In Conversation with Julian Schnabel

Untitled (Self-Portrait) copyright 2005 Julian Schnabel

I was one of the lucky ones who had a ticket to attend this evening's "Meet the Artist" event with American artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel.  Curator David Moos led the conversation with the artist who spoke with great eloquence and wit about the inspiration and creative process behind his paintings and films. 

David Moos and Julian Schnabel at the AGO
Photo by Ingrid Mida 2010

What I learned from Mr. Schnabel is that process of making art is more important to him than the end result. He referred to a painting by Cezanne that he saw that afternoon at the AGO in which the joy of its creation was evident on the canvas. In the practice of "making things", Schnabel said that it gives him "a feeling of what it means to be human" and that is the quality of the moment and the journey of making that thing that is important. He does not make drawings before beginning a painting; he simply begins by bonding with the subject, working to respect their vulnerability in creating a representation of their being on canvas. He knows when a painting is done because "everything just lines up". 

On the wall of the exhibition itself, there is this quote from Schnabel about process:  

"And whether it's the screen in a movie or whether it's the rectangle that is the perimeter of a painting, it's an arena where this battle takes place, between everything that you know and don't know. And I think that I apply the same system to both paintings and films. I don't know what it is going to look like when I'm done. I know how to start. I know how to lean towards the divine light. But I figure it out as I'm going along, and the process of doing, that's the thing."

For Schnabel, art is a means of transcending death. He said "in the act of making a representation of life, you are denying death". 

Schnabel credits his parents with giving him the belief that he could do anything and it was with that conviction that he made the seemless transition from being a painter to being a painter AND a filmmaker.  

This is an artist with a profound level of talent and creativity. Seeing his monumental works in person and hearing him speak left an inedible mark on me. I realized it is a gift to be able to paint and "make things" and I will endeavour to savour more moments of the process in my studio. 

If you cannot make it to this exhibition, the AGO has many podcasts and other features on its site to learn more about Julian Schnabel's work as a painter and director. Check out this link. 

Julian Schnabel at the Art Gallery of Ontario
Art and Film
September 1, 2010 to January 2, 2011
317 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario Canada
416-979-6648

Shoes as Art by Lesley Haas

The boundary between fashion and art is one that many artists find fascinating. Artist Lesley Haas explores that margin with her extraordinary paper creations. Lesley has an extensive exhibition history and her work is owned by such prestigious collections as the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, The Royal Library in The Hague, and The Free Library of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two of her paper dresses will be on display at the Smithsonian International Gallery in Washington in the Revealing Culture exhibition June 8 - August 29, 2010. The Opening Reception will be held on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 8 pm. Lesley has created shoes using a material she calls vegetable papyrus and kindly agreed to an interview.

OFF BEET  Size 8 

Vegetable Papyrus - Sweet Potato, Red Beet 

by Lesley Haas, 2000

Ingrid: What is vegetable papyrus?
Lesley: Vegetable Papyrus is an extension of hand papermaking, Dr Ragab of the Papyrus Institute in  Cairo experimented by making papyrus from vegetables and was quite successful. A few artists caught on and started creating paper from this most fascinationg material. I've made shoes, wine goblets, ballet toe shoes, scrolls, etc from vegetable papyrus using red beet, pumpkin, sweet potato, red and white cabbage, carrots, sweet peas and more. When very fresh and newly made, these objects are beautifully transluscent in the sunlight. The red beets turn an exquiste magenta and the purple cabbage turns deep blue with turquoise and green streaks...quite the light show! But as these colors are fugitive and vegetable papyrus is kind of an expanding and changing artwork. After years    red beet will change to brownish red and carrots turn white, pumpking turns pale orange and sweet potato turns toward pale yellow. It is as fragile as glass and sensitive like any natural, organic material.

RED BEET SERIES Size 8 / Child Size 3

Vegetable Papyrus - Red Beet

by Lesley Haas, 1999

Ingrid: Are these shoes styled after a particular period?
Lesley: My interest in shoes is mostly reflected by the shoe fashions of the 12th -18th Century. I've had visits to the Shoe and Leather museum in  Offenbach outside Frankfurt, Germany, that has a  large shoe collection.  I particularly like ankle boots, and used my own as molds for my vegetable papyrus shoes. 

Ingrid: Why are you drawn to work with paper?

Lesley: After visiting an early papermaking exhibition at MOMA, I was smitten seeing paper used as an art medium and I've traveled the "Paper Road" ever since. The tactile and textured surfaces and rough deckled edges of paper attract me and I wanted to learn and become involved with this medium.  

