photograph projector that was used to show postcards in the early 1900s. The projector physically reads as a camera/video projector and travels the exhibition space on a robotic platform. Responding to viewers in its proximity, it shows a variety of video clips that critique contemporary, historical tourism, ecotourism, time travel, the economic impact of the globalization of travel, and the historical use of photography as a device that records memory.

Though globally recognized for her photographic work, over the past two years Diana Thorneycroft has mostly been focusing on the production of sculptural objects. Thorneycroft brings the beast to Bees, Beasts and Binaries with new animal sculptures, and photographic works that build on a similar narrative. Just as she did with her altered horses, Thorneycroft strives to create work that reflects the tension one experiences when encountering “otherness”.  

Bees, Beasts and Binaries is a celebration of a shared studio space, three friends and new work. It is an important event not to be missed.  

TO REQUEST A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS, PRICES OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT SALES@GUREVICHFINEART.COM OR 204-488-0662.

Inland Sea: photographic works by William Pura

Bill Pura in studio 2014_7044.jpg

Since 2005, William Pura has taken thousands of photographs of Lake Winnipeg and the surrounding area. The photographs curated for Inland Sea, Pura’s latest photographic exhibition, touch on a wide range of issues regarding the lake and its relationship to the human presence in Manitoba.

“Images like the Ferris Wheel at Winnipeg Beach or the boat launch at Balsam Harbour indicate how often we use the lake as part of our recreational activites,” says Pura.

“In other images, I have tried to capture the lake in its natural state – using the play of light and atmosphere on the water, with no apparent intervention from humanity other than my presence with a camera.”

Pura has tried to visit the lake throughout all four seasons, at various times of the day.

“I know at each moment, I will find something different. I have yet to be disappointed.”

Pura has been creating art in various mediums for decades. Known for both his paintings, photographs and working mostly in landscapes and abstracts, he has exhibited across North America and Europe.

Inland Sea showcases Pura’s perspective of a place that is a large part of many Manitobans’ daily lives. Its aim is to bring the viewer to a certain place or time, invoking positive memories about a place the photographer holds dear to his heart.

A portion of the proceeds of sales from the exhibit will be donated to the Lake Winnipeg Foundation.

TO REQUEST A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS, PRICES OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT SALES@GUREVICHFINEART.COM OR 204-488-0662.

Prairie Homecoming: new works by Katharine Bruce

TRAVELING ARTIST BRINGS EXHIBIT HOME TO MANITOBA

New York born, prairie raised Katharine Bruce has spent the past five years finding inspiration between the west coast of Canada, the central mountains of Mexico, the plains of Nebraska and the prairies of Manitoba. She returns to her prairie home to share new works from her travels. 

“My surroundings nurture me in a very real way. I feel them feeding me an extraordinary energy,” says Bruce. “That, combined with my passion for life, powers my day to day, and gives me the inspiration that results in the works I create.”

“I think of my work as naturalist abstractions which invoke real or imagined environments. Improvisation is an important part of my work process. I never know before hand what will appear – there are no preconceived notions.” 

Bruce has gained international acclaim for her wide range of abstract reflections, creating subjects that provoke, inspire and delight. Her zest for life at a heightened level of physical and spiritual intensity fuels her artistic expression. 

Throughout her professional career, Bruce has worked with pottery, handmade paper, sculpture and mixed media. Known for her cityscapes and landscapes with a twist, her work shows a disciplined master of design with line, colour and texture.

Prairie Homecoming showcases Bruce’s affection for her prairie home in colourful, enticing abstracts, which, like the prairies, bring a sense of wonderment to the viewer. 

TO REQUEST A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS, PRICES OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT SALES@GUREVICHFINEART.COM OR 204-488-0662.

THIS TIME: new works by keith wood

OPENS JUNE 5, 7PM
ON DISPLAY: JUNE 5-27

While Keith Wood seldom lets the world influence his work, he admits that each of his paintings represents a sum total of his life experience to date. 

As much as Wood tries not to let his surroundings impact his art form, he takes many cues from the musical genre of jazz. Much like jazz music, Wood’s art has an underlying element of structure, in his consistent colour palette and grid-like format. But the dominant elements are the strong notes of improvisation. The result is an intriguing, endlessly interesting body of work – visual music.

Wood approaches each of his paintings with a liberating lesson he learned in art school more than 50 years ago: never assume you know what you’re doing when creating art.

“Sometimes you hit euphoria, then, as you assume you’re in control, you’re like a tethered animal with limited freedom,” Wood says.

Wood works primarily with encaustic paint, which is composed of beeswax, resin and pigment. The paint is kept molten on a heated palette and applied to an absorbent surface. It’s then heated again to fuse the paint. He came to the medium by default, looking for a change of pace after creating art in every known medium. He hasn’t looked back.

Wood works with a limited colour palette, and he says the irony is that the fewer colours he uses, the more colourful his paintings end up.

This Time combines Wood’s 50 years of art experience, with a strong jazz influence in a collection of contrasted, arrhythmic work. Wood says the exhibit isn’t about him, though; it’s about providing an exciting visual experience for the viewer.

TO REQUEST A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS, PRICES OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT SALES@GUREVICHFINEART.COM OR 204-488-0662.

Tom Lovatt, In the Palace of the Planet Queen

OPENING NIGHT: MAY 1, 7PM
ON DISPLAY: MAY 1 - 30, 2015

If memory is a storehouse of everything we value, it is kind of a palace, a place full of all that is precious to us. This idea comes to life in renowned Winnipeg painter Tom Lovatt’s In the Palace of the Planet Queen.

The Planet Queen refers to Spanish artist Diego Velasquez’s Infanta, Queen Mariana. For more than 20 years Lovatt has made new art based on an old Time Life image of her head. Over time, each painting of the Infanta’s head is different as Lovatt’s understanding of what he’s observing and responding to has evolved. 

The show contains three distinct components: paintings, collages and small constructions. The collages began as studies for painting and became something unto themselves. The small constructions grew out of his love of Joseph Cornell’s work, architectural models, doll houses, set designs – anything that works to create an aspect of the larger world in small scale. 

“My works are a poetic exploration and representation of memories past: be it historical, or the personal past that we carry with us in images, memories and reoccurring thoughts,” says Lovatt. “Each repetition builds momentum towards a larger understanding of the work created and the artist who creates.” 

