We are thrilled to welcome Katelyn Gallucci to TYPOLOGY as our curatorial intern for Fall 2015. For her first exhibition review, she visited Erin Stump’s new location on Dupont Street to see their inaugural exhibition.
Past present FUTURE is a three-part exhibition co-curated by Kristen Weckworth and Erin Stump at ESP’s new 1558 Dupont Street location. The first exhibition, FUTURE, (closing October 10th) is a group show featuring work by Katie Bethune-Leamen, Fastwürms, Maggie Groat, Cameron Lee, Annie MacDonell, and Susy Oliveira.
TYPOLOGY is pleased to present Moving right along, the first solo exhibition of work by Nicolas Fleming in Toronto. Appropriating the visual language and syntax of design-build practices, Fleming’s new artworks and site-specific installation transform the exhibition space, exploiting the inherent imperfections and irregular marks characteristic of construction sites to challenge the white cube environment in which they are situated. Constructing a room within a room, the artist’s sculptural gestures within the installation include curved walls and the representation of a fountain which bursts through the ceiling, its shiny finish reflecting the bright neon lighting illuminating the space.
Revealing or even glorifying the labour invested in the construction process, Fleming questions the accepted notion of pragmatism in construction work and creates an enigmatic theatre of fluid perspectives, both seductive and disturbing. Yet the overall effect, incorporating subtle touches of colour and texture, paradoxically recalls peaceful, temple-like places where the viewer may envision or experience acts and states of ritual, solitude, and duration.
Co-curated by project space Director Shani K Parsons and TYPOLOGY’s first Resident Curator, Oana Tanase, Moving right along will be accompanied by an exhibition catalogue featuring an original curatorial essay and interview with the artist, plus full documentation of the site-specific installation.
As a way to thank you, our faithful mailing list subscribers, for your continued interest and support, we’re offering a FREE Polish Papercutting Workshop with artist Maria Flawia Litwin this Saturday from 12–3 pm at Paperhouse Studio! This is a $55 value plus you’ll gain mad papercutting skills that you can use for the rest of your gift-giving life!
We’ve just posted a list of six (!) upcoming events for The Lowest Relief | Maria Flawia Litwin, including this Saturday’s Afternoon with the Artist — drop in anytime from 12–5 pm for refreshments and casual conversation with Maria, who will be at the project space to discuss her exhibition and answer questions about her art and process.
Details on the other five events, including our Fall Kickoff Celebration and Catalogue Launch, Scissors+Blades papercutting workshop series with Maria Flawia Litwin and Annyen Lam co-hosted with Paperhouse Studio, Art Bus tour with Koffler Gallery, artist’s talks for Culture Days, and Canadian Art’s Gallery Hop can be found on the exhibition page (scroll down and click on each event title to view information), or check out our Facebook Events page (where you can also RSVP).
It’s going to be a fun and busy fall — hope to see you at the project space for one or more of these events, workshops, or afternoons soon.
… image: Maria Flawia Litwin, être ma proper cause (detail), 2014
Just in time for Back to School season, we have on offer some of the last copies of UK-based artist Miriam Elia’s limited edition publication, We Go to the Gallery, a hilarious take on contemporary art in the form of a nostalgic children’s primer.
TYPOLOGY is pleased to launch its third year of programs with The Lowest Relief, an intimate solo exhibition of art by Maria Flawia Litwin, curated by Katherine Dennis. In this new body of work, Litwin uses wycinanki (pronounced vih-chee-nahn-kee), a Polish paper cutting tradition, to weave stories layered with personal memories, social history, symbolism and mythology. Each work stems from a significant autobiographical detail in the artist’s life. Yet the illustrations are stripped of overt personal narrative. The focus instead is on quintessential life experiences — those as simple and complex as birth and death, and as fleeting or all encompassing as love, alienation, pain, fear or passion — that transcend gender, geography and culture.
Whimsical but touched with dark humour, the complex cuts, colours and patterns draw the eye in. Through these intricate details we are eased into the absurdity of memory, a space where the recollections of the artist become a jumping off point for the experiences of the viewer. The fantastical vignettes, filled with elaborate costumes from Polish folk to Canadian plaid, and animal and human actors ranging from a murder of crows to an armed attacker or gentle lover, unsettle and disturb as much as they delight.
