Vicki Smith | Liminal

Opening September 11th at Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin, acclaimed Toronto-based artist Vicki Smith releases her newest solo exhibition, Liminal. The show presents a compelling new collection of paintings that explore the transformative nature of space and time. In Liminal, Smith’s signature swimmers drift through calm, reflective waters exploring moments suspended between past and future, identity and change. Through fluid forms and subtle interplay between figure and reflection, the work invites viewers into a quiet pause, a space where clarity emerges. 

Join us on Saturday, September 20th from 11:30 am - 1 pm at 1384 Dufferin Street for an artist talk, hosted by Kyle Matuzewiski, the Co-Director of Bau-Xi Gallery. Guests will be treated to an in-depth conversation with Vicki Smith about her ever-evolving practice.

Artist Statement:

Liminal comes from the Latin limen, meaning threshold. It refers to a transitional space or time of fluid ambiguity where transformation becomes possible.

My recent collection of paintings titled Liminal finds my swimmers in a quiet state of betwixt and between. Subtle shifts between figure and watery reflection represent a fertile liminal space where former identities dissolve and new ones emerge.  The figures are neither here nor there as they transition through what is expected and what will be. 

The work is intended to guide us to a quiet and calm state of transformation and new ways of seeing.

As always, peace is in the pause. – Vicki Smith

Co-director of Bau-Xi Gallery, Kyle Matuzewiski, lends his thoughts on Vicki Smith’s newest exhibition. He writes:

Whenever in the presence of Vicki Smith’s work, I find myself meditating on the intricacies the artist has so carefully and thoughtfully expressed. In her recent body of work, Liminal, Vicki seeks to capture the moments in between, further pushing the narrative of her figures within their fluid environments. While previous iterations would find them suspended or afloat, this series finds them fully integrated, pushing the limits on what the viewer perceives, beckoning them to look deeper. This all occurs in a sublimity that gently washes over you, much as you could imagine the figure in the scene is experiencing.

Canadian painter Vicki Smith became known for her paintings of female figures which explored the effects and limitations of gravity. Often suspended in dark air, twisted and upside down, falling into and out of the picture plane, the figures could be so precariously placed upon the canvas that they threatened to slip away. Even in these positions, they were always balanced.  

Recent years have seen Smith’s female figures explore the concept of gravity and identity in waterscapes. Her swimmers float, fly, dive and emerge on the broken surface of the water, first depicted in swimming pools, then in lakes; the water fills the composition edge-to-edge, becoming a space of weightlessness without boundaries. The paintings possess a beautiful, deep calm, the subjects entirely at peace in their surroundings.

Vicki Smith studied fine art at the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1981 with honours. Her fourth year of study was completed in Florence, Italy. She lives and works in Toronto.

VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION