Robert Davidovitz, Amanda McCavour, & Elizabeth Picard 

Burden of Proof: Between Textile & Fine Art

June 19 – August 10, 2014

To earn the title of fine art, an object must be proven by its owner to be wholly useless… or so say the art aficionados employed by American Customs.  Craft, on the other hand, is generously defined as an object of function as well as contemplation.  A cheeky, off-kilter use of materials blurs the boundaries of art and craft in Burden of Proof, raising the question: “Who really gets to define a work of art or craft? The artist, curator, viewer or perhaps US Border Security?”

Guest curator Jessica Butler brings together three artists to explore the cross-pollination of textiles and fine art.  Immersive thread installations by Amanda McCavour anchor this exhibition.  McCavour, a celebrated fibre artist, is represented by Lonsdale Gallery.  Work by invited artists explores the intersection of high art and textile (craft), which is evident in the ties between choice of material and method.

Robert Davidovitz weaves piped acrylic into paintings of AutoCAD program icons, while Elisabeth Picard’s fibre background translates into dyed architectural compositions.  The works in this exhibition defiantly straddle the line between fine art and craft. This is perhaps best illustrated through the weaving techniques that lace through the objects on view, resolving into complex, architectural matrices.  Each object, though stylistically and materially diverse, possesses a rhythm: through simple repetitious actions, the artists intuitively create self-supporting objects.  These structures, which are at once fine art and craft, allow a new interpretation of nature, tradition and technology to emerge.

Robert Davidovitz
Toronto-based painter Robert Davidovitz weaves strips of acrylic paint, pushing his medium to its perceivable limits.  Through intricate designs that reference digital design icons from programs such as AutoCAD, he explores structure and space (both digital and physical).

Amanda McCavour
Interdisciplinary artist Amanda McCavour is represented by Lonsdale Gallery and is a recent MFA Graduate from Philladelphia’s Tyler School of Art.  McCavour’s delicate fibre-based drawings amass into immersive installations that contravene the vulnerability of her chosen material: thread.

Elisabeth Picard
Based in Montreal, mixed media artist Elisabeth Picard transforms common items such as zip ties and mesh fencing into complex structures through patterning and repetition.  Picard renders delicate objects from heavy-duty materials, often using colour to imbue them with a rarity and unique liveliness reminiscent of marine life.