It is easy to follow, but it is uninteresting to do easy things. We find out about ourselves only when we take risks, when we challenge and question.
— Magdalena Abakanowicz
Artist’s Birthdays, an ongoing series of posts by artist Michi Colacicco is a fun way to get a bit of art history into your day and mark the achievements of artists of every stripe. We launched this feature on our Facebook page with a quote and images of work by Magdalena Abakanowicz on the occasion of her birthday, which was June 20th.
Subsequent posts have featured Peter Paul Rubens, David Hockney, and Amadeo Modigliani, and we’re looking forward to many more in the upcoming year. Follow the Facebook page for birthdays as they happen, and if you’d like to see these posts in our other social media channels, let us know and we’ll look into expanding the feature accordingly.
THE NEW GODS (installation view) featuring Destiny by Alejandro Garcia Contreras, porcelain, 7.875 x 6 x 4 inches.
It’s been a while since we last posted, and that’s actually good news because we’ve been overwhelmed by the amazing response to THE NEW GODS! Take a gander at our Press page, which has seen more action over the past few months than the entire previous year. Thanks to everyone who has supported and attended the show, especially the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, NOW Magazine, Artoronto.ca, and of course the artists, Alejandro Garcia Contreras and Josée Pedneault, for their wonderful collaborative project.
This weekend is your last chance to see it during regular gallery hours if you haven’t already — we’re open Friday thru Sunday from 12–5 pm. (Note: As we are at the end of our 2014–15 program year, the show will actually remain up for a bit longer, so those who can’t make it this weekend are welcome to get in touch and make an appointment.)
The exhibition will also live on through its documentation in the catalogue, which is forthcoming. Preorders are accepted at the project space or via email to info (at) typology (dot) ca, as well as through our online shop soon. The catalogue and the fantastic limited edition archival digital print (see below) are $25 each.
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THE NEW GODS (cardboard man), 2014. Archival inkjet on Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta paper. 6 x 9 inches. Edition of 20, signed and numbered by the artists.
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handmade helmet of cut plastic straws from Chiapas
Recap: HEAD TRIP! Fantastical Masks, Helmets, and More with Paddy Leung In the week leading up to and including Doors Open Toronto, we co-hosted a wonderful two-part workshop with Paperhouse Studio, making masks, helmets, and crowns inspired by the handcrafted costumes featured in THE NEW GODS. If you missed the photo postings on our Facebook/Tumblr/Instagram pages, we’ve included a few here for your enjoyment.
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The love continues for FLIGHTS & LANDINGS A visitor to Artscape Youngplace photographed Tamara Gayer site-specific stairwell installation, 24 Hours Toronto, and his image was selected as one of the Top Ten photos of Doors Open Toronto! All three stairwell installations (including works by Janine Miedzik and Christine Gedeon) will remain on view for several more months. A limited edition archival digital print by Tamara Gayer is available (below), with the exhibition catalogue coming soon.
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24 Hours Toronto limited edition print by Tamara Gayer, 2015. Archival digital print, 6 x 9 inches. Edition of 20, signed and numbered by the artist.
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Thanks again for your interest and support in making this a great second year for TYPOLOGY. Stay tuned for exciting news regarding our program for 2015–16 and how you can participate in shaping our future mission and projects!
TYPOLOGY is thrilled to present a Featured Exhibition of the 2015 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, THE NEW GODS, a cross-continental collaboration between Canadian artist Josée Pedneault (Montreal) and Mexican artist Alejandro Garcia Contreras (Mexico City). Featuring an extraordinary series of large-scale photographs, THE NEW GODS examines fantastical rites of spring that have emerged spontaneously within Carrillo Puerto, an isolated village in the mountains of Chiapas in southern Mexico. The exhibition will also include a select grouping of smaller sculptures and paintings as an extension of the photographic subject matter into other media, an experimental approach which is integral to this multidisciplinary collaboration.
MAKE YOUR MARK was a big hit with visitors of all ages at last week’s RECESS open house. Inspired by the three fantastic site-specific stairwell installations we commissioned from Tamara Gayer, Christine Gedeon, and Janine Miedzik, participants covered the walls of our third floor hallway with cut vinyl and colourful tapes, assembled in all manner of representation, expression, and abstraction.
