Exhibitions

Darlene Cole | Dance in a Storm
December 4 - 22, 2025
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening reception: Saturday, December 6th from 2 - 4 pm | Artist in Attendance

This December, we are proud to present Dance in a Storm, a transcendent exhibition by acclaimed Canadian painter, Darlene Cole. With this emotive body of work, the artist explores the interconnectivity between the act of painting, the resulting imagery, and how it is guided by themes of vulnerability, resilience, and kindness.

Artist Statement:

More and more I am drawn in by the physicality of oil paint and how it moves. Each pigment has its own characteristics - warm, cool, tenderness and depth - like translucent layers of skin. When working with figures and animals, there’s an attentiveness to how the paint moves and how the body moves…like a dance.

In these paintings, I feel a hushed chatter behind the curtain of our daily lives in the form of abstraction - the drama, lights and darks, and mystery. Flowers emerge from atmospheric backgrounds or are veiled by vintage curtains, perhaps a form of escapism in a world shadowed by uncertainty.

I invite the viewer to savour the deeper meaning of the interconnectedness that we share as humans and with nature through themes of vulnerability, resilience and kindness. Each work is a reminder of beauty in a chaotic world - a dance where tension melts. - Darlene Cole

Co-Director of Bau-Xi Gallery, Kyle Matuzewiski, writes:

I have always cherished the elegant simplicity within Darlene’s practice. Hers is one of economy; but not in a way which ever comes at the expense of the resulting work.

Every brushstroke feels contemplative; every application of pigment has the distinct impression of careful consideration. At times her work can feel phantasmic – however it is always rooted within an element of reality. Her figures act as grounding forces which pull the viewer back into the present, yet not enough that it breaks the spell they are under.

The sheer vicissitude of resulting emotions I see individuals experience when taking in Darlene’s work never ceases to amaze me. Joy, sadness, love, loss, fear, excitement – they are all there – being pulled from within the viewer.

This delicate and nuanced process is on full display with Dance in a Storm.

__________

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.

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.

VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION

Gavin Lynch | Light Spells
November 6 - December 1, 2025
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening reception: Saturday, November 8th from 2 - 4 pm | Artist in Attendance

Watch Artist Talk Series video about Light Spells

This month, Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin is delighted to present Light Spells, a captivating exhibition by Canadian painter, Gavin Lynch. In this body of work, the artist turns to the magic of the natural world, channeling that wonderment into his bewitching portrayals of our environment. Lynch’s creative motifs highlight the ephemeral – whether it be through dappled sunlight, or delicate layers of fog – to remind us to slow down, look, and take in the beauty that surrounds us.

Artist Statement:

The title Light Spells resonates with me because it carries the possibility of a double connotation: in describing the paintings it could firstly suggest that these depictions of the immateriality of light could somehow cast an incantation upon the viewer, a spell.

A spell to get a bit lost, a spell to be transported away through the act of looking, a spell to take a beat. Or rather perhaps a spell to ruminate on our relationship with nature, where things currently stand and ~ bigger picture ~ what is at stake. I’ve always felt that paintings ~ essentially some coloured mud arranged on a flat surface ~ are imbued with something that is more than just a sum of their parts, and that this often feels like some type of archaic magic. I still believe in the transportive power of painting.

Secondly, Light Spells could be taken in a more temporal context: that we are experiencing a moment of light in an otherwise dark time. Amidst the turbulent backdrop of the contemporary experience and a challenging year, I’ve been really grateful for the light spells when I’ve found them. Perhaps there is some metaphoric magic in that, also.

On a more formal level, the paintings continue a thematic return to depictions of nature, specifically landscapes that are both familiar and local to me. These paintings feel like a bit of a homecoming to the Canadian landscape. After having previously explored painting both virtual and digital spaces, these works have come full circle back to the places and motifs that I have painted since I began making art almost 30 years ago. In a digitally saturated world, bringing things back to nature feels more relevant than ever.

The approach to the paintings remains the same, as I still view the canvas with a collage mentality, and create them using a variety of painting implements, including brushes, squeegees and airbrush. The motifs, however, are focused on fleeting moments of light, such as sunrises, rays of light filtering through the canopy and the ephemeral atmospherics of fog. I love painting’s ability to forever freeze these moments that are, in our lived experience, so fleeting.

The works are intentionally uplifting, picturesque and beautiful: they are intended as small spells to remind ourselves that there is still beauty out in the world, and that, if some form of magic were to ever exist, it would surely be in nature. – Gavin Lynch

Co-Director of Bau-Xi Gallery, Kyle Matuzewiski, writes:

With Light Spells, Lynch has really hit the mark. Not only has he honed the approach to his craft – exemplified by the high level of artistry in his representation of atmospheric effects – he has also wholeheartedly dedicated himself to the depiction of the innate and intangible.

