Landmark
dal 20/1/2002 al 3/3/2002
Segnalato da
Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery
20/1/2002
Landmark
Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound
Art informs ideas on the Canadian nation. Landmark includes the work by two important Canadian painters, John Abrams and Robert Houle, who disassemble dispensed myths and histories, fracturing traditional mappings and icons. Ultimately, their paintings are probing examinations that not only question prevailing archetypes of landscape, but lead viewers to interrogate their own methods of looking and reading. They root their imagery in individual histories. They call upon the viewer to reform fragmented stories, fill in pieces to make them their own.
Paintings by John Abrams and Robert Houle
Art informs ideas on the Canadian nation
This touring
exhibition was produced by the University of Waterloo Art Gallery, in conjunction with the Tom Thomson Memorial Art
Gallery.
Podedworny and Stuart Reid, Director/Curator of the Tom Thomson Art Gallery, each contributed a critical essay
to the illustrated catalogue publication that accompanies the show. The exhibition will tour to the Robert McLaughlin Gallery
in Oshawa for exhibition from May 19 to June 30, 2002.
Landmark includes the work by two important Canadian painters, John Abrams and Robert Houle, who disassemble
dispensed myths and histories, fracturing traditional mappings and icons. Ultimately, their paintings are probing examinations
that not only question prevailing archetypes of landscape, but lead viewers to interrogate their own methods of looking and
reading. They root their imagery in individual histories. They call upon the viewer to reform fragmented stories, fill in pieces
to make them their own.
John Abrams and Robert Houle have built their artistic practices around painting aspects of the Canadian imagination. For
each, the landscape of Canada has been defined through political association. Issues of identity are solidified through place
and history, yet the concepts have been altered. Rather than posting an objectified and legitimizing history, Abrams and
Houle propose remembrance as the source of historical associations.
Landmark includes five painting installations (two by Abrams, three by Houle) that are comprised of panels, canvases and
graphic elements. Both Houle and Abrams mount their "composite" paintings in mappings on the museum wall. Houle uses
colour-field abstraction and photographic elements in his eloquent compositions. Abrams paints iconic depictions of the
landscape and pulls images from Canadian history books in his bill-board scale assemblies of paintings.
John Abrams began exhibiting in 1983 and has shown extensively in Canada and the United states since that time. He has
produced a number of commissioned works for film and television and has painted large-scale murals in both Canada and
the U.S. Abrams has received several Canada Council "B" Grants. His work is in the collections of the National Gallery of
Canada, Ottawa; the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa; the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston; and the Museum
of Contemporary Canadian Art in North York, among others.
Robert Houle holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor of Education
in Art Education from McGill University in Montreal. Currently he is an instructor at the Ontario College of Art and Design
in Toronto. Houle has been exhibiting in group and solo shows, internationally since the mid-1970s. His work has been
shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia; the Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris; and the Stedelijk Museum in
Amsterdam, among others. In Canada, Houle has exhibited at the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon; the Museum of
Contemporary Canadian Art; the Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa; the Agnes Etherington Art Centre; the Winnipeg
Art Gallery and many more. The artist was the Curator of Indian Art at the National Museum of Man in Ottawa from 1977
to 1980. He is an acclaimed curator, writer and guest lecturer. Houle has been a visiting artist at Hood College, Maryland;
Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania; the Heard Museum, Phoenix; the McMichael Canadian Collection, Kleinburg; and the
Winnipeg Art Gallery, among others. Houle's work is in the collections of most major Canadian museums and galleries
including the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery. In 2001, Robert Houle won the Toronto Arts Award, Visual Artist prize.
This important exhibition continues on view in the North and Jennings David Young Galleries through March 3.
Call the gallery for tour bookings.
The Gallery's hours from September to June are:
Tuesday - Friday 11 am to 5 pm
Saturday / Sunday 12 noon to 5 pm
During July and August, the hours are:
Monday - Saturday 10 - 5
Sunday 12 - 5
Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery
840 First Avenue West
Owen Sound, Ontario
Canada N4K 4K4
Tel: (519) 376-1932
Fax: (519) 376-3037