Ingrid: What is the most challenging part of working with paper?

Lesley: A huge challenge to me has been finding an affordable studio where I can make handmade paper. Papermaking requires a space where it doesn't matter about getting wet! These days I am working dry, smaller and with alot of a recycled papers in a very confined space.

BAROQUE, Size 8 

Vegetable Papyrus -Pumpkin

by Lesley Haas, 2000

Ingrid: Where do you find your inspiration?

Lesley: Generally my inspirations comes from conversations with artist friends, sometimes its turning the pages of my mom's old fashion magazines and also the challenge of varied exhibition entries. When I have the opportunity to travel I see art is many forms and materials.

Ingrid:  What drives you to create?

Lesley: My drive to create is something that has been in me pressing emotionally and outwardly. It took a long time to break through in actual acheivement with a tangible result, whether by making my early handmade picture frames, that I made hundreds of at my first studio in Heidelberg, Germany and moving to finally making paper and onto creating my dress Raw Suffering of a Woman many years later.  When I opened my first studio, it was a relief to finally be able to get those creative energies released. I am a late bloomer. 

SHE TURNED INTO A PUMPKIN Size 8

Vegetable Papyrus - Pumpkin, Red Beet

by Lesley Haas 2000

Ingrid: What is your earliest memory as an artist?
Lesley: Both in my elementary schoolyard on summer days drawing and coloring with broken crayons, I generally had my hands in some kind of art project. And hanging out incessantly in my high school art room. It took me quite a few years to break through a barrier I had when I younger to actually "create".

Ingrid: What artist living or dead would you most like to have a conversation with?  What question would you ask them?
Lesley: Alan Shields - I would ask him what prompted him to sew on paper?? !!  So many including me have followed suit and taken his lead to sew on paper. I once had a short opportunity to meet him in Baltimore, MD and mentioned how he was the first to sew on paper and he didn't even realize that he started that technique. He so unfortunately has since passed away.

 WOMEN'S SIZE 8

Vegetable Papyrus- Red Beet

by Lesley Haas, 1999

Ingrid: Who is your best critic?
Lesley: My son.

Ingrid: What frame of mind do you have to be in to produce art?
Lesley: When I am truly inspired with an idea that I want to bring to fruition, I can move ahead and finish an artwork. I need peace of mind and time to put my ideas into motion. Sometimes it's a dealine that pushes me when I am not terribly inspired.

Ingrid: You feel happiest when?
Lesley: When I am with my son and when people buy my work. For me that is a true compliment!

Ingrid: People would be surprised to learn that?
Lesley: That I am my mother's caregiver...!

Ingrid: Do you have a mantra?
Lesley: Keep on keeping on...

Ingrid: What book are you currently reading?
Lesley: Ways of Seeing by John Berger

Ingrid: What's next for you?
Lesley: Hopefully something new and exciting! Exciting is the operative word.

TOE SHOES Child's Size 3

Vegetable Papyrus - Red beet, Satin Ribbons

by Lesley Haas 1999 

To see more work by Lesley Haas, visit her website here. 

Revolutionary Fashion Installation

Revolutionary Fashion Series by Ingrid Mida 2010

What Lies Beneath, 18th century chemise, corset and pockets in mesh

on a vintage mannequin, by Ingrid Mida 2010

In the series Revolutionary Fashion, digitally altered images of upper class eighteenth century women are layered over traditional French toile de jouy fabrics, which are then embroidered or altered to bring attention to certain areas. This is my attempt to create a whimsical warning against fashionable decadence and the folly of extravagant fashion trends. 

In my related sculpture, What Lies Beneath, I have created the underpinnings for an 18th century gown out of mesh. Displayed on an antique mannequin are a mesh chemise, pockets (which hung beneath a gown before purses existed), and a corset. I have yet to finish the panniers which will give support to the exaggerated hip lines of the gowns from that time period. The translucency of mesh creates a mystery and a ghost-like quality to the sculpture. 

Much to my delight, Christopher Wood of LA Design asked if I'd like to display this dress sculpture and my Balenciaga-inspired mesh dress sculpture in the windows of his chic furniture shop LA Design at 788 King Street West. Of course I said yes!! So instead of lolling about eating bon bons this week in a post-show funk, I will get back to work pronto to finish the panniers!!

A Tear Bottle

Installation Photo by Ingrid Mida 2010

A Tear Bottle

Glass, wherein a Greek girl's tears
Once were gathered as they fell,
After these two thousand years
Is there still no tale to tell?

Buried with her, in her mound
She is dust long since, but you
Only yesterday were found
Iridescent as the dew.

Fashioned faultlessly, a form
Graceful as was hers whose cheek
Once against you made you warm
While you heard her sorrow speak.

At your lips I listen long
For some whispered word of her,
For some ghostly strain of song
In your haunted heart to stir.

But your crystal lips are dumb,
Hushed the music in your heart:
Ah, if she could only come
Back again and bid it start!

Long is Art, but Life so brief!
And the end seems so unjust:
This companion of her grief
Here to-day, while she is dust!

Frank Dempster Sherman 1896

Installation Notes:

In this installation inspired by the Victorian mourning ritual and poem above, I have captured bits of ephemera from both my mother's life and my artwork in Mason jars, encapsulating her life and my sorrow in parallel. The photos shown above were digitally restored and printed onto organza creating a ghost like illusion when back-lit.

Pleasure Point at the MCASD in La Jolla

Although New York wears the crown of the contemporary art world, sometimes smaller regional galleries can provide a more intimate and friendly experience with art. That is definitely the case for the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art which has a top notch collection of contemporary art in two locations, one in downtown San Diego and the other in nearby La Jolla.

Currently on display is a show called Pleasure Point: Celebrating 25 Years of Contemporary Collections.  The title is derived from the museum's showcase piece by artist Nancy Rubins (2006) of nautical boats lashed together to create a site-specific sculpture (shown in the photograph above). Also on display are other works in the museum's collection including works by Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Hans Hoffman, Cindy Sherman, John Currin, and Damien Hirst.

Although I just missed a retrospective of Tara Donovan's visually arresting organic installations using toothpicks, paper cups and other non-traditional sculpture materials, I had a long conversation with one of the security guards about her installation. When would that ever happen in New York?

Pleasure Point: Celebrating 25 Years of Contemporary Collections
San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla
700 Prospect Street, La Jolla
February 20 to May 16, 2010
858-454-3541

Post-installation Blues

I was told not to post photos of my installation at Fly Gallery until after it came down (apparently this would discourage visitors), but I just couldn't help myself. What else am I supposed to talk about in the meantime? I want to move past it and onto the next project.....

I was initially elated when the installation of Balenciaga Buzz (which is what I'm going to call this piece now after a suggestion from my dear friend Square with Flair) went up. But today, in looking at the photos I took, I cannot help but feel a little disappointed..... I cannot explain why but the photos do not properly capture the essence of what I have created. Where is the whimsy? Where is the contrast between the gritty, urban gallery space and the beautiful assemblage of objects on display? It makes me feel a little bit blue....Alas, I think it is time for some chocolate therapy.

P.S. I dropped by the gallery this evening to see what it looked like and even from well down the street, my eyes were drawn to it like flies to honey. I'm not sure whether it was the drama of night-time lighting or the inclusion of the vinyl lettering with my name on the glass, but I loved it again! Such are the ups and downs of the artistic journey. 

That Dress is so Fly! at Fly Gallery in Toronto

That Dress is so Fly!

Mixed Media Installation, copyright of Ingrid Mida 2010

Inspired by the urban installation space, the playful nature of Moschino and the sculptural qualities of Balenciaga,  I have created a fashion based sculpture out of mosquito mesh for Fly Gallery in Toronto. Designed as a metaphor for the fickle nature of fashion trends, this wearable dress can be converted into a protective shelter against flies, mosquitos and other pests as required. 

February 1 - 10, 2010

Fly Gallery, 1172 Queen Street West, Toronto

If you are out of town and cannot make it to the show, stay tuned and I'll post photos from the installation after it comes down. Also visit my website www.ingridmida.com. 

Georgia O'Keeffe Abstracts at the Whitney Museum

Georgia O'Keeffe will never be considered a fashion icon but she was a woman who knew her mind and had a distinctive sense of style. Looking at photographs of her in her minimalist black clothing, her sense of independence and vitality is evident. She was ahead of her time, both in her style of dress and her artwork.

In 1915, Georgia O'Keeffe leaped into abstraction using charcoal as the medium for her first experiments. These drawings are the best place to begin your tour of the 125 abstract paintings, drawings, watercolours and sculptures by Georgia O'Keeffe now on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Music in Pink and Blue Number 2, Georgia O'Keeffe

I've always admired the sensual forms and deft handling of colour that defines much of O'Keeffe's work, but hearing the artist's voice on the audio guide accompanying the exhibition added much to the experience. She said that she used abstraction to explore her thoughts and emotions and asserted that her work was not sexual imagery but about feelings. This is a must see show before it closes on January 17, 2010.