This repetition is Lovatt’s way of focusing the viewer on something he considers important, a way of making the viewer slow down and really look at his art.

In the Palace of the Planet Queen reflects Lovatt’s belief that art is a meaning-making process and a way of better understanding both our internal and external worlds.

 

TO REQUEST A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS, PRICES OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT SALES@GUREVICHFINEART.COM OR 204-488-0662.

REQUIRED READING: Kae Sasaki

OPENING NIGHT: APRIL 3, 7:00PM
ON DISPLAY: APRIL 3 - 25

An artist’s work will almost always have multiple meanings and interpretations. This is especially the case with the body of work in Winnipeg artist Kae Sasaki’s latest exhibit, Required Reading. 

“My paintings are initially conceived from a commanding notion of the sheer interestingness of the subjects. I begin with considering composition and approach to colour,” Sasaki says. “My process uses intuition as often as it does careful linear planning. As the psychological component takes over, symbols and other elements are added to open up the paintings in a multi-vocal way.”

Sasaki has created a method of patinated gold-leaf that brings a distinctive complexity to the paintings. This technique creates the depth that brings the viewer into a visual world that is both familiar and significant. 

The layered meanings in Sasaki’s paintings emerge from her profound emotional connection to every day life-experience. The work is rooted in every day subjects, yet subtly ascends into another world, a glorious fusion of the mundane and the extraordinary.  “I seek an imaginative revitalization of the narrative and atmospheric potential of painting,” she says.

Much of the work features a child in a wonderfully surreal landscape. There is a sense of discovery and wonder as we view the lush surroundings of our world through new eyes, seeing things we have ceased to see. And there is much to see: each viewing results in a different perspective, as the rich symbols of the work reveal themselves.  

Required Reading transcends the ordinary by revealing the mystery behind the familiar.  

TO REQUEST A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS, PRICES OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT SALES@GUREVICHFINEART.COM OR 204-488-0662.

Tools: Kyle Herranen, Clint Neufeld, Marc Courtemanche

Tools FB cover.jpg

OPENING NIGHT: MARCH 6, 7:00PM
ON DISPLAY: MARCH 6-28, 2015

Sometimes they refer to themselves as “tools”, but internationally renowned artists Kyle Herranen, Clint Neufeld and Marc Courtemanche have more in common than a light sense of humour: their work is all about tools. 

Tools challenges society’s stereotypical gender roles and explores the endless possibilities of the artists’ respective materials.

“Our work goes well together. Each of us explores the notion of gender,” said Herranen. “While the pieces themselves are hyper-masculine, they are beautiful objects with feminine qualities,” he said.

Herranen is best known for his highly polished shallow relief resin sculptures that de-code contemporary notions of aesthetics. These socially constructed realities both parallel and reject nature and the environment. As an outdoorsman, along with fighting forest fires across North America for nine years, he is rooted in a bizarre, absurd, and meaningful intersection between nature and culture.

Neufeld, a sculptor, works with the concepts of masculine identity in the form of ceramic transformations of engines and transmissions. He paints them pink and light blue, adding flower details. Prior to pursuing a career in art, Neufeld spent three years with the Canadian military.

Courtemanche uses woodworking skills and applies them to clay. The results are objects that are visually taken for “real”, with a closer inspection revealing them to be made of a foreign material. Additionally, the decoration of various tools with vintage “country style” ceramic decals alludes to familiar decoration of functional domestic ceramic objects, while drawing attention to the handmade quality of the objects.

Together, the artists’ work perfectly complements each other in a show that challenges the viewer’s ideas of masculinity and art.

TO REQUEST A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS, PRICES OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT SALES@GUREVICHFINEART.COM OR 204-488-0662.

Christian Worthington, "Zeitgeist Vs. Great Man"

OPENING NIGHT: DECEMBER 5, 7:00PM
ON DISPLAY: DEC 5 - JAN 31

Christian Worthington regards history as an endlessly unfurling source of information, prompting the evolution of his art. This development is clear in Zeitgeist vs Great Man the third exhibition in the Painting is History series. Worthington’s latest oil, clay and steel pieces underscore his study of history’s influential artists. By identifying great artists as authority in his work, Worthington is able to elevate his art in a contemporary landscape saturated with self-expressiveness. He understands that zeitgeist  – current world culture and his work are inextricable. It is because of this consideration that Worthington seeks to produce historically informed art in the midst of our cultural amnesia. Zeitgeist vs Great Man opens at Gurevich Fine Art on December 5th and is on display until January 31st, 2015.  

“History informs us,” says Worthington. “We can accept it, reject it, or sample it, but as an artist I am compelled to respond to it. We need to understand that there is a historical fabric that runs through everything that we create, it is connected to everything that is and everything that will be.” In the act of creating, with these ideas in mind, Worthington offers historical relief and the possibility of historical transcendence for his art.  

Based on the philosophical ideas of the “Great Man” and “Zeitgeist”, Worthington attempts to understand the forces of revolutionary change in civilization.  The 19th century cultivated the Great Man theory, whereby it was argued that highly influential people determine history, exclusively. The mythology behind some of the world's most famous leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Joan of Arc, Mahatma Gandhi, and Alexander the Great helped contributed to the notion that great leaders are born and not made.  

“Conversely, the Zeitgeist, or ‘the spirit of the age’ theory, represents a shift in the mood or attitude of a time in which culture vigorously adapts to introduce new ideas,” explains Worthington. “This latest collection of works in oil, clay, and steel is a self-conscious examination of my approach to art-making.” By deconstructing the theories of “Zeitgeist” and the “Great Man” Worthington challenges himself to explore how history happens and its potential to motivate new works of art from other, non-patriarchal perspectives.

These two contrasting concepts are examples of how historicism has formed  his development as an artist. Worthington’s work seeks not to be an academic response to history, but a visual, emotional expression of how it informs art today. 

Discover more from Christian Worthington

TO REQUEST A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS, PRICES OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT SALES@GUREVICHFINEART.COM OR 204-488-0662.

1557, oil on canvas, 2014, 72" x 40"
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Bette Woodland, "Casting Shadows"

Opening Night: November 7, 7:00PM
On Display: Nov 7 - 29

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Wave, oil on canvas, 2012, 36" x 42" 

Imagine music without a clear melody . . . In art, a close equivalent to this loss would be a painting without a clear sense of light and shadow. Just as the notes and rhythms of a melody lead us through a musical piece, it is the important role of light to move us through a painting. Perhaps this is why the work of award winning artist Bette Woodland is considered so reflective.  Woodland’s exhibition Casting Shadows opens November 7th, 7:00PM at Gurevich Fine Art and is on display until November 29th. 

At her core Woodland is concerned with the capturing of life’s moments. Each painting or drawing begins with her response to a particular landscape, figure or still life. She creates a rhythmic visual harmony of light and shadow. Together they create a sense of movement. Both familiar and timeless, Woodland’s art is not descriptive in the photo-realist sense.  It evolves intuitively, guided by a conversation with a certain quality of light. No matter the subject, Woodland uses light and shade to make its identity clear. 

Each painting presented is built up with layers of paint, each layer applied when the surface is dry. This process often finds Woodland developing many different pieces at once.  By applying areas of paint with a painting knife she is able to “float” one colour over another without blending them together. A similar method is experience through her monotypes using brayers, one colour of ink is applied over another without losing either. The values, in contrast with one another, create a dynamic relationship. 

"My work is engaged with the transformative power of light,” explains Woodland. “It intensifies experience and lifts the ordinary towards the transcendent. My practice as an artist has always been concerned with revealing that experience through paint." Woodland reflects a strong, self-conscious juxtaposition of light and shade, which results in a stunning visual effect in a work of art.

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Grey Sky, oil on canvas, 36" x 42"

Works Available

To request a catalogue of the works, prices or additional information, please contact us at sales@gurevichfineart.com or 204-488-0662.


Christian Worthington, "Anno Domini: Images of Faith for the New Century"

About Christian Worthington

Christian Worthington (born 1976) is a Canadian-born painter who resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A life-long student of the works and legacies of the Old Masters (most notably Caravaggio, Rembrandt, as well as modern masters Rothko, and Frankenthaler), his paintings dually reflect the meticulous and well-plotted techniques of the masters, and the contemporary sensibilities of the Modern painters.

Early life
Throughout his youth, Worthington worked constantly at his craft. After completing high school, he enrolled at the Ontario School of Art and Design in Toronto (OCAD), leaving during his first semester over "philosophical differences". He decided to forgo traditional academic training, favouring non-institutional methods. He traveled to some of the world's greatest museums and galleries- Tate Modern, National Gallery in London, the Louvre in Paris, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam- to examine and study from the Master paintings up close. A self-starter and autodidact, he absorbed their methods and philosophies through extensive reading and research, incorporating his discoveries into own unique body of work.

Worthington concerns himself with painting as being a serious investigation into beauty, as well as a timeless medium able to withstand cultural and technological trends. His earlier practice delved into the complex narratives, drama, and techniques of the Northern, Italian, and Spanish Renaissance. For several years he explored Christian themes and portraiture, seeking to understand Caravaggio and his contemporaries. Upon seeing an exhibition of Rothko abstracts at the Tate Modern, Worthington began drawing parallels between those ancient paintings and what the Modernists were doing, believing that the two generations of artists approached art with the same integrity and conviction. His work began to take on a new hybridism of ancient and modern techniques, a continuous exploration of oils, with endless experimentations in glazing, layering, and non-conventional methods of paint application. 

Today
Worthington's large abstracts and representational paintings have been shown in, and sold to, private and public collections all across North America and the UK, hanging alongside the prized works of Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. His success as a painter is due to his tireless practice and studiousness, and his Rembrandt-like mercantile sensibility. He continues to gain popularity among patrons and corporate buyers. The most recent acquisitions of his works have been made by Tapper Cuddy LLP, the Western Financial Group, the Royal Bank of Canada, the Trump Towers in Miami, Florida, the public collections of the Government of Manitoba, and Manitoba Hydro.

-Suzanne Pringle

 

Gurevich Fine Art at the Toronto International Art Fair

Toronto International Art Fair

October 24th - 27th, Metro Toronto Convention Center, Toronto. Booth #1114

Gurevich Fine Art presents seven of Manitoba’s finest talents in the world of contemporary art. These artists have earned numerous accolades and awards, locally, nationally and internationally. Most importantly their visions of our world are compelling and gifted.

Download Docent Information as PDF

Featuring the Works of: 

Buffy Sainte-Marie, Elder Brothers, Ilfordchrome (cibachrome) photograph, 73.5" x 90"

Buffy Sainte-Marie 

Buffy Sainte-Marie is a Canadian-American Cree singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. All areas of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s artistic projects are marked by an originality and fearless diversity. Working within emerging technologies Sainte-Marie very early combined photography, wet painting, pointillism- pixelation, abstraction and realism techniques. The final product is an intensely contemporary statement of colour, line and subject matter that draw from her love of design, dance, animals and Aboriginal cultures. 

Buffy likens her electronic paintings to “painting with light”. A pioneer in digital art, she has used the entire 30 year history of digital imaging software to combine colours, light and over-painting with metallic dyes to create significant, brilliantly coloured timeless paintings that are reflective of her heritage while being very rooted in the present. Her works have graced the covers of Art Focus and Talking Stick magazines and been featured in MS. Magazine, Yahoo, and USA Today.

Carole Freeman, The Fairs - Bald, acrylic on mylar 11” x 8.5”

Carole Freeman

An observer of  life and people, Carole Freeman's art practice combines clinical study, empathy, humour, and ironic juxtaposition as an approach to narrative image making and portraiture. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in 1980, Freeman astonished the art world  with a return to painting in 2008 after a long hiatus in her career. Her work is playful and provocative, capturing character and moments.

This year, Freeman's work was exhibited in Classical Values: Modern and Contemporary Drawings at Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles , as one of four living artists including David Hockney alongside other luminaries such as Picasso, Matisse, and Klimt.  In 2012, Freeman was invited to speak about her practice on the panel Making Art in the Age of  New Media, moderated by Janet Carding, Director of the Royal Ontario Museum, for the Canadian Arts Summit at the Banff Centre. Freeman's work has been highlighted  in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, and Now Magazine as well as numerous blogs including ArtDaily and Los Angeles Magazine.

Cyrus Smith, U8, oil, paper, string on canvas, 63" x 63"

Cyrus Smith

Winnipeg born, Berlin based, Cyrus Smith is as influential as he is brilliant. This makes it problematic to clearly summarize his practice in a neat package, save to say ‘contemporary artist’. Titles aside, one can note that he is continuously pushing himself and his visual language, exploring his penchant for anarchy. His large-scale acrylic and mixed media paintings reject idealism; stale artistic methods and modern society’s unchecked embrace of ‘rationalism’. 

