Gavin Lynch | Pixel Estate
September 5-30, 2023
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 7th, 5-7 pm | Artist in Attendance
This September, Bau-Xi Gallery is proud to present the highly anticipated solo exhibition for Gavin Lynch, Pixel Estate.
The exhibition coincides with the grand opening of Bau-Xi Gallery’s expansive new location on Dufferin Street on September 9, 2023. In tandem with artist Barbara Cole’s concurrent exhibition, Pixel Estate is the first formal exhibition to open at the new location.
Artist Statement:
“The exhibition is titled ‘Pixel Estate’ and is thus far the cleanest break I've made with the distinctly Canadian landscapes and motifs I so regularly engaged with previously. It thematically revolves around a fictional garden ~ perhaps virtual or digital ~ which is a highly designed and manicured space in which we find both extinct and modified species of birds, plants, and mushrooms. In this painterly space, I've been exploring the similarities between gardens and landscape painting, two realms of human activity that both mimic and emulate what we consider to be ‘nature’.
Both the birds and mushrooms are in states of pictorial mutation, undergoing both exaggerated stretching and compression, awkwardly growing to absurd sizes (for instance, the 8-foot-tall mushroom) and pushing against the compositional constraints of some uniquely tall or long canvases. I think these manipulations speak to the human influence on both individual species and more generally the environment at large; not everything in this garden is well. Perhaps the mushrooms are waiting around to decompose the remains of this place. While the garden is a serene space, the manicured trees, walking paths and stone walls therein remind us that this is indeed a space created and maintained by humans, a space gently disrupted by ripples of digital manipulation and distortion … much like how our perception of nature has slowly been altered by our evolving relationship with screens and technology.”
-Gavin Lynch, 2023
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.