Exhibitions

SHERI BAKES | Stars in Flowers, For my Mom
3045 Granville Street
September 24 - October 8

A celebration of the close relationship and constant inspiration her mother is to her creative development, Sheri Bakes upcoming exhibition imbues the spirit of her mother with her perennial interest in the effects of light and movement on natural subjects.

"My mother has given me, among other things, the gift of appreciating awe-inspiring beauty in nature. I have spent hours with her in her garden. Whether she works quietly on her own or expresses wonderment and joy in the blossoming of a Dahlia, she shares with me the incredible beauty of both her own physical garden, and her own personal, internal garden."

During the early stage of planning 'Stars in Flowers, for my Mom, Bakes' mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The physical implications of the disorder left Bakes to wonder how her mother's garden might change. The echo of her mother's constant refrain at the time of diagnosis comforted and encouraged the artist to paint with new fearlessness: "We have to live for today, not worry about tomorrow."



Anthony Redpath's latest photographic series focuses on the industrial history of coastal British Columbia. Framing worn-down or vacant buildings, Redpath positions his lens at close range to distill his subjects into a series of abstracted planes of  shape and texture. Further enhanced by the complex ribbing, vaulting and rustication of the sugar refinery, pulp mills, and oil refinery that comprise the series, Redpath's attention to detail reveals the effects of time on these monolithic architectural subjects. Works in RE-FINED are technical, beautiful images which respond to shifting understandings about industry as an important feature of the Canadian landscape.

Following the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, Andreas Gursky and Candida Hofer, Redpath's treatment of his subjects entices the viewer to go beyond the documentary style and examine closely the surface sensuality and rich palette of a decaying landscape. As critic Sky Gooden has observed, "where the Bechers stood back from their industrial subjects, Redpath rushes in."

The widespread, politically-charged graffiti decorating stately Neoclassical buildings in Buenos Aires is impossible to ignore. It is a visual contradiction which exposes the rift between the conservative elite and radical working class. Aesthetically, the bold colours of spray paint and the gestural, script-like application reshape its planar architectural forms into a highly personal expression. For the artist, the vandalized buildings of the Argentine capital reflect, "a need for a generation of people to be heard by way of a visual vocabulary which speaks out against the values of the establishment."

In 'Transition', Petterson utilizes the suit jacket - a Western symbol of masculine authority, formality, and professional prowess - as a vehicle to capture this notion. Physical suit jackets, painted in bold colour with a gestural, Sumi-e technique indicative of the artist's earlier work, become politicized sites revealing contradictory ideas of success and oppression in contemporary society. If the suit is a metaphor for the establishment, then the artist uses the garment as a canvas to liberate its socio-political identification.

Applying paint to the jacket prior to photographing it adds a new layer of dimension to Petterson's work, blurring the boundary between photography and painting that has come to be synonymous with his practice.