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On reflection — 

In Alexander’s practice, the water reflection functions as both subject matter and  intermediary: one through which the artist enacts a visual intervention with the landscape to deconstructs the familiar and redirect the gaze towards features which might escape notice at first glance.

Working with source imagery that is distinctly transient in nature, Alexander describes the process of waiting patiently to witness instances in which environmental conditions — atmospheric and reflected light on the water surface,  set in motion by current and wind — align to create singular moments of elemental epiphany.

On Painting — 

As a masterful colourist, David Alexander’s expansive palette is often influenced by the locality and season and informed by his emotional response to place, be they the majestic, wide-open prairie skies, the fluid depths of Newfoundland’s wetlands, the tense verticality of B.C.’s old-growth forests, or the rambling mountain ranges of the Rockies.

According to the artist, winter scenes often appear black and white due to the stark and diffuse natural light. From this monochromatic scheme emerges a sketch-like gestural immediacy, one rooted in Alexander's affinity for and background in the drawing medium.

On seeing — 

 After repeated visits to a place, Alexander will oftentimes experience it with renewed sensory potency and heightened saturation, a familiarity which begets intensity. These illusory optics become accessible to the audience through the act of viewing Alexander's paintings. From jewel-like studies to canvasses that span one's field of vision; the dynamic texture, monumental scale and infinite variation of the Canadian landscape are rendered as richly layered compositions which resonate with expressive force.

Punctuated with high-key pops of colour, Alexander’s skillful mark-making highlights the less-trodden look and intact wildness of his preferred scenery, a startling foil to the picturesque images and pristine vistas that dominate popular conceptions of the Canadian landscape.

On place — 

Having lived in Vancouver and spent time in Steveston growing up, David Alexander became well acquainted with the coastal landscape early in life and started drawing at the age of 17 while working on a tugboat, where he adopted a habit of sketching his surroundings during long and slow sailings.

Alexander’s further connections to artistic life and the landscape painting tradition can be traced through his personal history to his grandmother, who was a painter in coastal France in the late 1890’s when the Impressionists lived and worked there. His mother, who lived in Victoria at a young age, would often visit Emily Carr for Sunday tea.

Alexander would continue his lifelong immersion in the creative sphere with his attendance at the Emma Lake Artists' Workshops, and his involvement in the Saskatoon artists’ community following his move there in 1980. For 23 years Alexander was a guest artist-in-residence at the Morris Graves Foundation in California among many other places, he has also traveled extensively for various projects and guest lecturing engagements. David Alexander was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2018.

For artist Lori Nix, the truth of the story lies in the details. In this interview, Nix provides a glimpse of her artistic process, from the phase of conception to the actual production of her imagined worlds.

1)  Where does your inspiration for your miniature interior environments come from? 

Both of us grew up exploring our rural environments. I grew up in Kansas and Kathleen grew up in Illinois. We spent a great deal of time playing and exploring barns, empty houses, and sheds. There was always something to look at, climb up or uncover in these spaces. We try to bring that sense of discovery and excitement to our photographs.  

2)  What draws you to dystopian scenes or the idea of “paradise lost”? Why do you think it is important for people to witness disaster? 

The apocalypse and the end of the world have always fascinated me. I watched all those dystopian movies of the 1960’s -70’s - Planet of the Apes, Earthquake, Soylent Green, Logan’s Run… so I have a soft spot for apocalyptic subject matter. As for witnessing disaster, I think many of us have the same fascination. When there is a car accident, we slow down to look and rubberneck. It’s the same principle. You are curious but also uncomfortable…kind of the visual equivalent of nervous laughter. And by making and presenting our work as model-based, it is a kind of “safe” way to look at these difficult situations.  

3)  What is one of the biggest challenges with working on a small scale with your dioramas? 

