Vicky Christou | The Gradient Gaze
Vicky Christou | The Gradient Gaze
May 19-31, 2022
340 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Christou’s sculptural paintings are constructed using gradient layers of acrylic paint. Her angled grid compositions allude to an ethereal light source and inject a dynamic and organic energy into the paintings. By merging a textile applicative process with her personal colour sensibility, Christou’s paintings marry a beautiful ambiguity of old and new.
The artist’s colour palettes are inspired by daily walks where she observed the subtle gradients of the atmosphere and how light grazes upon the natural elements. Christou noticed these gradient patterns are also common in technology and print media, mimicking the natural environment. Her palettes are evocative of nature and pleasurably reference a promising futuristic ambience.
The exhibition title, The Gradient Gaze, subtly highlights the underlying feminist premise ever-present in Christou’s work. As textiles and handicrafts have traditionally been associated with women, they historically have been considered a lesser artform. Christou sees these paintings as material symbols of a reclamation of our gaze; drawn away from the female figure towards the female artistic practice.