Exhibitions

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

Celia Lees | When We Were Small
September 11 - October 6, 2025
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 13th from 2 - 4 pm | Artist in Attendance
Artist Talk: Saturday, September 20th from 2:30 - 4 pm

Watch Artist Talk Series video about When We Were Small

We are proud to present When We Were Small, the debut solo exhibition by Toronto-based abstract painter Celia Lees. Drawing from the unfiltered wonder of early memory, When We Were Small invites viewers into a world shaped by the sensory richness of childhood. Through playful, rhythmic compositions and intuitive forms, Lees’ work evokes a time before structure and meaning were imposed - a return to presence, to colour as emotion and form as feeling. This marks the artist’s first solo exhibition with Bau-Xi Gallery since her representation earlier this year. 

Join us on Saturday, September 20th from 2:30 pm - 4 pm at 1384 Dufferin Street for an artist talk, hosted by Kyle Matuzewiski, the Co-Director of Bau-Xi Gallery. Guests will be treated to an in-depth conversation with Celia Lees about her ever-evolving practice.

Artist Statement:

Michelle Nguyen | Trick Mirror
August 7 - September 1, 2025
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 7th, 5:30 - 7:30 pm | Artist in Attendance

Opening August 7th at Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin, Trick Mirror marks a compelling new chapter in Michelle Nguyen’s artistic exploration of identity, illusion, and the emotional weight of how we see ourselves. Inspired by Jia Tolentino’s essay collection Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, the exhibition uses the mirror as both subject and metaphor - a familiar object that continues to hold a quiet kind of power. Through layered imagery and subtle symbolism, Nguyen explores the dual nature of mirrors: as tools of clarity and sources of distortion, offering a space where self-perception, memory, and imagination intertwine.

Artist Statement:

“Because what is the face, what finally, is the skin over the flesh, a cover, a disguise, rouge for the insupportable horror of our living nature.” — Elena Ferrante, The Days of Abandonment

“The title Trick Mirror derives from a 2019 collection of essays by Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion. The mirror is an object that has fascinated humankind since the beginning of time. It’s thought to be imbued by supernatural power by many. Human beings throughout history have used it to divine the future, heal wounds, cast spells, ward away evil, and connect with the dead. Despite now being an object of the mundane, the mirror still has the ability to hold our attention, and therefore retains power over us. In this show, I explore the mirror as a metaphor, one that is capable of both revelation and distortion.” - Michelle Nguyen

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

“In Michelle Nguyen’s recent body of work, Trick Mirror, the artist seeks to explore the metaphysical nature of the mirror - a ubiquitous device which has both the power to create and destroy, simultaneously. Seemingly innocuous, the ability to see ourselves in startling clarity has shaped and transformed how an entire society not only views the sense of self, but the other. Nguyen provides the viewer with historical context through the image Bathing, the earliest interactions with our own reflection, only obtained in vulnerable or intimate states. It was momentary, lacking clarity, and initially provoked fear or skepticism. This is contrasted by Cockfighting Melee VII which I see as an allegory for our modern view of self-image and the spectacle of social media, illustrated by the two gamecocks engaged with one another, under an intense spotlight, all while surrounded by enthralled figures, shrouded in mystery. Our self-identities and experiences are shaped by mirrors - literal or otherwise - and while they can empower us, they can also cast doubt on who we are, shifting our internal dialogue from positive to negative in the blink of an eye.”

Michelle Nguyen’s rich, allegorical paintings use human and animal bodies in varying states to explore notions of identity, existence, and historical erasure. Her canvases are populated by elegant, humorous or even grotesque figures, as well as carefully selected vegetation and objects - often iterations of classical motifs - that appear to be part dream, part nightmare. Nguyen uses oil, pastel, and vivid colours to illustrate worlds dense with mythology, symbolism, and narrative.'

Born in Toronto, Nguyen currently lives and works in Montreal. She studied Environmental Design and received her undergraduate degree from the University of British Columbia in 2016.

