LIVING FUTURES

Marija Belchevski, Hannah Busse, Dylan Kelly, Maha Kamal Khan & Rem Ross

A special presentation highlighting graduating students from
OCAD University’s Sculpture/Installation Program

March 2 – 12, 2017

Opening Reception Saturday, March 4, 2-5pm

Living Futures is a future unsure, wrought by dual methods of inquiry/critique, healing, and modes of questioning. Investigating aspects of existence, many of these works draw attention to a certain paradox, to chance, towards the nature of our surroundings and subsequent understanding. By looking at the environment today —at the nature of nature— we see it as equivocal, yet still enduring in that uncertainty.

The artists in Living Futures find personal and universal truths in the natural world, be it in the symbolic unity of Belchevski’s circular pine bench; Kelly’s clever overtaking of moss inLiving Wall; the dripping of a dry tap in Khan’s Provide, Provide; Ross’ ethereal garden cyanotypes; or Busse’s Living Room, where the earth has reclaimed the comforts of familial spaces and belongings.

Blurring our understanding of inner and outer worlds, raw materials stand in metaphorically for a certain vulnerability.  In what becomes a negotiation of an inner exterior, a quiet discordance bellows within, ringing like static, like a semi-tone within which we can hear the softness of grasping hands, at future identities.

Lonsdale Gallery is pleased to present work by Marija Belchevski,  Hannah Busse, Maha Kamal Khan, Dylan Kelly, and Rem Ross. Lonsdale Gallery proudly supports OCAD University’s Sculpture/Installation Program, one of the top ranking fine art degrees in the country.

Rem Ross (b. 1994) was born in Toronto, Canada. Interested in painting, drawing, and sculpture from an early age, Ross entered OCADU in 2013 within the painting and drawing program, but eventually switched to sculpture. Ross maintains an interdisciplinary practice and approach to materials, using diverse and experimental media to address memory, nature, and identity.

Maha Kamal Khan (b. 1992) is a Dubai-born artist whose practice involves using readymade, found objects as artworks. She creates a ‘disconnect’ between the expectations and functions of banal objects by subtly altering and manipulating their conventional functions.

Marija Belchevski (b. 1984) was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. She acquired a BFA in Sculpture and Installation at OCADU, specializing in bronze-casting, ceramics and woodworking. Inspired by personal narrative, her sculptures and performances often discuss the issues in identity, existence, and their meanings within society.

Hannah Busse (b. 1994) was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She is a BFA candidate of OCAD University’s sculpture and installation program. Busse’s practice investigates external concerns, working with themes of the earth. She uses organic material and found objects in an investigation of the human impact on environment. She has lived in Dundas, St. Catharine’s, Leuven, Belgium, Ottawa, and Tubingen. Busse currently lives and works in Toronto.

Dylan Kelly (b. 1994) was born in Toronto, Canada. He is persuing a BFA from OCAD University.  Using living materials in conjunction with written language, Kelly’s practice centres on the exploration of the paradoxical relationship between constructed society and the natural world. He lives and works in Toronto.