The biggest challenge is building the scenes realistic enough. Plants and trees are especially challenging as they have such subtle shifts of texture, shape, and thickness. But the challenge of problem-solving how to building something in a small scale is what keeps us excited by working in small scale.   

4)  Can you describe your creative process of bringing a project to life from start to finish? Is there a lot of research, sketching and prototyping involved? 

I usually come up with the initial idea and try to get Kathleen excited about it. We’ll start off by creating a private Pinterest board and gather images from the Internet for inspiration. Kathleen starts drawing the basic outline of the diorama. When we’re working on interiors, she sketches the room or rooms from the point of view of the camera. We determine the color palette and some of the materials we’ll need to build the diorama. Kathleen will grab her scale ruler and draw the scene to scale with matching measurements. I head to my computer and start purchasing the raw materials we’ll need for the scenes, such as basswood, paint, epoxy, styrene, acrylic sheet etc. We then determine the scale of a human figure within the sketch and print up a corresponding paper man to have on the worktable, so when we sit down to build items such as furniture, they will remain consistent throughout the many months we’ll be working on the diorama. 

We work in a variety of scales, sometimes 1:12, other times 1:8, 1:6 and all the way down to 1:160 and so on. The scenes we build today are mostly scratch built, but every once in awhile, we’ll find an item that sets the scale for the scene. Take “Anatomy Classroom” (The City)” for example. We purchased the skeleton that sits in the far corner. That determined the scale for the rest of the scene. We then divide up the work based on each of our skills. Because we have been working together for 19+ years now, we each have different roles in the creation of the work. I am the architect and Kathleen is the sculptor. I am responsible for hard surfaces such as walls, floors, furniture, buildings etc. Kathleen takes care of the detail items such as paint finishes, small props, and distressing everything. When the building is complete I set up the camera, lights, the background scenery and begin the process of capturing the final image. 

A diorama can take anywhere from three to seven months, but a few have taken as long as fifteen months. We work on two and three at a time.  

5)  What made you decide to present your dioramas in the 2D format of a photograph?

Both Kathleen and I come from 3D backgrounds. I studied ceramics alongside photography, and Kathleen had a degree in glass. Each of these disciplines takes major and expensive studio equipment in order to create work. When you leave the university system, the last thing we had is money to invest in a private studio.

But from the get-go, I’ve always enjoyed photography and the process of processing film and printing. After I left school, I went to work in various color photo labs for the next 20 years. Access to the equipment, surrounding myself with other photographers, created a natural path to turning our 3D tendencies into two dimensions. Also, I like how I can make the camera “lie” for me. I get chuffed when someone assumes our images are of real spaces,

6)  What is the most unusual item you have ever created from scratch? 

That’s a hard question. We really enjoyed making the viewers from the “Monument” scenes. Some of the weirdest might be some of the specimens on the shelves in “Anatomy Classroom”. There is a tiny severed hand, a colon, and a primitive stomach among other things.  

7)  Your work has a cinematic feel to it. Do you have a dream film that you would loved to dream up and create a scene for? 

For me, I think it would be fun to create something science fiction-like, such as a futuristic city. For Kathleen, she would go more towards the humorous Wes Anderson style.

VIEW ARTWORK BY LORI NIX HERE

In 2019, Jeffrey Milstein took to the skies over Paris and Versailles, capturing the exquisite views privy to only a few. A selection of these photographs has been featured in the March/April 2020 issue of My French Country Home Magazine. 

A professional photographer, graphic designer, and architect, Milstein infuses his photographs with his lifelong creative passion and fascination for flight. The artist's trained eye and steady hand produce images of pristine clarity that focus on design, color, and symmetry. Carefully positioned and using an ultra high-resolution digital camera, he skillfully photographs aircrafts, airports, cities, ports and watercrafts in a style that emulates the rich, graphic quality of architectural drawings. 