Read Michelle Nguyen's recent essay about her body of work

VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION

George Byrne | Synthetica
July 10 - August 4, 2025
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening reception: Saturday, July 12th, 2 - 5 pm 

Acclaimed photographic artist George Byrne returns with Synthetica, a bold new exhibition that fuses analogue photography with digital innovation to reimagine the American landscape. Rooted in Byrne’s early influences from the New Topographics movement, this series marks a striking evolution in his practice. Where once he documented, he now deconstructs and rebuilds - layering, subtracting, and collaging until a new reality emerges. The result is a collection of surreal yet grounded dreamscapes, where the ordinary is elevated and the boundaries between the natural and the artificial dissolve. From Daytona Beach to Yellowstone, Synthetica is both a visual journey and a conceptual inquiry - exploring the way we perceive, manipulate, and emotionally respond to our environments in a hyper-mediated, AI-inflected age.

Artist statement:

This series explores the tension between the natural and the artificial, challenging preconceptions of reality in an increasingly digital age, while also paying homage to my analogue photographic roots. Starting out as an artist, I was very much a student of the New Topographics photographic movement, a style based on the artist's neutral eye, famous for documenting the mundane structures of post-war America. About 5 years ago, I started to become interested in employing various forms of manipulation and digital reconstruction into the work I was making. As a result, the images were able to become more expressive and introspective; a bridge between my subconscious and conscious.  Each image in the Synthetica series started as a medium format film photograph, then, through a process of addition, subtraction, collage and endless reevaluation, a new completed image is born. The foundation of a lot of the images in this series were taken over the last few years during road trips I took around the United States. From Daytona Beach to Yellowstone National Park, these were both natural and man-made landscapes - places I'd never been. – George Byrne

Co-director of Bau-Xi Gallery, Kyle Matuzewiski, provides further insight into Byrne’s unique photographic style and practice. He writes:

When first experiencing George's work, I remember being struck by the clean and clinical aesthetic. Every aspect of the resulting photograph felt intentional. Shadows perfectly placed. Vantage points thoughtfully selected, providing an optimal composition. One must take a single glance at Byrne's work to see the heady influence that the New Topographics movement has on the artist's practice. However, Byrne's work diverges from those luminaries with his signature use of colour, bringing each frame to life, and allowing the viewer to experience the lush vibrancy of his creation. There is a matter-of-fact-ness to Byrne's images, yet there is humanity to them as well. The artist's rampant curiosity and fascination with our constructed world is conveyed in a way that demands contemplation from the viewer. Even though his work documents a specific location at a specific moment of time, there is timelessness to them - a heartfelt documentation of the collective human experience and what is yet to come.

George Byrne is an internationally recognized photographer based in Los Angeles. Byrne creates large-scale photographs that depict architectural surfaces and landscapes as painterly abstractions. Borrowing from the clean, vivid clarity of modernist painting, he also references the New Topographics photography movement via a subject matter firmly entrenched in the urban everyday. 

Byrne started photographing Los Angeles with a medium format camera in 2010. Byrne’s close-crop photos, often taken from the middle of the street, show careful attention to the geometric fragments of his urban surroundings revealed in subtle line and unexpected shadow which cut across pastel walled surfaces, and divide soft sky from gritty stucco, plastic and concrete. Byrne’s work encapsulates not only the spirit of his adopted city’s unique and diverse cityscape but an aesthetic sensibility that has come to be ubiquitous with our globalized visual culture influenced by equal parts art history and Instagram.

George Byrne was born in Sydney, Australia in 1976 and graduated from Sydney College of the Arts in 2001. He has exhibited internationally in Italy, India, Australia, Los Angeles, and New York. In 2019, Byrne placed third in the Fine Art category of the Minimalist Photography Awards and was named the Minimalist Photographer of the Year in the Minimalist Photography Awards' 2020 edition. Byrne relocated to Los Angeles, California in 2010, where he continues to live and work.

VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION