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Enjoy the rich detail of Cameron's thick impasto techniques this January at Bau-Xi Toronto

UPCOMING EXHIBITION

January 7 - 21
340 Dundas St. West, Toronto
Opening Reception January 7
2:00 - 4:00 pm

"Rainbow Station" is an exhibition of new work by one of Canada’s favourite contemporary landscape painters, whose explorative relationship with colour and texture has defined his work for over 40 years. Immersed in the arts from a young age, Alex Cameron was introduced to New York City’s Abstract Expressionist movement in the 1960s, and witnessed concurrent and equally powerful experiments in abstraction back home in Toronto, where he worked as a studio assistant for the late Jack Bush in the mid-1970s. Cameron’s celebration of pure pigment has since characterized his canvases, with his thick painterly application lends lively sculptural form to both his energetic landscapes and non-representational studies. Not only bold and bright, Cameron’s colours are unconventional, inverted, and built up in linear “ropes” of paint—often applied straight from the tube—that make his surfaces hum with life. His subjects—the varied landscapes of Canada observed during his regular coast to coast travels—are not merely captured or recorded in paint, but rather honoured for their complexity; they are organic, total, and magical environments that live and grow.

Alex Cameron’s paintings have been collected extensively in Canada and abroad. Notable collections include the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Bank of Canada, and The Queen’s Silver Jubilee Art Collection.

VIEW THE COLLECTION HERE

Anda Kubis, Dance, digital painting on canvas, 30 x 42 inches, ACQUIRE

Bau-Xi Gallery is thrilled to announce representation of recognized Canadian abstract painter Anda Kubis.

Anda Kubis works in expanded digital, material, and traditional oil painting processes. Due to the prominence of colour in her artwork, Kubis consciously considers how the engagement with aesthetics and creativity positive affects human flourishing and quality of life. With degrees from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and York University, Kubis crosses her artistic practice with design and architecture, material exploration, and her significant teaching career. She is the Associate Dean of Outreach and Innovation in the Faculty of Art at OCAD University. Numerous public and private collections have acquired Kubis’ work, including RBC, TD Bank, BMO, Cenovus Energy, Aimia, The Westaim Corporation, and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.

VIEW ANDA KUBIS ARTWORK HERE

'The Intimates' On display at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, December 3-18, 2016

The Intimates (window sill), 54 x 40 in. oil on canvas, 2016

We recently sat down with artist Darlene Cole for a conversation about her upcoming exhibition, 'The Intimates'.

How do you approach creating a new series?

 a) A new playlist!

 b) I find that working on a small scale in the beginning gets me to the gritty raw bits of what I want to say and feel... I immediately know if it has the push and pull that I want.

 c) I draw from what is around me, human to human, relationships, pathways, landscapes, visits to antique shops in Old Ontario, my artist retreat, etc.

For 'The Intimates' I bought a new Moleskine sketchbook and some yummy chalk that feels like I'm on a boat when I work with it. It is a green/grey blue...like a wild lake colour. I've been drawing (rather habitual) while standing at an old table that came from a historical building in Belleville, Ontario. The table is painted in an 'as found' glossy blue/grey colour that I can see the shadow of my hand in as I draw. Although I'm a bit of a nighthawk, I draw only during the day under natural light. It is an intimate experience with the music, daylight, the soft chalk on cream paper on the old table.

How do you know when you've chosen the perfect 'theme' for the show?

I keep bits of green masking tape on my walls in the studio...words or phrases that often have dual meanings. I might hear words in songs as I'm working, or often they just come to me at odd times...unloading the dishwasher or drying my hair. My work is truly on my mind all the time...like fine webbing that joins one thought to another as I move from space to space. The title for the show has to feel right in my space as I walk around this old house. It has to feel right with the ceiling height, the light filtering in...it is like part of the plot somehow or a hint of the setting...it has to 'fit' into my world...and make your cheeks blush a bit when you think of it.

What element of your work do you visualize first?

The feeling...the atmosphere of the painting.

How long will you work on paintings for 'The Intimates'? 

I never know the answer to this question...but with 'The Intimates', the small scale paintings may continue perhaps for a museum show... 

Which elements of your familiar imagery will turn up in this show?

The white rabbit, the dress, the boat, the fawn, the horse, the curtain, roses and peonies...

Do you have any surprises for us?

Palm trees, perhaps a violin, some leopard print and a honey container from WWII...

CLICK TO VIEW ARTWORK BY DARLENE COLE

Much loved painter Kenneth Lochhead (1926-2006) is a fixture in Canadian art history, not least for his essential contribution to Canadian abstraction as a member of the celebrated Regina Five group during the 1960s. The later years of the artist’s career saw a creative turn to representation, when he explored the ways in which paint strokes could create “ideas, impressions, dynamics, and movements” on the canvas. During the 1990s, one of the artist’s preferred subjects was of course the body in motion, and Lochhead naturally chose the team he loved as his muse: the Toronto Blue Jays.

As the Jays prepare for an important wildcard match this evening, Bau-Xi Toronto is happy to showcase Lochhead's Blue Jays. Infused with the spirit of the game, Lochhead’s panels are also studies in form, colour, and texture that remind us of the artist’s well-deserved place in the Canadian canon.

Along with founding and facilitating the Emma Lakes artist workshops in Regina, Lochhead taught in Winnipeg and Toronto, eventually moving to Ottawa in the early 1970s. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1971, and the Governor General’s Award in Visual Arts in 2006.

VIEW LOCHHEAD'S AVAILABLE ARTWORK HERE