I found myself experiencing that intensely when observing his piece, “To the West”. A lone Jack Pine rests on a rocky out-cropping, branches dappled in the rising sun, gentle hues of yellow, orange, and red picking up the remnants of morning fog being burnt off the surface of the water. I can imagine myself in that scene. The call of the loon. The sweet smell of dew-covered foliage. The crisp air gently nipping at exposed skin.

Much like Thompson before him, Lynch has grounded himself in the iconic symbolism of Canadian landscape history. Lawren Harris, remarked upon Thompson’s seminal work as depicting “devotion and greatness of spirit.” Lynch, too, approaches his subject with a type of reverence, but with a watchful eye of how technology continues to shape the way in which we experience nature. He makes nuanced hints through subtle pixelation of reflected surfaces in “The Sun Also Rises”, or the rasterized gradations of the tree bark in “Flickering”.

However, at the heart of this is Lynch’s unyielding devotion to the depiction of the world as he sees it. He seeks to transport the viewer away, to remind them of the sublime, and the magic that it possesses.

Indeed, he does that, and then some.

__________

Gavin Lynch explores landscape with a contemporary point of view, drawing from environmentally aware fiction, art history, and nature itself.

The artist challenges the traditional notion of landscape painting by approaching each work with a digitally informed, collage-like approach. By playing with opposing visual and tactile qualities, Lynch creates a layered and nuanced canvas that plays with the sculptural qualities of paint. The artist looks to climate change and the inherent destruction of our natural environment to depict forest scenes and seascapes, each informed by research expeditions, lived experience, and his fascination with Weird fiction and Eco fiction.

Gavin Lynch completed his Master of Fine Arts at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, in 2012. Prior to studying at the University of Ottawa, Lynch completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, in 2009.

In 2014, the artist was one of fifteen finalists competing in the RBC Canadian Painting Competition. Works by Gavin Lynch were exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art from September 9 to October 8, 2014. The competition looked to award emerging painters who champion their medium in new and innovative ways.

Works by the artist can be found in collections including Royal Bank of Canada; Toronto Dominion Bank; Scotiabank; City of Ottawa Public Art Collection; University of Toronto; Simon Fraser University Permanent Collection, B.C. Hall; Air Canada; among others. Gavin Lynch has been represented by Bau-Xi Gallery since 2021.

VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION

Barbara Cole | Impermanence
November 6 - December 1, 2025
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening reception: Saturday, November 8th from 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM | Artist in Attendance

At Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin this November, we are honoured to present Impermanence, a timeless exhibition by award-winning Canadian photographer, Barbara Cole. Harkening back to her beginnings in photography, Cole explores her imagery through classic film techniques via black-and-white film, shot on a mid-20th Century camera. The resulting work captures her figures with a poetic vision, creating a space that exists without limitation.

Artist Statement:

Impermanence invites the viewer to embrace the unknown and the ever-shifting nature of being human. Departing from the vibrant colors of my underwater work, these black-and-white photographs - shot with a 1950s camera on traditional film - feature anonymous, sheer figures that feel both expressive and elusive. By leaving the film edges intact, I seek to emphasize the tactile quality of the prints and opens a window into a world where unpredictability sparks endless possibility.

The images are never static. As the viewer lingers, new perspectives and hidden details emerge, revealing a dreamlike sense of movement. Ephemeral and poetic, each photograph captures a longing for what was and what could be, inhabiting a timeless space where identity is always in flux. – Barbara Cole

Kyle Matuzewiski, the Co-Director of Bau-Xi Gallery, shares his thoughts:

With each body of work, Barbara continues to reinvent her practice. At times, the way she approaches her craft seems to defy the physical bounds of photography. I have come to view her as a dreamer, with equal measures of artist, chemist, and historian, finely balanced to open the realm of possibility. She is constantly moving, searching, and seeking inspiration.

If Barbara has a concept she wishes to explore, she will tap into each of those traits to manifest those ideas. She explores the history of photography, utilizing processes that may seem esoteric to some - wet-collodion - or the use of modern processing approaches - digital inkjet prints on transparencies - to create her singular vision. With Impermanence, Barbara honours black-and-white photographs, used by luminaries such as Dorothea Lange, Diane Arbus, Berenice Abbott, or Cindy Sherman.

When experiencing this series, I find myself thinking of Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills, where the artist seeks to capture and preserve the ambiguity of her figures, allowing the viewer to place themselves within the frame. The stark black and white images are timeless, not specifically identifiable, and open to the realm of possibility. Barbara Cole suspends her figures within a moment in time, pushing the viewer to move beyond their initial reaction to the image. While the women within her work are delicate, elegant and graceful, there is a strength to their movements and compositions. They exist independently of what we see, feel, and think.

