Exhibitions

Jamie Evrard | Time's Garden
September 14-28, 2024
Main Level | 3045 Granville Street, Vancouver
Opening Reception: Saturday September 14, 2-4pm
Artist in Attendance
Artist Talk & Tour Saturday September 14, 2:15 - 2:30pm



Bau-Xi Gallery is proud to present atmospheric and immersive new paintings on both canvas and paper by established Vancouver-based artist Jamie Evrard. In addition to Evrard's signature floral imagery, her exhibition also features five paintings of the enigmatic dresses from the garden art installation “Four Seasons” by BC based textile artist Deirdre Phillips.

 
Evrard’s floral fascination has spanned virtually her entire career, continually driven by flowers’ contrasting qualities of unapologetic boldness, fragility and ephemerality. Whether focusing on a single blossom or celebrating a chaotic profusion of garden blooms, Evrard adeptly captures their shapes, lines and personalities with light and soft yet decisive strokes. Embracing a slightly deeper and richer palette for her sensitive observances of Vancouver's gardens and ponds and the quiet curiosities they harbour, the artist imbues her lush subjects with an air of late summer – still in full and glorious bloom, with a hint of the autumnal change to come.

Jamie Evrard has had over 75 solo exhibitions across the US and Canada and has been featured in over 65 group exhibitions since 1970.


Artist Statement:


It’s a Tuesday morning in mid August and I’m supposed to be writing the dread Artist’s Statement. Instead, I’m out on the deck watching bees busy randomly attacking my sunflowers, flitting from one to the next and sometimes back again. They’re in a hurry, and they have no game plan other than to gather as much nectar and pollen as possible.

I can relate. All winter when the bees were asleep, I might as well have been too. I painted but the light was too dim, and I had trouble making decisions and believing in my choices. A few starts, lots of destruction and restarts.

Eventually spring arrived, then summer, bringing with them the light. Almost delirious with joy and, finally, energy, I culled most of the remaining winter paintings and returned to my studio. I started a big painting of artichoke plants, then painted over them in peonies, then roses, then abandoned the unconcluded work and started over. Though ideas grew as rapidly as my new garden plants, they often became unwieldy and obstinate.

As summer progressed and my deadline approached, I began to do the bee thing, buzzing around to seven or eight new canvases more or less at random, working on each one in turn. I felt I could now make the decisions I needed to coax the paintings in the right direction. The studio looked like a house of cards, or maybe the way an overly abundant garden must look to a bee. Where to go first and what to do next!

When the days are bright I work this way - everything at once, very intuitive, and with one painting feeding the next. Many of these paintings have long stories behind them, layers upon layers of ideas that once veered off track or onto tangents before I finally righted them. Cannibalizing a big painting with large brushes is, in fact, one of the great joys of painting.

Delphiniums continue to fascinate me, the way they bend and drape in beautiful rhythms when they are at their ripest. Excuses for layers and layers of blues and purples. And I love the way a painting of water can take off in a completely unexpected way.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I need to stop writing and go paint.

-Jamie Evrard, 2024

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Robert Marchessault | Trees Like Bent Men
September 12 - October 3, 2024
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin, Upper Floor Gallery
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 14th, 2-5 PM | ARTIST IN ATTENDANCE

Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin enthusiastically presents Trees Like Bent Men, a serene and meditative exhibition by Canadian painter, Robert Marchessault. In this newest collection, Marchessault continues to demonstrate our commonalities with and reliance on nature through his unique depictions of trees. Their curvature, foothold, size, and colouring attribute human characteristics to remind us that trees are expressive beings. The artist uses beauty as a device to engage the audience, inspiring ethical action with our current climate crisis and mindfulness towards the natural world.

Artist Statement:

“I have been working with the ideas of trees since 1978 and had expressed myself through them, but I had a desire to link human dimensions and deeper feelings to my art. A collector of my work visited my studio and on seeing my paintings remarked, 'Trees like bent men!' That phrase has stuck with me ever since.