Georgia O'Keeffe Abstractions
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York
September 17, 2009 - January 17, 2010

Contemporary Drawing at the MOMA New York

Amelie Von Wulffen copyright 2009

To better understand the state of contemporary drawing practice, I visited the show "Compass in Hand: Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection" now on at the MOMA. Curator Christian Rattemeyer selected from this collection of 2500 drawings to present several hundred works. Contemporary artists from around the world are represented but are mostly clustered from New York, LA, UK, and Germany. Divided into abstraction and figuration, the work illustrates the fact that artists have stepped outside the traditional definition of drawing on paper to include the use of unconventional media, with many incorporating collage and appropriated images into their work. Really, anything goes these days!!

My favourite pair of images were by Elizabeth Peyton and David Hockney. Although somewhat traditional in style compared to what was on display elsewhere, the simplicity and elegance of their line was captivating to me. Another image that still haunts me is an emaciated horse and rider created out of cigarettes, although I cannot recall the name of the artist.

This exhibition is beautifully hung and there is lots of space to stand back and appreciate the work. If you are interested in contemporary drawing practice, this show is well worth a visit. And if you cannot make it to the MOMA before the show closes on January 4, 2009, the MOMA website includes an enlightening video with the curator.

Weekend in New York

I am just back from a long weekend in New York.  I attended the American Style Symposium at FIT where I also viewed the American Beauty and the Day to Night exhibitions. Plus I managed to squeeze in visits to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) for the Tim Burton show and the Contemporary Drawing show, the Whitney Museum of American Art to see the Georgia O'Keefe abstracts, and the Frick Museum to see the drawings by Watteau, Degas and Boucher. It was four days filled with art and fashion and I'll be posting about these exhibitions in the coming weeks (in between catching up on my regular life, striking my show at Launch Projects, birthday celebrations and Christmas shopping). Happy Holidays everyone!

Confessions and the Sense of Self: Works by Noel Palomo-Lovinski

 

In the exhibition Confessions and the Sense of Self at Kent State University Museum, Noel Palomo-Lovinski has explored the themes of women's roles and self image. She has designed and created clothing  layered with meaning through shape, texture, fabric and embellishment that as a whole functions as sculpture. Anonymous confessions by women were obtained through public websites and used as design elements in portraying the "tension that exists between the enduring archetype of the caring female and the nature of such contradictory confessions".

Using dress as a visual metaphor for identity, the exhibitions include:
I Feel Great!
Bridezilla
All Tied Up in Knots
Hold It In
Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety
Twisted Sister
Levels of Confession
Mother Love
Camouflaged Confessions
Suck Punch
Family and Friends

I was particularly taken with I Feel Great! and Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety and Noel kindly gave me permission to show images of these works. 
 

 

I Feel Great! by Noel Palomo-Lovinski 

 

I Feel Great! (Detail Shot) 

Noel wrote that "Polite conversation often includes the rhetorical question 'How are you doing?' The expected response is 'Fine; great, how are you?' The under-layer of the dress is candid confessions in red; the top layer exhibits expected responses. The muzzle signifies a suppression of blunt or truthful thoughts."

 

Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety by Noel Palomo-Lovinski

Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety (Detail Shot)

About this work, Noel wrote "In our current society women are often expected to be a type of superwoman, ambitiously working in a career, be a loving and patient mother, expert housekeeper and true partner in her marital relationship. There are several websites that are devoted to confessions from women who are not able to cope with the demands that they feel from society, their families, their partners and employers. They seek advice, comfort or just use the websites as a sounding board for their anxieties."

I encourage you to check out the entire exhibition here. Noel Palomo-Lovinski's hauntingly beautiful work is a fusion of fashion, art and sculpture.

Confessions and the Sense of Self: Works by Noel Palomo-Lovinski
Kent State University Museum
Rockwell Hall
Kent Ohio
Phone: 330-672-3450
Email: museum@kent.edu

What's on My Fashion Calendar for December

I never thought I'd want to go to Ohio but December is the last chance to see Confessions and the Sense of Self: Works by Noel Palmomo-Lovinski at Kent State University Museum. In this provocative exhibition, Noel Palomo-Lovinski has used dress as a medium for expressing the tension that many women feel in their roles as wives, mothers, sisters, friends. Taking quotes from several confessional websites and applying them to clothing in a variety of decorative embellishments, texture and pattern, the artist has translated women's internal conflicts in striking visual forms. I'll be posting works from this exhibition and an artist profile of Noel Palmomo-Lovinski later this week.