Milstein’s photographs have been published in Men’s Vogue, TIME Magazine, European Photography, American Photo, Eyemazing, Die Zeit, Wired, PDN, Esquire and Conde Nast Portfolio. His acclaimed series “Aircraft: The Jet as Art” was exhibited in a year-long solo show at the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC from November 2011 – November 2012. Born in Los Angeles, where he frequently returns to shoot at the International Airport, Milstein makes his home in Woodstock, NY.

VIEW WORKS BY JEFFREY MILSTEIN

As I write this I almost need someone to come and rescue me from my studio where I am working on about 20 paintings at once.  They are all leaned up against each other so it is like a house of cards in there.  And last night I dreamed I had to ride home through miles and miles of mountains on a tiny borrowed tricycle.  I felt OK about it, thought I could make it, and then a wheel fell off complicating my plan.  I’m very excited about this show but sometimes it gets a little crazy getting ready for it.

1.  Tell us about your reflected landscapes! What inspired you to study gardens and reflections in your new paintings?

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at landscapes again for quite some time and so I acted on a nudge in that direction from the gallery this summer.  How to start I wondered briefly and I headed off to my nearest “landscape", Van Dusen Gardens with my iPhone and no idea.  Young guys were busy working in hip waders pulling waterlilies out of the ponds to keep them from taking over and excited visitors were making off with the flowers.  I too was immediately drawn to the water and then to reflections of the sky and nearby plants which through my camera looked so much brighter and clearer than with the naked eye. I was fascinated.  This is my job, I was thinking, wandering around in a garden on a sunny afternoon waiting to see what intrigues me?  Crazy and wonderful.  Pure basic research.  Although I returned many times to the garden in July and August and took many photos all of the large paintings in the show are riffs on just two of them.

2.  Can you describe how your floral paintings have evolved since your last show?

I’m enjoying painting more abstractly with wide brushes….trying to paint more loosely.  My flower paintings have a tendency to be crowded, almost baroque, and in some of my new flower pieces I’m trying to capture the feeling of open space, layers of depth and emptiness in these works.  

3. Your work has continued to grow in a gestural direction. Can you tell us about how you employ spontaneous gesture in these newest pieces?

I really had no idea how to paint water so I’d make a painting then go back the next day find it too tight and paint over the whole thing in a more gestural way.  I’d do that for days and began to feel like I was quite possibly going crazy. But at least the marks were getting looser and there was some suggestion of depth in the layers.  After that drawing whatever was floating in and on the water was really fun.  Using very small delicate brushes almost any mark I made would seem to float on the more diffuse background.

4.  Where are some of the places you sought inspiration for this series?

VanDusen Gardens and the Mincio River which I rode along on a bike trip in Italy this fall.

5.  This series includes several works on paper. Has painting on paper changed the way you approach a painting or created new possibilities?

Working on paper with oils allowed me to try out many different subject matters and compositions without using up lots of expensive canvases and meant that I could easily carry home what I had painted from Italy.  I think doing watercolours has effected the way I paint more than the oils on paper, though, by increasing my interest in layers of transparency.

6.  Can you tell us about the scale of your work and why it is satisfying for you to paint bigger and bigger?

I can get fussy with small works to the point that somehow they have as many marks in them as the bigger works and sometimes feel overcrowded to me.  I like the wide open space of a big canvas and I love big brushes.  I like paintings that seem to be big windows and which you can climb into and get lost in.

VIEW WORK BY JAMIE EVRARD

Custom surrealist floral prints by Isabelle Menin, Bau-Xi's newest artist, adorn several looks from New York-based designer, Prabal Gurung's Fall 2020 collection. Gurung considers this season a celebration of New York, "its eclectic misfits and impossible dreamers." 

Menin is known for her intricate and evocative composite photographs, composed mainly of deconstructed floral imagery. Referring to her work as "disordered landscapes," each piece is created "in reference to nature’s strange complexity that looks [...] like human strange complexity." It is quite fitting that her work has been incorporated into a collection that honours the strange complexity of New York and its creatives.