Two thousand and twenty-four is a significant year, as I am now seventy. Looking back, it is clear that my passion for the natural world, especially plants and trees has not waned. Through the decades I have varied my approach to painting these subjects, from classical renderings to pure abstraction, settling now on a hybrid synthesized amalgam.

The subjects in 'Trees Like Bent Men' include carefully rendered areas that drop off into hazy abstraction. Some grow up from the edge of the canvas. Others drip or fade, unrooted, into the background as if they’re floating.” - Robert Marchessault, 2024

Robert Marchessault was born in Montreal in 1953 and achieved a BFA from Concordia University, Montreal in 1978. His work has been exhibited in nearly 120 solo and group shows throughout North America. His newest series of works on panel evolves out of his continued interest in the contemporary, sublime landscape.

Since relocating to Ontario, Marchessault has been the recipient of multiple Ontario Arts Council grants, and in 2000 was the Artist in Residence at the Joshua Tree National Monument, Palm Springs. Selected collections include Hudson's Bay Company, Ernst & Young LLP, The Royal Bank of Canada, Esso Resources Canada Ltd, Xerox Canada Ltd., Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc., and Nissan Canada Inc.  

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Sheila Kernan | Interplay: Memory and Connection
August 17-31, 2024
3045 Granville Street, Vancouver
Opening Reception Saturday August 17, 2-4pm
Artist in Attendance
Artist Talk & Tour August 17 2:15-2:30pm


Bau-Xi Vancouver proudly presents Interplay: Memory and Connection, the new solo exhibition from Calgary-based artist Sheila Kernan. In this series, Kernan continues to explore her fascination with coastal vistas in her signature multi-technique style. New landscapes depict a reverence for British Columbia’s forests, rocky shores and islands, coloured and emphasized through memory and eliciting connection with the viewer through shared experience and emotion. The immersive, textural scenes are replete with the energy of the wild landscape. 


Artist's statement:

Memory is a fluid and subjective phenomenon that is continually shaped by our experiences and emotions. Through my practice, I consistently explore this malleable nature of past recollections and how they evolve over time. I am interested in how the power of perspective can shape and sometimes change our current understanding of what once was.

I value evolution and am always searching for new ways to combine materials and to construct and deconstruct my paintings. This uncertainty of outcome is what keeps things fresh, exciting, and challenging. I seek to reconnect with a childlike sense of wonder and discovery, chasing the rush that accompanies each brushstroke and each new artistic revelation.

My paintings act as a bridge between my personal experiences and memories with nature and the collective human experience with nature. It is this moment of connection that the paintings take on a life of their own, becoming an opportunity for viewers to recall and process their own memories, emotions, and experiences. I am thankful every day for this exchange.

-Sheila Kernan, 2024


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Nicole Katsuras | The Gentle Ground
July 13-27, 2024
3045 Granville Street, Vancouver
Opening Reception Saturday July 13, 2-4pm

Bau-Xi Vancouver proudly presents The Gentle Ground, a new solo exhibition by Nicole Katsuras. In this new series, the artist utilizes her signature free-flowing extruded paint application to create spaces of lightness and grounding in which to contemplate the present moment. These lyrical abstractions are the artist's floating worlds, inspired by the definition of Japanese Ukiyo-e.


Artist's Statement:

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.”
-Abraham Maslow

In this new body of work, I hope to plant new seeds and flowers for new growth, positive energy and new beginnings.

Today, life is filled with never ending to-do-lists and always being “on the go”. It is easy to forget and appreciate the present, no matter how chaotic or simple it may be. These oil paintings are like a Zen garden: places of contemplation, moving sites of reflection and moments of renewal — filled with recurring motifs of maps, floating islands and land forms. Tendrils of extruded oil paint are like pathways to interconnect and ground you to the here and now, allowing yourself to be present and mindful, even at an intersection of activity. To just gently observe and appreciate the moment and the “now” can be liberating, energizing and restorative. These paintings are as much for me as they are for the viewer — the colours and textures of creating pull us into the moment. Embracing and allowing yourself to let go in these moments, I find, is so beneficial.

I have started to experiment with some gouache on small panels - a sort of meditative, simple, repetitive exercise, tiny strokes of colour within organic line forms. I have always done small sketches to map out my compositions within small boxes and rectangles - there is a similar structure with my line work but simpler and more stylized.

– Nicole Katsuras, 2024


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Ted Fullerton | Stoned: Selected Stone Lithographs by Ted Fullerton
July 11-31, 2024
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin, Upper Floor Gallery 
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 11th, 5-8 PM | ARTIST IN ATTENDANCE 

Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin is thrilled to announce the profound new solo exhibition Stoned: Selected Stone Lithographs by Ted Fullerton by award-winning artist, Ted Fullerton. In this new series, the artist addresses the art-form of Printmaking as one of the most misunderstood mediums. Fullerton reflects on his own practice and involvement in Printmaking to unveil the magic of the ritualistic creation process and the uniqueness of each finished piece.

Artist Statement:

"Printmaking: A Ritual within process - Reflecting on the art-form of Printmaking.
Ritual: A ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.

Within the breadth of art mediums, the art-form of Printmaking is one of the most misunderstood, or should I say misinterpreted. It would be fair to say, in most cases, it is with the notion of a multiple image, which is falsely aligned with the process of commercial reproduction. One only needs to consider significant artists that have dedicated themselves to the medium, such as Kiki Smith, Rita Letendre, Jeannie Thib, Otis Tamasauskas, David Blackwood, Stu Oxley, Frederick Hagan, Edvard Munch, Mimmo Paladino, Helen Frankenthaler, Kathe Kollwitz, George Baselitz – among many others - to understand the uniqueness of what this art-form brings to artistic self-expression.

Reflecting on my own passionate involvement for, and with this medium, has allowed me to consider why expressing myself in Printmaking - specifically Stone Lithography - has been a long-lasting commitment since my formative years at the Ontario College of Art (OCA) during the 1970’s.

Within my first year at the OCA, I was introduced to this medium by the Head of Printmaking, Frederick Hagan, who I subsequently came to consider a mentor and a lifelong friend. Prior to attending Hagan’s first class, I was not aware of the art-form as a creative and expressive medium. However, after viewing a portfolio of very diverse artists and their work within the medium that he presented, I was immediately “hooked”.

Although I have worked in different mediums under the umbrella of printmaking since those early days, stone lithography has been my central passion over the subsequent 45 years of my art practice. I could go into length about the experience of drawing on stone, its unique visual aesthetic - and the process in realizing the limited edition - but let me say it is “extraordinary” for me. The materials and process’s “seductive nature" naturally invite my attraction to the symbolic image making that are sourced and coalesce from a place of merging associations.

To address the “elephant in the room”: what makes the art of printmaking different from reproduction, as they are both realized as a multiple image? Reproduction is a photo mechanical process where each image is reproduced exactly as the previous one in an unlimited number and mainly geared for commercial enterprise. However, the art of Printmaking allows for multiples of an image from a matrix created directly from the artist’s involvement or hand, followed by a repetitive - “ritualistic” - process of creation (hand-printing). Although the intent, in most cases, is to produce a limited edition of prints that are similar, this hand-made process renders each work slightly different by its own nature.

Ultimately, as an artist, I express myself in several different mediums - drawing, painting, sculpture, and printmaking. That said, each of these approaches develops from the basis of drawing. Drawing is the “soul” source of my visual expression, and I quickly realized all those years ago at OCA that printmaking offered a “differing” way of drawing, while using diverse - and sometimes unconventional - means, surfaces, and tools.

The process of creating and realizing unique, multiple images within the medium has become “ritualistic” in process, and a frame of mind - an essential aspect of creation for me.

