2010
BRYCE KANBARA: Cut-outs in progress Jan 8-Feb 7/10 Plywood cut-outs created by projecting, enlarging, tracing small gesture drawings of birds and animals. “Bryce Kanbara’s enlargements of frenetic bestial drawings are among his better works – his painted array of similarly rendered birds was a highlight of November’s Crawl – which makes it especially difficult to see these forms treated with such casual contempt by both artist and gallerist in one…As an added kick in the face, the excess pieces of wood were still piled up in the gallery. They were trying to make a break for it behind the donuts…” Stephanie Vegh, blog, James North Art Crawl: January.
CLARISSA INGLIS: Go Forth and Multiply Feb 12–Mar 7/10 Premiere presentations of installation-pieces based on travels in Mexico. “The ‘creepie-crawlie’ imagery is echoed in Inglis’ installation piece, Credo. Dollar-store plastic snakes and spiders occupy the lower half of a large net suspended from spherical golden wall mountings. the top half is full of expensive gold leaf floral ribbons. Heaven versus earth. Male godhead light versus female darkness.” Jeff Mahoney, “Artist’s work a lifetime in the making”, Hamilton Spectator Feb 17, 2010.
DAVID BRACE: Definitely (Maybe) New work 2008-2010. Mar 12-April 4/10
“Brace looks at issues of art and the wall, and, beyond the wall, art and its infrastructure…(they) recall the tradition of fresco…though Brace paints mostly on mixtures of drywall, wood, plywood and plaster…the results are meant to suggest something fragmentary, damaged, perhaps even vandalized or spray-painted and/or built over. There is something almost archeological about them.” Jeff Mahoney, “Art needs wall, wall needs art”, Hamilton Spectator, March 19, 2010.
We@youme (7) April 12-May 2/10 Installations by Barbara Townsend, Kathleen Pearson, Jennifer Boucher, Liz Grandy, Katherine Slimman. Mentor: VJaneGordon
STILL LIFE: photoworks by Jennifer Hambleton, Leo Davis, Fleur-Ange Lamothe May 7-June 6/10 “…a thought provoking experience with the works of the three artists unsettling the preconceptions one might have, based on the title alone. In their stillness these creatures speak quietly to us of the wonder, beauty, and fragility of life.” Arlene Lasky. “Among the many group shows that pass across the walls at You Me Gallery, ‘Still Life’ is among the most seamless in recent memory, showing predominantly photo-based works that test the boundary of animal mortality in a way that makes me want to walk Ola Wlasuk’s writing essay down the road for an even better conceptual fit.” Stephanie Vegh blog, James North Art Crawl, May.
GEORGE WALLACE’S Educational Experiment June 11-July 4/10 Wallace taught at McMaster University, 1960-85, moved to Victoria, B.C., died 2009. Ten years ago, his 24’h outdoor sculpture “The Educational Experiment”(1969) at Mohawk College, Hamilton was taken down, dismantled, and stored because of rusting corten-steel. Five figurative fragments on display courtesy of Mohawk College, along with a selection of Wallace’s prints.
A Week at Rice Lake, photographs by MICHEL PROULX July 9-Aug 8/10 “Proulx, who
prints his images on vinyl, comes up close to the lake’s surface…Each image captures a particular moment in time, so it has its own distinctive colours and patterns, created by changes in weather, light and movement.”Regina Haggo,”Taking the Lake”, Hamilton Spectator,July 24/10
HIP HOP HOMAGE, the art of EKLIPZ Aug 13 – Sept 5/10 Fifty painted portraits of the biggest icons of the genre … including Ludacris,Dr.Dre,Kanye West,Public Enemy,The Fugees, Eminem,Notorius,Tupac,Queen Latifah,Busta Rhymes,Ice-T,Snoop Dogg, etc. “also a book…featuring not only the 50 portraits in the show, but also photographs and philosophical reflections on peace, justice and connection, as embodied in music and art.” Jeff Mahoney, Hamilton Spectator,”Paying Homage to hip-hop and its icons” Aug 25/10
japanese poems: wall reliefs by Bryce Kanbara Sept 12 – Oct 3/10. medium: drywall, wood. paint. “Unapologetic; coming from a certain Disquietism?” Russell Brown.
par 3: paintings by LESLIE SASAKI, CORINNE DUCHESENE, KIRSTON ABRAHAMSON Oct 12 – Nov 7/10 Sasaki’s deftness extends from his spry brushwork to his playful take on the concepts of form and content in paintings such as “Walking on Eggshells” and “Homage to S.J.G”. They complement the unabashed flamboyance of Duchesne’s grand gestures on mylar (“Horse Legs”, “Blazing Cherry”), and the melancholy of Abrahamson’s “Waiting for transplant”, which is a fantasy about Nature and its absorption of the human heart. bk
Sadko Hadzihasanovic: Made in Paris. Nov 12 – Dec 5/10 Paintings on printed fabric (including toile) produced on residency in France, 2008. “…inclusion of his “found” images opens up the closed narratives of the pre-printed fabric…” Sally Frater, exhibition essay. “…the cluttered, neo-salon arrangement of the works up and down the walls did not work and was a deterrent to the already complex and delicate imagery of each work.” ArtListPro blog
yule luv’it: Dec 10- Jan 9/11 lamothe, carley, gugler, loney, kelch, van gemerden, van gemerden, seepaul, sovereign, proulx, duchesne, ziolkowski, jackson, strut, kozowyk, ibing, kelly, inglis, paxton, yates, davis, davis, niro, mayrhofer, mansaram, riley, allan.