Not unlike Menin's fine art practice, the textiles created for Gurung's collection utilize dark jewel tones and pastels. Through hand-cut silk organza petal embellishments, Gurung has brought Menin's work into the third dimension, affording dynamic movement to her surreal compositions.

A selection of Isabelle Menin's work is currently on display at Bau-Xi Photo as part of her inaugural exhibition with the gallery.

VIEW WORKS BY ISABELLE MENIN

Photographs copyright of Dan and Corina Lecca.

We are thrilled to announce that Cori Creed and her contemporary Okanagan home will be featured in the January/ February 2020 issue of Dwell Magazine. This story will highlight her cross-disciplinary collaboration with Kevin Vallely, the acclaimed architect and adventure enthusiast who designed her space. You can read the article here.

Blurring the lines between art and design and drawing from the surrounding landscape, Kevin Vallely’s concept was inspired by the weathered exterior of a fallen log, which, when cut away, reveals the rich warmth of living wood. With a keen focus on texture and surface, Creed and Vallely sought to emphasize these qualities with a distressed and oxidized raw wood siding façade, and by devising a central stone wall as an anchor point for the home — creating a space with unique architectural character which reflects the subtleties of place.

"Because of our close relationship with Kevin and his family, we were able to continue this collaboration for years making our own furniture, lighting and carefully adding to the spaces and the flow of the sculptural home that Kevin conceived." - Cori Creed

VIEW WORK BY CORI CREED

 Cori Creed’s painting “Hope Rising II” hangs in the second-floor stairwell of the Lion’s Gate Hospital’s Hope Center.  Featuring two triumphant arbutus trees twisting upwards towards the sky, the artwork is an expression of hopefulness and growth. Several studies have shown that art helps to create an atmosphere where emotional and physical healing can happen. Viewing art can bring down the heart rate, provoke a joy response, lower stress and provide a much-needed opportunity for contemplation. This is important for the heart and soul of the hospital – and the hearts and souls of those who give or receive care: patients, their families and staff alike.

“I think that most people understand wanting to make a difference in the world. I hope that in donating to hospitals or institutions where people can use a bit of a visual escape or distraction I can play a part in brightening someone's day a bit - at least let them know that their community is thinking of them.” - Cori Creed

Lions Gate Hospital Foundation’s Art Collection program seeks to create a calming and attractive environment for the benefit of patients, their families, staff and visitors.  Using the healing power of art, the hospital enhances patient care and the patient experience.  Local Vancouver artists contribute to this  program through donating a variety of artworks, which can be identified on their website.  If you are interested in donating work, visit this link for more information.

VIEW WORK BY CORI CREED

Art has become recognized as an essential component in designing a modern home. When designing a space, interior designers often consider the importance of placing fine art in the home, to help provide a focal point, and further elevate the space.

The modern lobby design of The Peak, a newly built multi-residential development in West Vancouver, was inspired by Cori Creed’s colourful masterpiece “The Golden Hour”.  A large and vibrant coastal scene with gestural trees, skies and mountains, the painting grounds the space and connects viewers to Vancouver’s natural landscape. 

This warm and uplifting interior designed by Insight Design Group for British Pacific Properties expresses the relaxed beauty of the West Coast.  An abundance of natural light, warm wood, and soft furniture give the lobby a welcoming feel.  Jewel-toned accents such as pillows, and a multi-coloured and softly patterned rug, are thoughtfully introduced around the room, subtly reflecting tones in the artwork.  

“Often, when creating a piece, I have no idea where it will end up. In the process of visual storytelling, the site can be very important and it can be interesting to know what other elements will surround the piece before I begin. I also love the physical movement, specifically what that range of movement does for the brushwork, that larger pieces allow. The story that the painting tells up close is about process and creation, the story from a distance is about place and emotional response.” – Cori Creed

VIEW NEW WORK BY CORI CREED