I look forward to where this journey takes Barbara and what comes next. In the meanwhile, I will revel in what she has accomplished with Impermanence.

__________

Born in Toronto in 1953, Cole works across multiple photographic mediums, including underwater photography and modernized wet collodion. Known for ethereal imagery depicting figures in states of weightlessness and transformation, she continues to push boundaries, blending traditional techniques with inventive approaches in her quest for timelessness.

Cole’s work has been exhibited worldwide, including the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo and Washington, D.C., and is featured in international corporate collections. She was the subject of an episode in the documentary series Snapshot: The Art of Photography II and published her book Between Worlds with teNeues in 2023.

VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION

ERIC LOUIE | WE STILL HAVE TIME
MAIN LEVEL GALLERY
NOVEMBER 8 -26, 2025
3045 Granville Street, Vancouver
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 8, 2-4pm
Artist In Attendance


Bau-Xi Gallery proudly presents We Still Have Time, the new solo exhibition by Vancouver-based abstract painter Eric Louie. In his latest body of work, Louie continues his exploration of transformation and possibility through intricately layered abstract compositions featuring his iconic metallic foil-like effect. His dynamic interplay of colour, light, and sculptural form reflects a search for balance in an era marked by uncertainty, offering visions of renewal and hope. Thoughtful and immersive, We Still Have Time invites viewers to pause within the turbulence of the present moment and consider the enduring potential for change.


Artist Statement:

I’m always searching for answers to the deeper questions. Faced with an alarming world, I seek comfort in the process of making art, and also in the final works, which offer alternate visions of what could be. It often feels like at any moment things could explode into chaos: climate change, political upheaval, war, unrest… there’s lot of darkness, a lot of vitriol. But we still have time - we can always change course. 

This collection is like a daydream of possibilities: there are no rules for how to contextualize the subjects and places depicted on the canvas. There’s fluidity in the creation of form - an interplay in the mind of the beholder and the shapes and colours, creating something new, something needed. It’s a story that wants to be told and it’s always changing. Some pieces offer monolithic sculptural formations alone in the vastness; in others, forms get absorbed into their environments, emerging and receding simultaneously. 

Immersing myself in each painting, I feel as if I am shifting in and out of consciousness, stepping through portals to other worlds. Each world is a new chance to be who I want to be, to show another side, to release untapped potential, or tell a different version of the story. The longer I’m here, the more I catch myself looking for permanence in impermanent forms, but through this I eventually come to embrace the inevitability of change. 

We Still Have Time speaks to our instinctive desire and drive to endure when everything is shifting around us. Ultimately, I hope these works serve as reminders to recognize what we still have, to celebrate the moments we are here on earth, and to have the courage to see beyond our perceived confines and enter into the realm of possibility.

-Eric Louie, 2025


VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION

Sheri Paisley | When You Were the Sea
October 4-16, 2025
Main Level Gallery
3045 Granville Street, Vancouver
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 4, 2-4pm
Artist In Attendance


Bau-Xi Vancouver is proud to present When You Were the Sea, BC-based artist Sheri Paisley's new solo exhibition in which she explores the quiet power of the Pacific coast. Based on the remote haven of Ucluelet, BC, these new paintings reflect the ocean not as a subject, but as a presence: something that lives both around and within us. Drawing from the colours and textures of the region - driftwood, kelp, and shifting weather - Paisley captures the emotional undercurrents of memory, connection, and place. These richly layered atmospheric works invite viewers to slow down and consider the true depth of our interconnection with the natural world.


Artist Statement:

Most days on the West Coast, there’s a clear awareness that the ocean isn’t a separate body. Its powerful presence is both external and very much internal - a visceral reminder that the majority of our makeup is water.

When You Were the Sea is a body of work born in the often fog-thick quiet of Ucluelet, BC, where the ocean presses in from all sides and time unspools like the tide. These paintings are not literal seascapes. They are embodied emotional weather maps - impressions of the sea as it moves through ancient cellular memory, inter-relationship, and the recognition of life as interconnected energy.

I paint in layers - thin veils and gestures that accumulate like panes of glass, each holding its own version of the world. The palette is drawn from ocean-soaked driftwood, high-tide kelp, and the shifting clarity of weathered Pacific light: variations of warm and cool blues, quiet rainforest greens, and unassuming greys that hum at the edge of recognition. Each mark is an act of belonging - a way of placing myself in space.

I’m interested in what’s barely there - the space between form and feeling, water and skin, presence and loss. The paintings ask:

What parts of you are shaped by the tide?
What do you still carry that belonged to someone else?
Do we end where the sea begins?
This series offers no answers - only places to return to, like an expansive, outgoing tide after a storm.

