Artists: Jason Baerg, Sascha Braunig, Rebecca Brewer, Sandra Brewster, Anthony Burnham, Julien Ceccaldi, Jane Corrigan, Patrick Cruz, Barry Doupé, Brenda Draney, Teto Elsiddique, Katie Lyle, Elizabeth McIntosh, Veronika Pausova, Jagdeep Raina, Beth Stuart, geetha thurairajah, Charlene Vickers, Ambera Wellmann
Exhibition title: An Assembly of Shapes
Venue: Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Canada
Date: June 24 – September 1, 2018
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Oakville Galleries
An Assembly of Shapes brings together the work of nineteen Canadian artists—based both locally and internationally—working in and around painting. The works in this exhibition demonstrate a rigorous engagement with the formal freedoms of painting, addressing the stakes of creating and circulating images in our current moment.
Curator and art historian Katy Siegel has noted that painting, unlike politics and writing, “can hold in suspension different, even conflicting ideas, feelings and histories, without forcing us to choose between them.” Through thoughtful consideration of subjects such as perception, politics, technology, language, intuition, and humour, the artists in this exhibition position painting as a site of inquiry—a space of porousness, a way of thinking, a mode of engaging with a world in flux.
Painting is always accompanied by a certain weight—the baggage of art history, by objecthood or “thingness.” Yet as the works in this exhibition evidence, painting is increasingly engaged as readily on strategic terms as on historical ones, highly permeable to different styles, subjects, and possibilities.
Exhibiting artists include Jason Baerg, Sascha Braunig, Rebecca Brewer, Sandra Brewster, Anthony Burnham, Julien Ceccaldi, Jane Corrigan, Patrick Cruz, Barry Doupé, Brenda Draney, Teto Elsiddique, Katie Lyle, Elizabeth McIntosh, Veronika Pausova, Jagdeep Raina, Beth Stuart, geetha thurairajah, Charlene Vickers, and Ambera Wellmann.
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by geetha thurairajah, Jason Baerg and Patrick Cruz. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Brenda Draney. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Anthony Burnham, En deux temps, trois mouvements (installation view), 2017, oil on canvas, painted wood structure. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by geetha thurairajah and Patrick Cruz. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Patrick Cruz, Landscape Painting version 8 (installation detail), 2013-2018, acrylic on canvas. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Patrick Cruz, Landscape Painting version 8 (installation detail), 2013-2018, acrylic on canvas. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by geetha thurairajah and Jason Baerg. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Jason Baerg, ᐅᔭᓯᐁᐧᐃᐧᐣ, pronounced Oyasiwewina, which means The Law in Cree (installation view), 2016, tempera and acrylic on lasercut canvas. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Elizabeth McIntosh, Jagdeep Raina and geetha thurairajah. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Jagdeep Raina and Rebecca Brewer. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Charlene Vickers, Accumulation of Moments Spent Under Water with the Sun and Moon (installation view), 2015-2018, watercolour, gouache, pencil crayon on paper. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Anthony Burnham and Elizabeth McIntosh. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Elizabeth McIntosh, Hands Arms (installation view), 2016, flashe and oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Anthony Burnham. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Sascha Braunig and Julien Ceccaldi. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Julien Ceccaldi, New Old Friend (installation detail), 2018, acrylic paint on canvas, vinyl and plexiglas. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Jane Corrigan, Earth 2 Water (installation view), 2016, oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Sandra Brewster, Essequibo 20 (installation view), 2018, acrylic and photo-based gel transfer on mylar. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Ambera Wellmann and Sascha Braunig. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Ambera Wellmann, Night Mare (installation detail), 2017, oil on linen. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Beth Stuart. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Katie Lyle. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Beth Stuart and Katie Lyle. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Barry Doupé, Whaty (installation view), 2012, computer animation, 30 secs. Commissioned as part of the Toronto Animated Image Society’s HELLO AMIGA Project, in partnership with Trinity Square Video and VTAPE. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Barry Doupé, Whaty (installation detail), 2012, computer animation, 30 secs. Commissioned as part of the Toronto Animated Image Society’s HELLO AMIGA Project, in partnership with Trinity Square Video and VTAPE. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Veronika Pausova. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Veronika Pausova, Shifted Touch (installation detail), 2017, oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Oakville Galleries. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
Installation view of An Assembly of Shapes at Oakville Galleries with work by Veronika Pausova and Teto Elsiddique. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid