Exhibitions

Vicki Smith |  A Theory of Relative Happiness
May 12-26, 2018
340 Dundas St West, Toronto
Closing Reception: Saturday May 26, 2:00 - 4:00pm, Artist in Attendance

A Theory of Relative Happiness was inspired by a note written by Albert Einstein. In 1922 he wrote, “A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.”

For many years my paintings have been a dedicated effort in providing a calm and modest space.  A place of quiet and stillness.  If for a moment we allow ourselves to enter into that stillness our natural happiness will present itself. It’s already there. Our happiness. It just needs a quiet moment to be experienced. – Vicki Smith

Vicki Smith, a sought-after Canadian painter, is known for her paintings of female figures that explore the possibilities and limitations of gravity.  Often shown suspended in dark air or rippling water, twisted and upside-down, falling into and out of the picture plane, these figures are often so precariously placed upon the canvas that they threaten to slip away or dissolve. Though rarely grounded, they are always balanced.

Vicki Smith studied fine art at the Ontario College of Art. She lives and works in Toronto.

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Cori Creed | Strata
April 14-28, 2018
340 Dundas St West, Toronto
Opening Reception: Saturday April 14, 2:00 - 4:00pm - Artist in Attendance

Bau-Xi Gallery is pleased to present a new body of work by celebrated Canadian painter, Cori Creed. Inspired by her travels to coastal locations around the globe, Creed continues to capture the Canadian landscape with joy and vitality.

At once fascinated by her subject and by the process of painting itself, Creed's work focuses on the subject and the creator, with thick brushstrokes and marks of vivid colour reminding us of the artist's creative process. The newest vistas fracture and dissolve, allowing the viewer to oscillate between the depth of the scene and the two-dimensional nature of a painting's surface.

Cori Creed studied Fine Art at Simon Fraser University and Design at Capilano College. She lives and works in Vancouver, BC.

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Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber | THE EMPIRE, THE CITY
Featured Exhibition, Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival 
May 1-31, 2018
350 Dundas St West, Toronto
Opening reception: Saturday, May 5, 2-4pm

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber’s urban scenes represent the spaces which celebrate modern culture, knowledge and innovation: the mall, the museum, the library and the vacuum showroom. Here, the natural world reclaims itself in an ironic realization of a paradise lost, leaving the monuments of civilization and material culture abandoned. Evidence of human presence may still be visible, but the cause for their absence is left unclear; the narrative remains open-ended.

As self-described ‘non-traditional’ photographers, Nix and Gerber meticulously construct their subject matter by hand, and capture it entirely in-camera, refraining from the use of digital manipulation. They build painstakingly detailed, three-dimensional dioramas, which often measure no more than twenty inches high, and can take up to fifteen months to complete. Nix uses a large-format film camera to render these miniature scenes larger than life, infusing layers of irony and whimsy into the seemingly grandiose scale of her and Gerber’s urban tableaux.

This exhibition has been selected as a featured exhibition for the annual Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE COLLECTION 

Andre Petterson | brand
April 14 – 28, 2018
3045 Granville St, Vancouver
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 14, 2:00 - 4:00pm

Advertising logos pepper tapestries of billboards, street signage and bus banners across urban landscapes in cities and rural villages all over the world. Branding, an essential tool for marketing and identity construction in late capitalism, serves as a mode of communication rife with meaning about access, possession, and consumption. In brand, Vancouver-based artist Andre Petterson explores themes of globalization and cultural homogenization through the dissemination of visual ephemera in marketing campaigns of large western corporations such as Disney, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks.

Best known for his work blending painting and photography, Andre Petterson exposes the breakdown of traditional distinctions between high and low, real and fake, old and new, urban and rural through cutting, collaging and painting. brand destabilizes the significance of recognizable cultural signifiers as they are re-contextualized and re-configured in different contexts; sometimes reinforcing wealth or status, other times receding to obscurity to the point of ironic absurdity.

brand is presented as part of the 2018 Capture Photography Festival.

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Michelle Nguyen | Anatomical Venus
March 24 - April 7, 2018
340 Dundas St West, Toronto
Opening Reception: Saturday March 24, 2:00 - 4:00pm

"Anatomical Venus explores how women occupy both physical and theoretical spaces, as both artist and subject throughout art history, and how we ascribe them power, or the lack thereof. " - Michelle Nguyen 

Bau-Xi Gallery is pleased to debut new work by emerging artist Michelle Nguyen. The memento mori figurine, Anatomical Venus (created by Clemente Susini in 1780) is Nguyen's inspiration for this exhibition, which draws on art historical role of the female form as a projection of desire and power.

The idea that this figure is at once alien and familiar, science and art, life and death, fascinates Nguyen and encourages her to continue to explore the themes of the women-art-power triad in her paintings.

Nguyen hails from Toronto and currently lives and works in Vancouver. She holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of British Columbia.

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Joshua Jensen-Nagle | Dreams and Journeys 
April 14-28, 2018
350 Dundas St. West, Toronto
Opening Reception: Saturday April 14, 2:00 - 4:00pm

In his latest series Dreams and Journeys, Joshua Jensen-Nagle brings a playful approach to the everyday traveller. These works capture architectural subjects from all over Europe, revisited by the artist who returns to his past subjects with a new perspective. Each image is a sublime experience of a known site: Rome’s Pantheon glows in white light as an admiring public spill from its doors onto a busy street; Jerusalem’s Western Wall humbles its reverent visitors; the sprawling Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux enwraps a lively scene of tourists waiting to see their reflection in the Miroir D'Eau. These newest scenes are impressive theatres of civilization and geography that both indulge our sense of nostalgia and appreciation of architectural treasures. Common to each image is a distinct sense of contemporaneity: every place—embattled, sacred, and sometimes austere—re-enters the present by way of human engagement. History and daily life coexist; Jensen-Nagle’s places are not documents, but “views,” intended to prompt the curious and familiar sensation of dreams and memories intertwining. Joshua Jensen-Nagle has mounted over fifty exhibitions in Canada and abroad, and is included in notable private and institutional collections such as the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Cirque du Soleil and the Griffin Museum in Boston. His work has appeared in publications including Canadian Art, Harper’s, Art in America, and Fashion. He holds a degree in Image Arts and Photographic Studies from Ryerson University and lives and works in Toronto.

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350 Dundas St West, Toronto
March 24 to April 7, 2018

Bau-Xi Photo is thrilled to present a group exhibition, showcasing work by David Leventi, Jill Greenberg, David Burdeny and Barbara Cole. 

Click here to view the photography collection