SYLVIA TAIT | VARIATIONS ON A THEME
Sylvia Tait | Variations on A Theme
November 9 - 23, 2019
340 Dundas St West, Toronto
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 9, 2019, 2-4 PM
Bau-Xi Toronto is pleased to present Variations on a Theme, a selection of new works by acclaimed West Coast painter Sylvia Tait. Tait’s latest series is the celebration of a new approach, one which emerged following her recent retrospective at the Burnaby Art Gallery, during which the artist revisited earlier drawing and mixed media works.
Tait's varied techniques reference the jazz improvisations and classical music pieces which accompany her in the studio. With a particular focus on the visual resonance of her puzzle-like compositions, the organic tactility of the artist's experienced hand can be seen in the deliberately worked nearly agitated surfaces of her paintings.
Distinguished by soft-edged forms oft-disrupted by fragmented passages and painterly "trackings", the patina-ed blocks of colour that comprise Tait's canvasses and paperworks gradually reveal the subtle reverberations of their underlying layers, making apparent the optical play within the depths of her arrangements.
Sylvia Tait is an established Canadian painter who has been represented by the Bau-Xi Gallery since 1977. Tait's artworks have been acquired by many private and public collections, including the Musée de l'Art Contemporaine, Quebec; Vancouver Art Gallery, BC; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba; the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; the West Vancouver Museum, the Burnaby Art Gallery and the Canada Council Art Bank.