2011
more Riparian Entertainment: 14 ink drawings by Bryce Kanbara Jan 14 – Feb 6/11 “…you don’t know what it is you’re looking at for a long time, and then you see everything!” Nicole Schlosser
PAT KOZOWYK: paintings and pastels Feb 11 – Mar 6/11“What makes these pastels so remarkable is the way Kozowyk depicts…elements of the landscape as soft, rounded shapes, as though each has been stuffed with batting.” Regina Haggo, Hamilton Spectator, Feb 26/11.
We@you me exhibition of contemporary art mentored by Vjane Gordon April 8 17/11 Linda Blakney, Lorraine Darke, Dean Gugler, Kathleen Pearson, Katherine Slimman, Barbara Townsend, Tony Marinus Vander voet, Louise Young. “Documenta artistic director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev has said, ‘In a world dominated by the curatorial, to act without a pre-defined curatorial plan offers a possibility …’ Well, WHOO HOO! What a thrilling thing for her to say much less write! Vjane Gordon
PETER BECKETT: Being the Biosphere paintings and photographs Mar 11 – April 3/11 “Like earlier modernists, Beckett does all sorts of things with his paint: layering,dragging, dribbling and dripping to create highly textures surfaces…shapes, both big and small, break up and re-form to convey nature’s boundless energy.” Regina Haggo, Hamilton Spectator, “Rooted in the land”, Mar 19/11.
EVELYN KELCH: Well Dressed Man / KATHY RENWALD Seek Shelter May 13 – June 5/11
“Kathy Renwald’s recent work, a series of paper buildings, reflects on the things that contribute to architecture’s demise…Kelch’s titles contribute to the undermining of the sophisticated look…(they) suggest men who can’t make the cut. Regina Haggo, Hamilton Spectator May 26/11
“Anyone looking to borrow artist groupings from You Me Gallery in future couldn’t do better than the current pairing of Evelyn Kelch and Kathy Renwald. The combination of Kelch’s surreal collages and Renwald’s planar assemblages of found materials plays out like an art history lesson in 1920s avant-garde movements that reveal their more contemporary character with prolonged viewing.” Stephanie Vegh blog.
ELLIS BATESON/BOB EZERGAILIS/WILL FERGUSON Collaborative Conspiracy Sculpture and painting in/on/from wood June 10 – July 3/11 “(Tree) Nice!!”
“Some of these are very pleasing to the eye. (I don’t know which ones)”, “Tribal!”, “Very cool! Love Day at the Beach!”, “My Faves R ‘Mexican Standoff’ & ‘Scooby Doo meets Casper”, “Did some Teen-ager do the Tree?”Visitors Book comments.
THEA HAINES: Good Housekeeping July 8 – Aug 7/11 “Like the women who practise good housekeeping, Haines’ installation is neat and tidy. The Fruit Cellar of Miss H comprises six wooden crates forming a row of shelves ,,,each shelf holds seven or eight glass preserving jars…filled with delicate objects made of wispy cotton and linen, soft velvet and wool (that) resemble fruit and vegetables, such as rounded red and pink berries, or long green beans…she joins a long line of women artists who have brought attention to domesticity and its implications through their labour – intensive art and repurposed domestic objects” Regina Haggo,” the secret life of domestic objects”, Hamilton Spectator, July 21/11.
The First Occasionally Annual Whirligig Show Aug 12 – Sept 10. Ramona Chiasson, Tom Lowe, Leslie Sasaki, Susan Davis, Jim Chambers, Bryce Kanbara, Dean Gugler, Lisa Uyeda & Kira Hatton, Brian Kelly, Corinne Duchesne, Emile Berrick, Ingrid Mayrhofer, Aliki Mikulich, Ted Karkut, Fleur-Ange Lamothe & Johanne-Louise Giroux, Lucy Gerritsen-Beardwood and family. “I just walked in. I’m already excited!” Teresa Caterini, “What a happy show!” William Hodge, “Blew me away!” Alex Johnston, “Woo Hoo!” Sandy Marincic, “Ho Ho, Ha Ha!” Laura Arseneau, “Hilarious. Reminded of a psychiatrist’s office I visited once…no joke.” S.H., “Awesome installations! We’re all just dust in the wind.” Tony.
WAYNE ALLAN: Journeymen, HELEN SOVEREIGN: Museum of the Mind Oct 14 – Nov 6/11
“Wayne’s art never disappoints! John’s favourite: Walking Man – he pointed and said Whoooa!” Bill& John Mous, “Isn’t my Sister Cool!” Anne Ramshiaw, ”Excellent in every way, and very compatible & challenging.” Will Rueter.
CAMERON KUNTZ: Saints in Underwear and Other Stories, SARAH COLLARD: Norman Nov 11 – Dec 4/11
“Bodies – big, bold and provocative. That’s the way Sarah Collard and Cameron Kuntz paint them…Collard emphasizes facial wrinkles with a variety of sharp lines framing prominent folds. She builds up the body with creamy swirls enlivened with dabs of salmon, aqua and yellow…Kuntz gives his saints a modern makeover in their clothing – or their lack of it – and incorporating found objects. Joan of Arc,
for instance, sports a halo made of wooden matches.” Regina Haggo “Watch out for bares”, The Hamilton Spectator, Nov 17/11
DECEMBRRR, year-end show. Fleur-ange Lamothe,Dean Gugler,Wayne Allan,Helen Sovereign,Sienna Sovereign,Bob Ezergailus,Sue Davis,Ingrid Mayrhofer,Sarah Collard,Masoud Eskandari,Clarissa Inglis,Maureen Paxton,Corinne Duchesne,Jim Riley,Diana Gordon,Lucy Beardwood,Pat Kozowyk,Janice Jackson,Annerie van Gemerden,Gloria Marshall,Cameron Kuntz,Grazyna Ziolkowsky,Al Peachey,Brian Kelly,Bryce Kanbara
Dec 9 – Jan 8/12.