May 12, 2009

ARTCORE/FABRICE MARCOLINI - MAY 2 -31 - NICHOLAS AND SHEILA PYE

MAY 2 - MAY 31

VANITAS: NICHOLAS AND SHEILA PYE

ARTCORE/FABRICE MARCOLINI

Fabrice Marcolini is pleased to announce Nicholas and Sheila Pye’s first solo exhibition at Artcore. Vanitas presents photographic and cinematic work by celebrated Toronto based husband-wife artists Nicholas and Sheila Pye. The exhibition includes several multi-channel video installations and 9 photographic works.

In Vanitas, the Pyes play with themes present in the art historical genre of still life painting to examine their own relationship. Carefully staged and precisely crafted, one photographic features the symbolic fodder found in the vanitas painting genre, such as skulls, ivy, rotting fruit, and books. Four portraits delve into issues of mortality, narcissism, and the complex issues of youthful existence, death and the nature of being. The artists take their married relationship and allude to the impermanence and illusion of togetherness. It is as though they are faking their deaths to consider their mortality and to repent to one another.

The Pyes relentlessly blur the borders between their lives and their art as they tackle the highly charged yet poetic issues that arise from their own relationship. But theirs is not a self-absorbed biographical fascination. Rather, the relationship depicted in their bodies of work, becomes emblematic of all things that can go wrong in a mutually dependant and suffocating relationship. The Pyes’ artistic output spans photography, film, performance, video, and installation while acknowledging the profound influences of surrealism in film, narrative conventions in painting, 19th and early 20th century portraiture, and conceptual approaches to subject matter. Given this well-versed theoretical blend, they avoid prosaic performance art documentation preferring to transform their photographs and films into works that cleverly reconfigure art historic antecedents. Additionally the finished works acknowledge their intrinsic aesthetic status as art objects.

The Pyes have exhibited their work at museums such as the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto; The Power Plant, Toronto; The Glenbow Museum, Calgary; the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria The Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris.Their work has been screened in numerous international film festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival, Canada; the Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland; and Les Rencontres Internationales in Paris, Berlin, and Madrid. Their work has also been exhibited internationally throughout Toronto, Washington, London, Berlin and Madrid among others.

55 Mill Street - Pure Spirits Building - 62

MY PICKS: EXHIBITIONS - GALLERIES J THROUGH Z - CONTACT TORONTO PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL

MAY 2 - 30

ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY: THOMAS A. EVERS, VIOLET FODER, CHRIS HARRISON, M GLORIA NIETO MONTERO, ELENA WILLIS

JUNCTION - ACADEMY OF REALIST ART

Foder’s project began with her fascination with the variations and interpretations of tarot cards. Using photography, she created a contemporary deck emphasizing female archetypes. For example, Foder has recreated the Hanged Man with a dominant/submissive motif and depicted the the Moon as a lunatic. Other cards reinterpreted include the Empress, the Lovers, the Star and the Sun. Curated by Colleen Johnston.

2968 Dundas Street W, Ste 200

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MAY 2 - 31

BRIAN BARRER: PERCEPTION IS REALITY, REALITY IS PERCEPTION

JUNCTION - CORNERSTONE FINE FURNITURE

Barrer presents us with a visual feast of contradictions and photographic epigrams through the surreal juxtaposition of modernized nature and nature untouched. He invites you to explore his images where he presents reality as perception and perception as reality. Curated by Sue McClelland. Curated by Sue McClelland.

2886 Dundas Street W

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MAY 2 - 31

SANDI WHEATON: TOWN FOR SALE

JUNCTION - DEBORAH FRIESEN ARCHITECT INC.

Town for Sale compares the relationship between digital and film photography to the Interstate 40 and Route 66. Wheaton laments the digital transformation of photography that has made black-and-white infrared film obsolete. This is a nostalgic look at an era when memories were captured on grainy film negatives. From gas-guzzling convertibles to exploring the open road, time stands quietly still along the dusty California stretch of Route 66. Curated by Deborah Friesen.

