Darlene Cole

CURRENT EXHIBITION: Paradise
December 5 - 23, 2024
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 7th from 2 - 5 PM | Artist in Attendance

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Darlene Cole captures a hazy, haunting world of poetry and wonder. The artist’s distinct oil painting techniques lend a watercolour effect to her subjects without compromising rich colour values and velvety textures. Cole’s canvases—dreamy expanses inhabited by spirited figures—are studies of time and memory. These figures, both human and animal, play a pivotal role, evoking emotional responses in the viewer as Cole navigates between layers of reference and meaning.  At once playful and melancholic, Cole’s work draws on themes characteristic of her established painting career: the inherent mystery of old architectural interiors, the power of painterly colour and texture to spark memory, and the exploration of childhood innocence and its loss. Canvases offer delicate detail work that gives form to softly blended screens of colour, mapping the seamless and often unconscious journey from visual prompt to archetypal meaning: an elk’s elegant antlers emerge against a mossy plane; a child’s red dress bursts through the haze of a dreamy playground; a rowboat sails off toward a dusky horizon. Other recurring tropes in Cole’s work—velvet curtains, picture frames, and armoires—are thresholds that beckon us to an exciting place, far beyond the frame. 

Cole's work is extensively collected across Canada and internationally. Notable public collections include The Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Tom Thomson Art Gallery, the K.F. Preueter Collection of Canadian Art, Royal Bank of Canada, CIBC, OCAD University, Fairmont Hotels (Toronto, Montreal, Banff), and Manulife Financial. 

Take a look inside Darlene Cole's studio in her feature with Constellation Magazine here

View Darlene Cole's CV

78 X 60 in. - $17,500 CAD
Paradise (dance in a storm)
10 X 8 in. - $2,650 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (cherry blossoms)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
54 X 48 in. - $12,900 CAD
Paradise (rosewater)
48 X 48 in. - $12,150 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (moving lake under the birch)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
40 X 30 in. - $7,700 CAD
Prelude (wild swan)
48 X 40 in. - $11,150 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (Peonies of the Sea)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
Sold
60 X 54 in. - $14,500 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (resilience)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
Sold
40 X 30 in. - $7,700 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (caress)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
Sold
40 X 30 in. - $7,700 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (everlasting)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
Sold
20 X 20 in. - $5,400 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (holiday peonies)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
Sold
10 X 8 in. - $2,650 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (wonderment)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
Sold
10 X 8 in. - $2,650 CAD
Paradise (swing)
Sold
10 X 8 in. - $2,650 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (at the lake)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
Sold
30 X 24 in. - $5,950 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (lullaby)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
Sold
48 X 48 in. - $12,150 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (Midnight Roses)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
Sold
10 X 8 in. - $2,650 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Paradise (greenhouse)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
Sold
60 X 54 in. - $14,500 CAD
Prelude (Algonquin mist)
36 X 36 in. - $7,950 CAD
Prelude (into the mist)
60 X 60 in. - $15,200 CAD
Darlene Cole artwork 'Reverie (tracing your footsteps)' available at Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto, Ontario
54 X 54 in. - $13,700 CAD
Prelude (rowboat)
10 X 8 in. - $2,650 CAD
Prelude (teen cats)
30 X 24 in. - $5,950 CAD
Prelude (kitties in the living room)
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