Some of Smith’s materials are taken from his own failed paintings, enabling a personal reclamation rather than from a pop cultural source. The resulting images are a mix of controlled chaos, humour, and tongue-in-cheek experiences. The works are a pop-art statement of postmodern defiance. 

Kae Sasaki, Untitled, Oil and Patina on Gold-Leafed Panel, 2014, 40" x 40"

Kae Sasaki

The richness in the raw materials of Kae Sasaki’s work develop from the ideas born of Fairy tales and classical myths. Her artwork is a unique investigation of the boundary between narrative and its interpretation, art and its allegory. Using an innovative ‘patination’ method to apply gold and silver leaf to her work, Sasaki’s work is stunning in its technique and raw beauty.

Sasaki graduated from the University of Manitoba with her BFA Honours in 2012. She was commissioned by the University for a Bronze Sculpture. Her work has been exhibited at the Winnipeg Art Gallery among others and she has won several awards including the Alice Hamilton Painting Prize in 2012. 

Megan Krause, Navigating Hindemith, Watercolour, Acrylic and Oil on Panel, 24" x 24", 2012

Megan Krause

Using watercolour and oil paint, Krause’s work investigates consumer habits, environmental issues and questions of sustainability. Her compositions layer organic imagery with linear elements, juxtaposing ambiguous patterns with representational structures. Her paintings become an effort to resolve her ideological intentions with her conflicting actions. 

Megan Krause completed her BA in International Development Studies at Canadian Mennonite University and more recently her BFA Honours in Painting at University of Manitoba. In September 2012 she was selected to be a participant in the yearlong Foundation Mentorship Program offered by MAWA. Krause has been awarded three grants in 2014 including The Nellie McClung Arts Legacy Award.

Cliff Eyland, Meditation Block 4, Oil on Block, 5" x 3"

Cliff Eyland

Driven by his belief that libraries are the foundation of civilization, Cliff Eyland settled on the 3” x 5” index card as his constraint. These intricate works cover many styles, abstract, landscape, and figurative. They are best presented in juxtaposed multiples. 

Cliff Eyland is painter, writer, professor, and curator. He has exhibited his work in art galleries and libraries in Canada, the United States and Europe. Exhibition highlights include solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the New School University in New York, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Struts Gallery and Gallery Connexion, the Art Gallery of Calgary, , the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and eyelevelgallery,. His permanent installation of over 1000 paintings at Winnipeg’s Millennium Library opened in 2005. Another installation opened at the Meadows Library in Edmonton in 2013 and most recently at Halifax Central Library.

Christian Worthington, 1607, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 2013, 48" x 80"

Christian Worthington

 Christian Worthington’s large ethereal abstracts and gorgeous representational paintings are ‘implicitly ontological’. “My work comes from the view; implicitly (and stubbornly) that art should only deal with the nature of being itself (ontology). Art contemplated and experienced in this context can be a powerful tool in bringing the senses into a deeper appreciation. ”

A Canadian-born painter who resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba Worthington is a life-long student of the works and legacies of the Old Masters - most notably Caravaggio, and Rembrandt, as well as modern masters Rothko, and Frankenthaler.

His art hangs alongside prized works of Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. His work has been shown in, and sold to, private and public collections across North America and the UK, notably the collections of the Royal Bank of Canada, the Trump Towers in Miami, Florida and the public collections of the Government of Manitoba. He has appeared on the CBC National, Time out London, Image Journal, Imago, Eat your Arts and Vegetables, Cardus, and has been a speaker at many events, including the Manitoba Society of Artists conference on art history at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

 

 

 

Hogs and Horses: Diana Thorneycroft, Michael Boss

On Display Until November 1st

"Some couples play bridge or rob banks, we exhibit together," says Michael Boss of his relationship with Diana Thorneycroft. Despite collaborating on projects for over 20 years, the two Winnipeg artists’ approaches to making art are in complete contrast. While Thorneycroft's work challenges us with the darkness that lurks in the human consciousness, Boss gives us conviction and solace. Together the two are a perfect match. Hogs and Horses is the couple’s fifth collaboration. The exhibit opens on October 3rd, 7:00PM and is on display until October 25th.

Diana Thorneycroft, Rabbitfoot Black, Mixed Media, 12" x 14" x 12"

Hogs and Horses focuses on Thorneycroft’s morphed plastic horses and Boss's series of drawings, photographs and mixed media pieces that highlight his passion for motorcycles. On the surface the common link between these two bodies of work seems to be "transportation". Yet, the true underlying connection is "obsession". Both artists have spent the better part of two years investigating their respective subject matter. This fascination is clear in the breadth and depth of the two dozen pieces presented in Hogs and Horses.

Inspired by Thorneycroft’s interest in West African vodun culture, each of her manipulated plastic toy horses have the potential to become a container invested with meaning. Protruding from the horses’ mouths, which were altered to appear open, is a temporary tongue. When the tongue is removed, the empty cavity allows the owner to place a small magical/memorable object in through the horse’s mouth, eventually, landing in its belly. This process of activation, which becomes permanent once the tongue is glued in place, turns the sculpture into the owner’s personal talisman. Thorneycroft’s alterations to the plastic toy horse go beyond changing their mouths, and through additional alterations, the horse-ness of the animal disappears and a hybrid “other” takes its place.

Michael Boss, Softail, coloured pencil, 18" x 24", 2013

Michael Boss, Softail, coloured pencil, 18" x 24", 2013

Boss, in contrast, bares his fascination with motorcycles and the mystique that surrounds them. "I have been obsessed with motorcycles since I had my first ride on my uncle Len's Harley at age 4,” says Boss. The experience naturally worked its way into Boss’ art. The large-scale oil pastel drawings of his own bikes and those that appeal to him are part of this complex nostalgia. Boss also constructed a cardboard motorcycle using a shoebox, masking tape, duct tape and a plastic water bottle. The end results are not unlike the models from his childhood, bursting with reminiscence and excitement. 

The two artists challenge our notions of what is weird and what is wonderful. Together Thorneycroft and Boss’ prove that when artists collaborate the extraordinary happens.