386 Pacific Ave

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MAY 2 - 31

IDEAL LANDSCAPES: MARK KASUMOVIC, VANESSA PHILLIPS

JUNCTION - FOREVER INTERIORS

Ideal Landscapes addresses the sentimental idea of the untouched landscape—a landscape more resembling a stage than the real world. In these photographs, scenes are carefully composed and lit to remove them from their natural surroundings, offering a new perspective on the natural landscape. This series questions the true meaning of the ideal landscape. Curated by Martin Scott.

Image by Mark Kasumovic, Ideal Landscape #1, 2008

2903 Dundas Street W

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MAY 2 - 31

MARY FARMILANT

JUNCTION - POST & BEAM RECLAMATION

The examination of objects and the spaces they occupy is a predominant theme in the work of Farmilant. She studies objects and their surroundings in order to reconstruct a picture of life in the past. These images explore perception, memory and narrative, and articulate the idea that human presence is part of the history of now uninhabited or forgotten spaces. Curated by Doug Killaly.

2869 Dundas Street W

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APR 29 - JUN 30

ANDREW MOORE: RUSSIA, BEYOND UTOPIA

KOFFLER CENTRE OF THE ARTS, LOGGIA GALLERY

The Canadian debut of vibrant images of post- Communist Russia by acclaimed New York-based photographer, Andrew Moore. Modern Russia is a land of myriad selves. The vestiges of decadent Imperial Russia contrast with the remnants of the Socialist dream to form a complex backdrop for an emerging Capitalist Democracy. Moore captures the convergence of these past, present, and wished-for utopias in his portrait of this elusive country. The exhibition is part of kofflerkultura, a new series highlighting Russian culture & the Russian- Jewish experience in the Former Soviet Union, Israel and North America. Curated by Evelyn Tauben.

4588 Bathurst Street

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MAY 11 - 31

JESSE JACKSON: USONIA ROAD: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT IN THE POST-FORDIST CITY

LARRY WAYNE RICHARDS GALLERY

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian projects were designed in response to the needs of a burgeoning middle class that emerged during the Fordist economy of the mid-20th century. Both Ford and Wright had totalizing visions for society that persist today in fragmented forms. By presenting a selection of Wright’s work within its contemporary context, no matter if it is decayed or renewed, Jackson reveals the tension between visionary architecture and the evolving urban landscape.

230 College Street

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MAY 6 - 24

YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION

LAUNCH PROJECTS

You Say You Want a Revolution (a phrase first expressed by John Lennon in reaction to the Vietnam war), explores the nature of revolutions. Spinning the 2009 CONTACT theme at a pivotal time technologically, politically and environmentally, this group exhibition examines responses to change that occur within times of revolution. Juried by Lise Beaudry.

404 Adelaide St W

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MAY 1 - 31

SCOTT CLARKE: PRIDE!

LENS FACTORY

Pride contains 25 intimate street portraits photographed between June 2006 and June 2007. All images were photographed using available light and a 4x5 view camera. All subjects appear before you in their PRIDE!

1040 Queen St W

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MAY 1 - 31

GRAHAM DALIK, JENNIFER MORDEN

MARBEN RESTAURANT

Dalik and Morden explore aspects of everyday life around the globe and also concern themselves with the changing role and position of the photographic medium. While conscious of the opportunities and potential offered by digital technology, both photographers are aware of the danger that wholesale revolution and replacement presents to previous photographic supplies. Their work explores connections and dialogue between the old and the new, and seeks to reflect emerging possibilities within the rapidly changing medium.

Image by Graham Dalik & Jen Morden, 2008

488 Wellington St W

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MAY 13 - JUN 7

JJ LEVINE: QUEER PORTRAITS

O'CONNOR GALLERY

Queer Portraits is a series of vibrant colour photographs by Montreal artist Levine. This ongoing project addresses issues surrounding gender, sexuality and queer space. Each studio-lit intimate portrait is taken in a different queer domestic environment. Queer Portraits explores the relationship between artist and subject. As Levine photographs people with whom she has a close relationship, each image reveals the strong element of trust that exists within this queer community.