Philosopher - Friedrich Schleiermacher
To read a text is a discourse between the interpreter and the text itself, but the text is at the same time a construction between the internal thoughts of the author and the language he (they) has used for it."

Ted Fullerton works in contemporary painting, printmaking and sculpture, and has achieved numerous awards including the Juror's Award in the CIM Centennial Art Competition and the Boston Printmaker's Juried Exhibition award. His notable commissions include sculptures for the City of Kitchener and the Davenport Architectural Corp. Ted Fullerton graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1976. In 1993 and 1994, he was artist-in-residence at Cape Dorset and at Canadore College in North Bay.

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Steven Nederveen | The Universe Dreams With Us
June 6-27, 2024
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin, Upper Floor Gallery 
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 8th, 3-5 PM | ARTIST IN ATTENDANCE 

Bau-Xi Gallery is thrilled to present The Universe Dreams With Us, the enchanting new solo exhibition by Toronto-based artist, Steven Nederveen. In this newest series, the artist transports the viewer to a dreamlike world that inspires us to connect with nature and the universe. By using his hallmark techniques, the artist develops a magical realism that insists on new perspectives on the landscape genre.

Artist Statement:

“This body of work brings us into a liminal space between the vastness of our ocean and the timeless power of the sublime. A dreamlike world, connecting nature and the ethereal realm. The Universe Dreams With Us brings out a world of colours and warm glows to give us a more personal and compassionate version of the universe, one that is in union with us. 

I intentionally draw from the Abstract Expressionists in this work to use similar signifiers like Mark Rothko’s framing of colour blocks and Barnett Neuman’s ‘zip’ lines. Both artists were interested in the transcendent experience as well.” 

Steven Nederveen's work is featured internationally in galleries, art fairs and magazines, and is part of private and public collections including Air Canada, the House of Armani, and the Canadian embassy in Iceland. He studied fine art at Medicine Hat College and went on to receive a Bachelor of Design from the University of Alberta in 1995. His studio is currently based in Toronto.

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Janna Watson | Speaking In Tongues 
June 6-27, 2024
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin, Main Floor Gallery 
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 8th, 3-5 PM | ARTIST IN ATTENDANCE

Bau-Xi Gallery is thrilled to present Speaking In Tongues, the alluring new solo exhibition by Toronto-based artist, Janna Watson. In this newest body of work, the artist explores the artform of language and the ways in which it can manifest outside of us. For Watson, this is the abstract language of painting that is used to communicate self discovery, emotion, and thought without speaking a word. 

“’Language is not a tool we have, it is a shapeshifter, a being that lives with us, walks and talks with us and has its own business and intentions.’ - Anne Carson

Part of the exhilaration I acquire from painting is being able to see shifts within myself manifested into a physical reality. The most truthful form of expression I have found in my life this far has been the abstract language of painting.  Self discovery is fluid and when I am painting I can see worlds within myself taking shape across their varied surfaces. When the act of looking creates optical overload the viewer is led back to the concrete realities of colour, pigment and the relief of negative space. Fields of watery pigment-stained panels have been created as open-ended experiments that unify the unfinished process of creation. The paintings speak on their own emotional terms that evade logic and invite limitless interpretations.

Raised in the 80s in a rural area without internet or tv, I had little exposure to foreign languages. My father was a Pentecostal pastor and my earliest memory of a “foreign” language was the speaking of tongues. I was taught that praying in tongues was a way to bypass the mind and communicate a divinely inspired language with an utterance of the spirit. This early understanding of using language to bypass words has been deeply imprinted on me and it has since manifested itself in new ways, influencing my abstract expression.”

Watson’s paintings circulate regularly at international fairs, including the Toronto International Art Fair, CONTEXT Art Miami, and in Seattle, where they were featured by Artsy in its list of “10 Works to Collect at the Seattle Art Fair.” Watson’s work has been covered by publications such as The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, NOW Magazine, and House & Home.

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