Artist Statements

Diana Thorneycroft

Although I am mostly known for being a photo-based artist, for the last two years, I have been making sculpture. This shift in my practice was partially influenced by an event that took place when I travelled to Shenzhen, China three years ago, and encountered people with horrifically abnormal bodies, all begging for money in a large market area. The spectacle of their disfigurement was remarkable. My desire to photograph them was tempered by the discomfort I felt when I considered participating in their exploitation. I was reminded of freak shows and the allure of the “other” and felt culpable for being curious about these ‘performers’ with their aberrations. 

The experience in China led me to a new field of research. In order to comprehend the universal appeal of visual abnormality and my own contradictory emotions, I began reading about the history of freak shows, disability theory and the representation of difference. Although I am still learning, I now have a better understanding of the complex issues surrounding heterogeneity. 

As an artist, I want to make work that reflects the tension one experiences when encountering “otherness”. In the past I have used dolls, animal carcasses and action figures as surrogates for the human form. With this new work, I chose the ubiquitous plastic toy horse, made by companies such as Breyer and Mattel. 

When I started altering the toys, I simply covered their bodies with fabric, but in time, the changes became more severe; limbs were cut off, prosthetics attached, and new skins of various materials were adhered to the plastic. When I began melting the horses in an oven, which drastically morphed their shape, the original horse-ness of the toy receded and a strangely beautiful hybrid took its place. In their disfigurement, the horses began to successfully exude “otherness”, and embodied much of what that word implies. 

In addition to theories about visual difference, my appreciation and understanding of African vodun botchio figurines has also contributed to this work. 

The custom of using figurines to protect oneself and family was once a common practice, especially in western Africa. In the Fon culture, for example, a carver would be hired to make a wooden figurine that roughly resembled the client’s human form. Following its completion, the next phase would be the employment of a shaman, who would activate the carving by embellishing it with various materials believed to be magical. Sometimes a cavity would be made to house a specific medicine and then sealed in place with a nail or plug. The botchio would then be placed in front of the client’s home to become the family’s protector.

It is not my intent to appropriate African culture, as the botchio figurine stems from a religion I do not practice, but the power of imbuing meaning into objects is universal, and for that reason, I feel comfortable making this conceptual link.

As mentioned earlier, the second-hand plastic horses are made by companies such as Breyer and Mattel. In my mind, they become the “carver”. When I alter the horses by reshaping their bodies, adding limbs, textures and drawn skins, I take on the role of the “shaman”. However, activation is done by the person who ends up owning the horse.

Each altered horse has a tongue that is removable. This allows the new owner to put something they believe to be magical or memorable in through the horse’s mouth, to eventually land in its belly. Once the tongue is permanently glued in place, the sculpture takes on a new invested meaning. This process of activation makes the horse the owner’s personal talisman. 

Michael Boss

I have been obsessed with motorcycles since I had my first ride down the back lane on my uncle Len’s Harley at age 4. From that moment on I dreamed of owning a bike just like that one. 

The decades flew by and the dream remained a dream. It finally became a reality when my daughter bought me a customized 1979 Harley Sportster for my 50th birthday (Best Daughter Ever)!

Since then, the obsession has grown. I hit the road every chance I get. The experience has, naturally, worked its way into my art practice. I have been doing large-scale oil pastel drawings of my bikes and those that appeal to me. I find pastel the ideal medium for this work; it is situated between painting and drawing; it allows me to work broadly and quickly; capturing the power and vitality of these machines without getting bogged down in details. 

There is nothing like roaring down a winding road on a bike, feeling the rush of the wind, being immersed in the sights, sounds and smells around you. I aim to relay a sense of the physicality of the experience in the muscular marks and textures on the paper; the combinations of muddy, rough, raw sections set against pristine and smooth surfaces. 

The act of drawing and painting is inspired by the primal emotions that arise as I head out on the highway and leave everything behind me, becoming immersed in the wind pushing against my face and chest, the roar of the powerful engine reverberating through my body, the sense of freedom and power that flow from the “heavy metal thunder”.

To request a catalogue of the works, prices or additional information, please contact us at sales@gurevichfineart.com or 204-488-0662.

A Celebration of Women's Art: Featuring Amik(waa) by Caroline Monnet presented by Video Pool

Gurevich Fine Art is proud to celebrate Mentoring Artists for Women's Art (MAWA) 30th anniversary with A Celebration of Women's Art: Featuring Amik(waa) by Caroline Monnet presented by Video Pool an exhibition that supports and celebrates the rich diversity of women artists.

Opening September 5th at 7:00PM, A Celebration of Women's Art features four gallery spaces of artwork featuring the women artists of Gurevich Fine Art. The exhibit will also feature visual artist Caroline Monnet’s installation Amik(waa), presented by Winnipeg's Video Pool Media Arts Centre. Caroline Monnet will also host a presentation at Gurevich Fine Art on September 6th at 1:00 PM. The exhibit will be on display until September 27th.

“Many of our artists have deep connections with MAWA. We are grateful for the place they have created for female artists in Winnipeg and are happy to celebrate this milestone with them,” says Gurevich Fine Art coordinator Alexandra Rohne.

Featuring 20 different artists, A Celebration of Women's Art showcases the depth and diversity of established and emerging women artists. “The work shows the positive effect MAWA has had in our community,” states Gurevich Fine Art owner Howard Gurevich. 

Gurevich Fine Art Presents:

  • Aganetha Dyck:  2014 Making a Mark Award winner, Dyck transforms everyday objects with the help of honeybees. Her research asks questions about the ramifications should honeybees disappear from earth. 

Aliana Au's Blue Moon II

Aliana Au's Blue Moon II

  • Aliana Au: The recipient of several Manitoba Art Council grants Au’s landscapes investigate time and her search for natural places left untouched by man. 

  • Bette Woodland: With work in the collections of the Canada Council Art Bank, Canadiana Fund National Capital Campaign and Numerous National and International Private Collections, painter Bette Woodland’s landscape work is prized for its ability to capture life’s moments.

  • Buffy Sainte-Marie: Buffy Sainte-Marie’s talent for visual art is an extension of her accomplishments as musician, teacher and activist. She has been creating digital art since 1984. She is an artistic authority on the changes and trends in technology that have become integral to our daily life.

  • Carole Freeman: Currently being exhibited alongside Picasso, Hockney and Matisse, Freeman has participated in exhibits in Toronto, London, Winnipeg, New York and Los Angeles. Her work has been highlighted by The Globe and Mail, The National Post and Now Magazine among many blogs and art news sites.