Opening December 3, 2009 is the exhibition Night and Day at FIT in New York. Curated by Molly Sorkin, associate curator of Costume, this show examines how the rules that dictate appropriate dress for women have changed over the past 250 years. Featuring over 100 day and evening garments displayed in chronological order to illustrate how conventions for appropriate dress have changed, the exhibition includes the work of Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and other designers.


December 4th and 5th will be full days at the Fashion Institute of Technology where I'll be participating in the American Style symposium. Featuring speakers such as Dr. Valerie Steele, Nina Garcia, Patrician Mears (curator of the American Beauty exhibition at FIT), Dr. Alexandra Palmer (curator of Fashion and Textiles at the Royal Ontario Museum) and other fashion scholars, this two-day symposium should be a promising source of material for future posts.


I was too busy to attend the November 19th opening of the new show at the Bata Shoe Museum From Renaissance: Chopines to Baroque Heels. This exhibition features rare and extreme forms of footwear including a pair of Venetian chopines from the 16th century that have pedestals over 50 cm (about 25 inches) in height. These towering chopines from the Fondazione Musei Civici de Venezia will never again be displayed after the September 2010 closing of the show.

Sunday, December 6th is the last day to see my work at the Stepping Stones show at the Launch Projects Gallery in Toronto. 

December is always a hectic month for me - with my birthday and preparations for the holidays all crammed into a few short weeks. But I won't complain, because I love being busy!

Fashion Magazine Origami

Fashion Magazine Origami (Process Experiment) by Ingrid Mida 2009

From what I can tell, most artists seem to work in one of two ways:

1. conceive a finished piece of artwork in their mind and execute it

2. work through a process to develop an artwork

I'm one of the people that sees a completely finished artwork in my mind's eye. I've even had dreams about the finished installation in museums no less!! The problem is that sometimes my vision has inhibited the exploration of my full creative potential.

To explore the other (dark!) side, I've been playing with process-based experiments. What that really means is taking an object and doing something to it without a preconceived idea of what it will look like in the end. This is not my preferred way of working and I've had to force myself to do it. But the results have been interesting to say the least. Who would have thought that fashion magazines could be anything other than fodder for the recycling bin?

What type of artist are you?

Revolutionary Fashion I

Revolutionary Fashion I by Ingrid Mida 2009  Mixed media artwork 10x10 with hand embroidery and beading

Engaging in playful explorations of my creativity and invoking my sense of humour has become an important part of my artistic practice in the past few months. This has helped me make leaps into unexplored territory (which has kind of been like jumping off a cliff!).  Revolutionary Fashion I is one such leap which is currently on display at Launch Projects Gallery. I don't want to say much about it because I hope you'll share your reactions with me.

New Directions in Sculpture continued

Vanitas I, Paper Sculpture by Ingrid Mida 2009

In Vanitas I, I have created a circular sculpture out of fashion magazines inspired by the shape of a crinoline or hoop skirt from 1860. Emerging from the form are the airbrushed illusions of the ideal woman - tall and thin,  dressed and coiffed to perfection  - a largely unattainable standard of beauty that fuels the big business of fashion.

The sculpture is entitled Vanitas I after the latin "vanitas vanitatum" meaning the emptiness associated with earthly life and the transient nature of vanity. This theme, which also has biblical references in the Ecclesiastes "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity", has served as inspiration and thematic premise for many artists, including 17th century Dutch still life paintings. The title seemed highly appropriate given the nature of vanity in the world of contemporary fashion magazines.

This particular sculpture is in the window of Launch Projects and if you happen to be driving or walking by 404 Adelaide Street West in Toronto, you can see it without even going inside. It looks particularly striking at night.

I know this art work is not commercially viable but it feels right! I think it is provocative and compelling.

New Directions in Sculpture

The Sound of Paper by Ingrid Mida  Paper Sculpture (10 inch diameter) copyright 2009

The Sound of Paper (Detail Shot) 

Paper Sculpture by Ingrid Mida, copyright 2009

If you've been wondering why my blog posts have been somewhat irregular in the past three months, it was in part because I have been working hard to take my artwork to another level, to layer in deeper meaning and make it more contemporary.

This book work called The Sound of Paper takes inspiration from the shape of a crinoline as well as my research into the history of feminism. While it may appear to be simply the silhouettes of women dressed in 17th century clothing who are emerging from the pages of the book, it also has a deeper layer of meaning in honour of French writer Francois Poullain de la Barre who rejected the principle that a person's sex determined the capacity for learning in a paper entitled "On the Equality of the Two Sexes" in 1673.

I'm participating in a group show that opens tomorrow at the Launch Projects Gallery in Toronto and will be posting more of this new work on both my blog and my website. I look forward to hearing your reactions!

The Butterfly

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly. Anonymous

Mixed Media artwork by Ingrid Mida, 2009

Schiaparelli and Surreal Things

If you are like me and swoon when you hear the name Schiaparelli, you must find you way to Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario and see the Surreal Things show before August 30, 2009.

This exhibition, which was curated by Ghislaine Wood of the Victoria and Albert Museum, surveys the contribution of surrealists to fashion, design, photography, advertising, architecture, and theatre.

From the moment I walked into the gallery and took in the display of the fantastical ballet costumes designed for Les Ballet Russes by Giorgio de Chirico in 1929, I was grinning from ear to ear. Why had no one mentioned that fashion, costumes and jewelery were an integral part of this world class exhibit? I'm sorry that I did not go sooner.

I was blown away to stand in front of the bird cage and wooden mannequin from Schiaparelli's Paris storefront as well as twelve of her couture designs, including the infamous Skeleton Dress which features padded quilting to emphasize the ribs and spine. I almost fainted when I noticed the delicate sketches by Salvador Dali for his collaboration with Schiaparelli for the Skeleton Dress and the Dress with Drawers.

Other highlights in the exhibition included the Horst photo called Girl with Mainbocher Corset (1939), and the Man Ray photo called Model in a Dominguez Wheelbarrow (1937) where the model wears a Vionnet evening gown.

There was no doubt in my mind after seeing this exhibition that the surrealists were well acquainted with glamour and fashion. I bought the book Surreal Things (cover shown below) and intend to read it carefully before going back for another look-see. There is also a video clip on the ago website with an introduction by the curator.

Join me if you can. You won't be disappointed! By the way, this exhibition originated at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2007 before travelling to the Museum Boijmans Van Reuningen in Rotterdam and the Guggenheim Museum in Bibao in 2008. Toronto is its final stop!


Art Gallery of Ontario
317 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario
1-877-225-4246 or 416-979-6648

The Square Foot Show

One of Toronto's hottest art show opens in a week and I'm scrambling to have my submission of three artworks ready for tomorrow's deadline!!! (This is one of the reasons I've not been posting much lately).

All artworks in the show are 12"x12" and are priced at $200. The walls of the gallery are jam packed from floor to ceiling with art including drawings, paintings, mixed media, and photography. It is an art lovers paradise! Many of the artists typically sell their work for more making it a bargain to boot!

Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 15th when the gallery opens to the public. The show will be on until September 6th.

AWOL Gallery
100A Ossington Avenue, Second Floor
(1 block north of Queen Street West on the west side of Ossington)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Beauty in Art

Agnes Martin, Painter (1912-2004)


Is that all?

This is a question that continually pervades my consciousness. Maybe this perpetual state of existential angst is the reason that I am an artist. I am driven to create beauty and to find meaning in what I do.

In the world of contemporary art, art is expected to provoke a reaction. Shock value is prized above an aesthetic that is pleasing to the eye. Beautiful art is considered a sell-out for the sake of commerce. My art has been called "pretty" and "decorative" and is often dismissed before the deeper meaning behind what I make is considered.

In the past few weeks, I've wrestled with the question of whether I could create an artwork (for an invitational competition) that was ugly for the sake of provoking reaction in the viewer. It caused me many sleepless nights and considerable anguish, but in the end, beauty won out, even though the symbolism and deeper meaning were present in the piece.

Agnes Martin(1912-2004) achieved great renown with her abstract paintings of straight lines. Her quietly elegant paintings are owned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and other museums around the world. I found myself seeking consolation in her comments on art and beauty:

"Beauty and happiness and life are all the same and they are pervasive, unattached and abstract and they are our only concern. They are immeasurable, completely lacking in substance. They are perfect and sublime. This is the subject matter of art."


"When I think of art, I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye, it is in the mind. In our minds, there is an awareness of perfection."



What does beauty mean to you?
Can a beautiful work of art create a reaction?


P.S. Coincidentally, today Sallymandy at the Blue Kimono wrote about What is an Artist? .