– Sheri Paisley 2025


VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION

Kathryn Macnaughton | Undercurrents
October 9 - November 3, 2025
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening reception: Thursday, October 9th from 5:30 - 7:30 pm | Artist in Attendance

Watch Artist Talk Series video about Undercurrents

This month, Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin is delighted to present Undercurrents, an enthralling exhibition by Canadian abstract painter Kathryn Macnaughton. In this body of work, Macnaughton seeks to explore the interplay between control and chance, resulting in unexpected harmonies and tensions. The resulting paintings aim to create a field of sensation, inviting viewers to engage with the abstraction on a personal and emotional level. 

Artist Statement:

My paintings emerge from a process of layered pours and sweeping motions, where colour and form drift between intention and accident. 

Each surface becomes a record of movement: pigment flowing, colliding, and pooling into unexpected harmonies and tensions. I am fascinated in the space where control meets chance and where something deliberate turns into something you cannot fully plan for.

A big part of this process involves the use of a squeegee, and although it is expressed by repeated gestures, the outcome is always guaranteed to be different. It is that unpredictability which draws me in. Screen printing also has a strong influence - the layering, transparency, and reiteration. Even though I am not exploring this process in a traditional sense, that same mindset shapes the way I approach my paintings.

I never start with a fixed image. Instead, each layer responds to the one before it. Broad areas of reds, greens, and blue shades shift in density. Sometimes they are opaque, at other times translucent — letting traces of those earlier gestures show through. It creates a kind of rhythm, where the edges of colours between forms are just as important as the forms themselves.

These works explore how abstraction can hold both fluidity and structure. I’m not aiming to depict anything specific, but to create a field of sensation. A space where viewers can drift and make their own associations.

Ultimately, I am chasing that moment where the physicality of the paint shifts into something more intangible - a feeling of time passing, of boundaries dissolving, of being suspended between order and chaos. – Kathryn Macnaughton

Co-director of Bau-Xi Gallery, Kyle Matuzewiski, lends his thoughts on Kathryn Macnaughton's newest exhibition. He writes:

Since Kathryn first joined the gallery, I have seen so many elements of growth in her practice. One of the most pronounced aspects of this is through her ability to embrace chance and the resulting unpredictability in her paintings. 

Early on in our time representing her, Kathryn was incredibly focused on a high-level of accuracy where colour, shape and form were concerned – often spending dozens of hours perfecting each piece. Her subject matter drew on a deep interest (and studies) in both illustration and graphic design, incorporating elements of the human figure and how movement could be conveyed.

Over the past couple of years, the abstraction she would often use as a backdrop has now come to the forefront, with the colour palette punched up to eleven. Kathryn is now exploring how the act of painting can express the human figure on canvas and not be reliant on pictorial representations. 

It is a truly liberating to see and I look forward to where this direction takes her.

__________

Kathryn Macnaughton (b. 1985, Toronto) approaches painting with a poetic vision, effortlessly combining abstract expressionism and figurative structures through her bold use of colour, movement, and form. She sees each piece as a journey – one of spontaneity – whereby rhythmic patterns emerge. 

The push and pull of the process is one that Macnaughton embraces, trusting in her intuition, while remaining open to the improvisational act of painting. The artist states “I am constantly acting and thinking, with no predefined image in mind, only open-ended possibilities.” 

With each splash of paint, or drawn line carving out forms, Macnaughton navigates the terrain of uncertainty. She is willing to push her work to the edge of oblivion, pulling back only when necessary, guided by each interaction: “Painting allows me to turn thoughts into action, expressing emotions in a direct and powerful way.”

Macnaughton’s work has been exhibited in Canada, Europe, and the United States. She has collaborated with Kit and Ace, Collective Arts Brewery and The Gardiner Museum in Toronto. The artist has been represented by Bau-Xi Gallery since 2016 and currently lives and works in Lisbon, Portugal.

VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION

Group Exhibition | Landscaped
October 9 - November 3, 2025
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto

This October, Bau-Xi Gallery is proud to present Landscaped, an expansive group exhibition featuring works by David T. Alexander, Anne Griffiths, Frederick Hagan, Robert Marchessault, Jeffrey Milstein, and Steven Nederveen. 

Artists have been depicting, documenting and describing the world that surrounds us for time immemorial. In the 17th century, landscape painting transitioned from being a background element to a respected genre used to express shifting views on nature, morality, and national identity. While the styles varied, many paintings shared the purpose of elevating the natural world. Even today, artists continue to visit this shared fascination, expressing it through more expansive mediums, techniques and methods.

The ensemble of artists featured in this grouping do so via painting, photography, or some combination of both. They may reference images they have taken on their travels, or work from the image in their minds eye. It could occur in the studio, or out in the wilderness – in situ. The scale may be designed to overwhelm and amaze or invoke an element of intimacy. 

Irrespective of their approach, the artist continues to elevate the natural world in new and exciting ways.

VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION