Gareth Bate, Jim Reid, Philip Iverson, Nora Sturges, George Boileau, Joy Charbonneau, Xiaojing Yan, Joan Koufman, Maurice Ducret, Lumir Hladik, and Amanda McCavour

INTREPID

January 15 – March 23, 2014

INTREPID brings together strong work from a selection of Lonsdale Gallery artists.  This group exhibition spans both floors of the gallery, showcasing a roaming exploration of landscape, and its subsequent impact on the development of identity. 

Intrepid features paintings by Gareth Bate, Jim Reid, Philip Iverson & Nora Sturges, sculpture by George Boileau, Joy Charbonneau & Xiaojing Yan, photography by Joan Kaufman, and mixed media work by Maurice Ducret, Lumir Hladik, & Amanda McCavour.

Xiaojing Yan’s suspended installation Face to Face – Past & Present examines Yan’s cultural identity as a Chinese-born artist living and working in Canada. In Face to Face, Yan doubles portraits painted on silk that depict her subjects when the lived in China, and after their move to Canada. This time-lapsed approach to portraiture is a poignant reminder of how landscape and cultural milieu are foundational elements in our personal histories, and contribute to the vibrant diversity of Toronto in particular.

The theme of landscape, of its immerse variety both within Canada proper and the role is plays in shaping the aesthetics and subject matter of our art scene, threads its way throughout Intrepid. With their gaze on the horizon, the artists in Intrepid explore divergent spaces in works both miniature and large-scale, such as the expanses of PEI captured in paintings by Gareth Bate, the untapped potential of the arctic seen through the Surrealist lens of miniaturist Nora Sturges, the grain elevators of the prairies in the sculpture of George Boileau, and the abstract constructed landscapes by Joan Kaufman. Joan Kaufman’s quadriptych Cloud Cover, shown above, is a preview work for her upcoming Feature Exhibtion in the CONTACT Photography Festival.

Running concurrently to Intrepid is a mini exhibition of sculptural fibre works by Amanda McCavour and Joy Charbonneau in Lonsdale’s project room.