  • Deborah Danelley: A gold medalist from the University of Manitoba’s School of Art, Danelley uses book collages to create architectural decay and formulate her ideas on beauty in imperfection.
     

  • Diana Thorneycroft: A highly respected artist Thorneycroft has been the subject of national radio documentaries, a book and has received numerous awards for her offbeat photography collections. Canadian Art Magazine selected Thorneycroft's series  "Group of Seven Awkward Moments" as one of The Top 10 Exhibitions of 2008.

  • Elaine Banerjee: Elaine studied ceramic sculpture, woodcarving and life drawing at Symposium School of Art from 1977 to 1981. Working primarily in clay, Banerjee now volunteers at Artbeat studio.

  • Elise Dawson: After graduating from the School of Art at the University of Manitoba in 2012, Dawson became the founding curator of Chesterfield Magazine in Winnipeg. An impassioned community member, she is currently chair of the MAWA board.

  • Eva Stubbs: A Winnipeg artist of high regard, Eva Stubbs’ drawings and sculptural works are prized for their ability to penetrate the depth of the human condition. In addition to her sculptural practice, Stubbs has taught art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and Lakehead University and was a founding member of SITE, a gallery cooperative. She was also a mentor in the advisory program for MAWA.

  • Jillian McGillivray: is a painter from Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. Recently graduating with a BFA Honours in Painting from the University of Manitoba, she has shown in various galleries within Manitoba.

  • Kae Sasaki: Kae graduated from the University of Manitoba with her BFA Honours in 2012. Her work has been exhibited at the Winnipeg Art Gallery among others and she has won several awards including the Alice Hamilton Painting Prize in 2012. She uses an innovative 'patination' method to apply gold and silver leaf to her work.

  • Katharine Bruce: Katharine is a contemporary painter who specializes in paintings, drawings, mixed media and photography. Her artwork embodies the spirit and soul of traditional art and design while exploring a wide range of cross media techniques. Her landscape works and architectural paintings explore a wide range of locations from Manitoba and the Prairies to New York, USA and around the world.

  • Marie Doris Valois: Marie-Doris has been painting and showing her work since 1992. She studied colour and painting with artist Francine Labelle in Montreal. She has exhibited her creations at salons in Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa and Toronto.

  • Marielouise Kreyes: Born in Lobberich, West Germany, she came to Canada in 1951. She studied at the University of Manitoba, School of Fine Arts, 1959-63, under Professors Swinton, Bjeljac, Eyre, Bruce, Williams and she was awarded her diploma in art in 1963. She held solo shows at the Albert White Galleries, Toronto (1965) and the Yellow Door Gallery, Winnipeg (1965). Kreyes exhibited in the Second Annual McLaren Acquisition Show (Winnipeg, 1966) and the Travelling Show of the Manitoba Society of Artists (1967). She won the Gold Medal and Grand Prix Du Salon International de Vichy (France) in. This will be the first exhibition of her work since her passing in 1983. 

Megan Krause's Shepherding the Ice

Megan Krause's Shepherding the Ice

  • Megan Krause: Megan completed her BA in International Development Studies at Canadian Mennonite University and more recently her BFA Honours in Painting at University of Manitoba. In September 2012 she was selected to be a participant in the yearlong Foundation Mentorship Program offered by MAWA. Krause has been awarded three grants in 2014 including The Nellie McClung Arts Legacy Award.
     

  • Miriam Rudolph: Miriam is a graduate of the BFA program at the University of Manitoba. She is pursuing her MFA at the University of Alberta this fall. In 2014 two of Rudolph’s cartographic works being acquired by Canada House in London, UK, and two of her autobiographical works winning “Best in Show” at the Biennial International Footprint Competition.
     
  • Reva Stone: Reva is a Canadian artist well known for her work with digital technologies. She has worked with video, net.art, interactive installations, robotics, responsive 3D environments, and currently is working with voice and face recognition technologies. Stone has exhibited her work internationally and is also active as a curator, a writer, an educator and a mentor to artists through MAWA.
     
  • Shannon Yashcheshen: Heavily influenced by new media and digital technology, Shannon’s figurative pieces pay close attention to celebrity and popular culture, and art historical and contemporary definitions of portraiture. A graduate of the University of Manitoba, Shannon was awarded the Nora Jane Rowe Bursary in Fine Arts Graduate Studies in 2013.
     

  • Shelley Vanderbyl: Soft, intimate and atmospheric the representational images created by Vanderbyl nurture and care for her audience. Her work has captured the imagination of audiences and collectors across the world. She has made appearances on CTV Morning Live, Breakfast Television, UMFM Radio, Shaw Television, and has been profiled in major newspapers across Canada. 

  • Sue Gordon: Winnipeg artist Sue Gordon's ethereal encaustic work bares the weight of her nostalgia for the prairie horizon. She now seeks to tell stories of longing associated with the increasingly disconnected world of social media set against her dramatic landscapes.

About Gurevich Fine Art
Gurevich Fine Art is an art gallery that presents a broad view in regards to presenting the best in The gallery is a focal point for artists and patrons at various levels to exchange visions. More information on Gurevich Fine Art is at  www.gurevichfineart.com.

Video Pool Media Arts Centre Presents: Amik(waa)

Caroline Monnet's Amik(waa)

Caroline Monnet's Amik(waa)

Caroline Monnet is a multidisciplinary artist of Algonquin and French descent who works primarily with film and video, photography, screen-printing and installation. Her works have been presented in several festivals and galleries in Canada, Europe and the United States, including the Toronto International Film Festival, Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art and Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin.

Amik(waa) investigates the connections between the inherent knowledge of Monnet’s Algonquin ancestry—the Beaver Clan—and the natural world. The exhibit is a representation of women’s art within contemporary culture from diverse ideological, cultural and theoretical perspectives. 

About Video Pool Media Arts Centre
Video Pool Media Arts Centre is a nonprofit, artist-run centre dedicated to the creation, exhibition and promotion of independent media art.  Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Video Pool fosters an innovative community of artists working in sound, video, computing, and emerging technology art, while offering public exhibitions, artist talks and conferences to encourage awareness of and dialogue concerning new media art forms. More information on Video Pool is at: www.videopool.org.

ONLINE UNVEILING OF IN CELEBRATION OF WOMEN'S ART 

Thank you for joining us for the Online Unveiling of A Celebration of Women's Art. Below is a selection of the works presented in the exhibit as well as images from opening night. To request a catalogue of the works, prices or additional information, please contact us at sales@gurevichfineart.com or 204-488-0662.

The Second Annual Secrets From The Vault

Opening Night: July 4th, 7:00PM
On Display: July 4th - August 30th

Gurevich Fine Art proudly presents the second annual Secrets from the Vault, an exhibit of work from Gurevich Fine Art’s private collection. Many of the works showcased in Secrets from the Vault have been acquired over the last few years and are on view at Gurevich Fine Art for the first time. The exhibit opens July 4th at 7 P.M. and will feature works by Aganetha Dyck, Buffy Sainte Marie, Robert Bruce, Jackson Beardy and Cyrus Smith among others.

Secrets promises an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the mysteries of some of Winnipeg’s foremost artists and emerging talent.

Secrets showcases work of various sizes some striking, some intimate. They represent various styles ranging from cubist to postmodern (Bruce, Dyck), digital pioneer (Saint Marie), Woodlands traditional (Beardy) and graffiti (Smith). All are examples of exceptional artistry.  The collection will host over 30 artworks; some which have remained unseen for decades. This is a rare opportunity for viewing or adding important pieces to collections.

This exhibit is on display at through August 30, with new work being revealed throughout. 

ONLINE UNVEILING OF SECRETS FROM THE VAULT

Thank you for joining us for the Online Unveiling of Secrets From The Vault. Below are each of the works presented in the exhibit as well as images from opening night. To request a catalogue of the works, prices or additional information, please contact us at sales@gurevichfineart.com or 204-488-0662.

To request a catalogue of the works, prices or additional information, please contact us at sales@gurevichfineart.com or 204-488-0662.

SOL: Cuban Exhibition

SOL Gurevich Fine Art Dalvis Tuya Jairo Alfonso Francisco Nunez

Gurevich Fine Art welcomes summer into the gallery with SOL, an exhibition of work by Cuban artists; Jairo Alfonso, Francisco Núñez and Dalvis Tuya. The exhibit introduced us to ideas both political and social from Cuba, a country that is at once tantalizingly close and yet shockingly unfamiliar to us. SOL opens June 6th at 7:00 pm and is on display until June 28th.

The extensive and stylistically diverse collection of art presented in SOL reflects the intoxicating beauty of the region and those who live there while presenting the techniques and significance of each artist.

Jairo Alfonso’s work investigates the mystery of personal experience to become an exercise in awakening memory and reflection. By balancing objects in tippy stacks in his coffee and ink drawings he explores the symbolism inherent in objects found in daily life. These objects are consumed through their use and then are not discarded. The results are boxes or teetering piles full of various disarrangements. Earlier works from Alfonso illustrate the conflicted history of his country. Layers of collaged religious iconography act as backdrops to painted barbed wire rail lines and filmstrips. He uses these multi-media artworks to create visual stories set around the manner in which each piece characterizes generations, civilizations, and human groups.

Francisco Núñez paints abstract portraits. Powerful faces furtively emerge beneath strong slashes of vibrant paint against starkly composed canvases. The abstract and the figure are blended with a sense of minimalism. Yet the faces are still dominant, full of energy and depth. By exploring each face we are embarking on a journey into the innermost soul of the subjects of his paints. By emphasizing the eyes Núñez creates a direct dialogue between the work and the viewer, thus producing a gaze in each work that is irreplaceable.

Dalvis Tuya’s works involve taking a step back to see the full picture emerge, and a step forward to see the tiny, repeated patterns of smaller images that form the whole. Recreating mass behavior and ordinary objects of everyday life Tuya expresses humanities preoccupation about time and immortality and how the individual is inseparable from the society. Using simplistic tools, his minimalism pieces evolve into a sketch that goes from a micro icon into its macro form creates a dialogue about our place in society.

As with any group of visual artists, even those who are united by their country, there is often little to cohere the artists. Yet in SOL the prevailing harmony among these contemporary artists is in how they unite the conceptual and the aesthetic to tell the stories of life in a place that is closer than it seems.

WORKS AVAILABLE

To request prices or additional information, please contact us at sales@gurevichfineart.com or 204-488-0662.

Art & Architecture

Gurevich Fine Art presents Art & Architecture to coincide with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s (RAIC) Festival of Architecture. The exhibit explores the relationship between art, architecture and the individuals who create them. Art & Architecture is on display from May 26th – 31st.

The Festival of Architecture is part of the RAIC’s annual conference for architects from across Canada. Art & Architecture exemplifies Gurevich Fine Art’s mandate of bringing innovative artistic approaches to the spaces we live in. Be it through abstraction, landscape or installation, each artist creates pieces that enrich our experience of place. 

The exhibit will inspire and connect lovers of art and architecture, merging rational and technological order with ideas of beauty and the transcendental.

Art & Architecture will feature works from:

Deborah Danelley
Aganetha Dyck
Christian Worthington
Robert Sim
Miriam Rudolph
John Erkel
Katherine Bruce
Sue Gordon
Keith Wood
Ed Becenko
Andrew Beck
Kyle Herranen
Gerry Kopelow
Andrew Milne
Tom Lovatt
Mini Davis

More information on each artist can be found at www.gurevichfineart.com/artists. 

WORKS AVAILABLE

This is only a small sample of the works in this exhibition. To request a catalogue of all the works, prices or additional information, please contact us at sales@gurevichfineart.com or 204-488-0662.

Artist in Residence: Edward Becenko

Gurevich Fine Art is pleased to announce that artist Edward Becenko will be GFA’s inaugural artist in residence this May. Becenko, who joined the gallery in February of 2014, is a Winnipeg-based artist who has been exhibiting his multimedia art to great success since 2006. Beckeno’s residency will begin May 2nd and will continue until May 17th. 

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE HOURS:
Saturday May 3, 10 and 17: 12pm - 4pm
Thursday May 8 and 15: 11am - 2pm

An artist in residence provides visitors with the unique opportunity to witness the artistic process first-hand, creating a high-level of engagement with both the artwork and its creator.

Becenko’s many years in the worlds of art and fashion render him the ideal authority for this platform. Art and fashion are catalysts for conversation, and Becenko’s work perfectly reflects the connection between these two forms of expression. By including a variety of media and utilizing diverse techniques such as image transfers, collage and monotype printmaking he creates stunning results that can be experienced on both an aesthetic and critical level.

Becenko’s experience in the fashion industry has defined the innovation and evolution of his work. Large abstract paintings are an introduction his use of layering media. Using strata of luminescent paints and at times even cloth and string each work develops in a way that is comparable to the construction and alteration of a piece clothing.

Similarly in his nude work an appreciation for texture and tactility is evident. In each image transfer, Becenko’s subject stands as an example of traditional sculpture, mirroring the heroes of Michelangelo. The nude figures are muscular, taut, and valiant. They are a sublime balance of power and neoclassical beauty. However, it is also significant to note the influence of fashion and textile that shows Becenko’s evolution from his abstract artwork. In each piece paint surrounds the nude but does not come in contact with it, creating the feeling of an embrace rather than a covering. Showcasing the entire purpose of clothing, the protection of the body underneath.

WORKS AVAILABLE

To request prices or additional information, please contact us at sales@gurevichfineart.com or 204-488-0662.


Milos Milidrag's "Forgotten Flowers"

Opening Night: April 4th
On Display Until April 26th

Form and colour have long been a language all their own for Milos Milidrag. He fled his country, war-ravaged Yugoslavia, in 1997 to live in Winnipeg. The shockwaves of his past continue to ripple through his work. In his latest exhibit Forgotten Flowers, Milidrag conjures his narrative using symbols - a woman (his muse of inspiration), a bird (freedom), or at times a fish (silence) and flowers (our frequently forgotten values).

Featureless and nameless, the female figure stands in solemn contrast to his energetic palette. Stoic in stature, she draws her emotion from the colours and patterns that surround her. To Milidrag she is a symbol of a life left behind, created from the remnants of memory.

The bird that flies among Milidrag’s patterns is a symbol of freedom. It communicates a lighter side of his work floating carefree within each canvas. When Milidrag seeks to convey the feeling of quiet in his work he will transform the bird into a fish.

The fish is the spiritual symbol of silence before evil. To him it is the hush of a small creature, before the beast. To finish each piece Milidrag delicately paints flowers to offer a representation of the neglected values of life. Luminous and beautiful when in full bloom, the blossoms are also fleeting and ephemeral. 

Milidrag’s uses each of these elements together, creating work that becomes “art as language.” His pictorial syntax involves the viewer emotionally and intellectually. Each piece contains multiple levels of composition and sentiment. The paintings convey spiritual piety and the complexity of human emotion. To create this he eschews reality in favour of a universal language of colour and abstraction. Milidrag’s sensitivity for tone and composition fuse with his poet’s mind making each work surpass cultural and physical boundaries. 

The Works in Forgotten Flowers

To request prices or additional information, please contact Elise Dawson, Sales Consultant at edawson@gurevichfineart.com or 204-488-0662.

 

Tim Schouten's "Spirit Lake Project"

Tim Schouten Spirit Lake Project Gurevich.jpg

Opening Night: March 7, 7:00 pm
On Display: March 7 - 31, 2014

Tim Schouten’s 2014 exhibit at Gurevich Fine Art Spirit Lake Project is a continuation of his work from the ongoing Songs from Spirit Lake collaboration, started in 2010. It is a series of encaustic paintings reflecting on contemporary life on the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota. 

In 2010 Schouten was commissioned by the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks, ND to create a series of paintings reflecting on contemporary life on the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota. He was one of six native and non-native artists engaged for this project by Laurel Rueter, Director and Curator of the museum. Laurel, a non-native, grew up on the reservation. Her brother Russ, to this day lives and farms on the reservation on allotted land.

Schouten was invited to this project on the reputation of his Treaty Lands Project. Ongoing for ten years the project reflects on the nature of landscape, history and the Numbered Treaties in Canada’s Central regions.

Songs for Spirit Lake was first exhibited at the Rauschenberg Project Space in New York City and at then at Cankdeska Cikana Community College on the Spirit Lake Reservation to excellent reviews. The show is now on view at North Dakota Museum of Art until April 27, 2014.

Schouten spent the past four years travelling to Spirit Lake Dakota Nation and living off and on there for short periods getting to know people and searching for ways into this project as a non-native Canadian artist. He had never lived on or even visited an American reservation before. He had only a passing knowledge of American politics, history and geography and the American Indian Movement.

Schouten’s encaustic pieces are unflinching and determined in their presentation. Typographic and landscape works highlight his experience of how life is lived today, stripping away nostalgia, racism, and history-based anger. The work considers the joys as well as the difficulties faced by northern reservation inhabitants. His large encaustic paintings survey the Spirit Lake Reservation’s Northern Plains country. It is this contrast that makes Schouten’s work illuminating and heartbreaking at the same time.

“Before Songs for Spirit Lake no contemporary art had ever been created on or about Spirit Lake,” explains Laurel Rueter. Schouten’s pieces attempt to depict the people and their patterns of intermingling the past and present through art. The exhibit invites a new, broad audience to engage with the voices and traditions of the Spirit Lake community as viewed through his eyes.

More info about Songs for Spirit Lake here.

Work from The Spirit Lake Project

To request prices or additional information, please contact Elise Dawson, Sales Consultant at edawson@gurevichfineart.com or 204-488-0662.

Toby Bartlett in collaboration with Rylaan Gimby, "DVD Family"

Nowhere is the impact of new technology on relationships more noticeable than in the family. We have entered the age where children and adults are hypnotized by the screens of their personal devices. Paradoxically, we are connecting more than ever online while our face to face connections dwindle. Family conversations take place through threads of texts messages. Artist Toby Bartlett’s DVD Family is the startling examination of our digital relationships. 

In DVD Family, Bartlett collaborates with video artist Rylaan Gimby to examine the growing divide among families due to the increased use of technology.  Bartlett has created videos of a fictitious family. If you want to talk to Grandma – insert her disk. She’ll tell you stories and comfort you with grandmotherly advice. No need for her to be present. The exhibit points a disquieting finger at our absorption in technology and how by its very nature it shapes the way we communicate with others.

DVD Family explores the disturbing trend of people attempting to counteract this growing divide not with face-to-face communication, but by joining their family conversation in cyberspace. With DVD Family Bartlett wonders if we are pressing Accept in the digital family download without reading the Terms & Conditions?