Karin Davie
dal 14/11/2012 al 11/1/2013
Segnalato da
14/11/2012
Karin Davie
Diaz Contemporary, Toronto
Shadows, Liquids & Life: New Works on Paper. Davie introduces two new series of gouache drawings; both series continue Davie's exploration of abstraction, perception and process.
Diaz Contemporary is pleased to present an exhibition of recent works on paper by
Karin Davie. This will be the artist’s first solo show with the gallery and in
Toronto. Davie, a leading contemporary abstract painter, introduces two new series
of gouache drawings, Liquid Life and Shadow Days. Both series continue Davie’s
exploration of abstraction, perception and process.
Karin Davie is best known for her sensual ‘stripe’ abstractions and hyperbolic
compositions. Her contemporary practice has been viewed in context with the ideas of
painting-as-performance from 1950s Abstract Expressionism and the optical endeavours
of 1960s Op Art. Yet Davie departs from these formalist and largely masculine
painting traditions, rejecting the notion of a pure abstraction for a more
referential and representational approach. Davie utilizes the language of
abstraction as suggestive curvature and energetic forms to create unexpectedly
psychologically charged images.
While earlier movements in abstraction have often emphasized the painted surface,
Davie’s more recent works evoke great depth and psychic space. Backgrounds of
neon-like colours simultaneously hide and reveal themselves amidst a field of
velvety black brushstrokes in Shadow Days, conjuring nuances of an ominous urban
environment at night. These dense compositions tempt the viewer to wonder what
exists behind and beyond. The drawings of Liquid Life consist of layers of
overlapping and undulating brushstrokes that graduate in colour around the edges of
subtly shaped paper. The images are strangely reminiscent of internal, visceral
spaces, as well as viscous fluids or supernatural waves of energy. Davie’s forms
hover between the physical and metaphysical, push the boundaries of the paper’s
edge and invite the viewer to imagine their performative creation.
Karin Davie was born in Toronto and is currently based in New York, NY and Seattle,
WA. She holds a BFA from Queens University in Kingston, ON and an MFA from the Rhode
Island School of Design in Providence, RI. Davie has an extensive exhibition
history, including solo shows at Mary Boone Gallery in New York, NY, SITE Santa Fe,
NM, Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston, ON, Albright-Knox Art Gallery in
Buffalo, NY, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, CT, the Project Space
at MOMA, NY, White Cube in London, UK, and Wetterling Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden.
In 2006, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery presented a major career retrospective of
Davie’s paintings, sculptures and drawings. Her work is held in many public and
private collections including: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Seattle Art Museum, the
Oppenheimer Collection at the Nerman Museum in Kansas City, MO, the Rubbell Family
Collection in Miami, FL, the Maramotti Museum in Reggio Emilia, Italy, the Norton
Museum in Fort Worth, FL, the Marx Collection in Germany and the Art Gallery of
Ontario in Toronto.
Opening: Thursday 15 November 6 to 8 pm
Diaz Contemporary
100 Niagara Street (at Tecumseth) Toronto
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 to 6, or by appointment
Admission free