145 Berkeley St., Ste 100

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APR 30 - MAY 23

MARK BOVEY: RESTORING THE LEDGER

OPEN STUDIO

Bovey’s large-scale, archival inkjet prints examine history from the industrial age to the present while questioning the state of Western capitalism. A production-age ledger/scrapbook acts as a metaphor for society in decay. Using digital and analog images, Bovey combines photography with drawing to suggest personal, universal and elemental worlds overlaying the debits and credits on the page. The history of printed technologies of the past 125 years—the ledger’s new digital versions compared to the analogue— emphasizes the speed of progress. Curated by Astrid Ho.

401 Richmond St. W, Ste 104

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MAY 1 - 15

ADAM KRAWESKY: INSTILLS

PATRICK MIKHAIL GALLERY AT CAFE BERNATE

Patrick Mikhail Gallery presents a series of public interventions by Krawesky, who creates images of anonymous figures engaging with the city. Viewers are inspired to reflect upon the ways that people interact with their urban environment. Maps of the intervention sites can be obtained at Café Bernate—which also serves as a starting point for a tour of the sites—or online.

1024 Queen Street W

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MAY 19 - JUN 13

STORIES: TYLER GREY, MATTEW STYLIANOU, NATASHA V

PIXEL GALLERY

For Stories, a group of photographers were invited to create a series of immersive photo-based narratives using the experimental application Photosynth as a creative tool. In Photosynth, every click of the mouse changes the image, uncovering new emotions and perspectives, creating new ways to view and interact with photography. These images transcend still photography; discover their stories. Curated by Steve Di Lorenzo.

Image by Tyler Grey, Sociopath, 2008

156 Augusta St

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MAY 1 - 31

L. E. GLAZER : THE FRINGE PROJECT

THE STOREFRONT STUDIO

The Fringe Project explores the physical manifestation of the human spirit through suspended moments of dancing and singing. Theatrical interpretations of everyday life and emotion are translated into compositions of light, form and colour. Enjoy a glimpse into the creative complexities of the human soul. All Images were photographed during the 2008 Toronto Fringe Festival production of Wild About Harry.

3293 Dundas Street W

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MAY 1 - 31

LAURIE KANG: THREE BROTHERS

TINKU GALLERY

A trio of real-life brothers performs for the camera, creating a surrealism that merges fact and fiction. Kang explores the psychology and dynamics of blood relations with Three Brothers, curiously photographing her father and his brothers. Curated by Amrita Chandra.

437 Roncesvalles Ave, Ste 107

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MAY 1 - SEP 8

PORTRAITS

TORONTO PEARSON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Fitzgerald and MacInnis imbue their photographic subjects with a sense of beauty and gravitas. Fitzgerald’s photographs provide an intimate view of beekeeping while MacInnis’ farm animal portraits capture the sometimes disconcertingly human individuality of each creature. Their portraits inspire meditation on our increasingly disconnected and ambivalent relationship with animals and the natural world. Curated by Lee Petrie.

Image by Rob MacInnis, Opening Night, 2008

Hwys 427 and 401

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MAY 7 - 30

BREAKDOWN: GRAYDON SHEPPARD, ROBYN CUMMING, KATYA DOLEATTO, LINDSAY PAGE

XEXE GALLERY

Breakdown features a group of photo-based artists responding to the constantly evolving yet historically reminiscent nature of the still image. Cumming constructs the climax of moments of chaos and trauma depicting both the event and its aftermath. Doleatto constructs decadent stilllife scenarios and photographs their decomposition. Page creates a building/ un-building machine that exemplifies tedium and redundancy. Sheppard utilizes stereoscopy to create animated GIFs that exhibit a simultaneous spatial construction and deconstruction. Curated by Robyn Cumming.

Image by Graydon Sheppard, Untitled

624 Richmond Street W