Brent, Lafrance, Lavoie and Wong open Sept 8, 2011

KWT contemporary presents three  exhibitions of new work featuring Kieran Brent, David Lafrance, Alexis Lavoie and Rachael Wong

Vernissage: Thursday September 8,  from 5 to 7 p.m.
September 8 to October 1, 2011

624 Richmond St. W., Toronto

   Lower Gallery
Kieran Brent: New Paintings

 Kieran Brent, "Untitled 1" 2011 (oil on canvas, 48" x 48")

This is the first solo exhibition for Kieran Brent, a gifted young artist who is a recent graduate of OCAD. Brent explains: "Contradiction is an important aspect of my work.  In my paintings I am exploring the boundaries and tensions between paint and flesh, abstraction and representation, stillness and motion, figure and ground." 
Kieran Brent is represented by KWT contemporary.

Mezzanine Gallery

Rachael Wong: "Markings"

 Rachael Wong, "Pile 2", 2011 (blown glass)

For her first solo show at KWT contemporary, Rachael Wong presents a large wall installation of glass sculpture and painting, smaller glass sculptures, and a series of digital prints on aluminum.  She holds a BFA in Glass from the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary and an MFA in Sculpture/Dimensional Studies from Alfred University in New York State.  
Rachael Wong is the 2010 winner of the RBC Glass Award.
Rachael Wong is represented by KWT contemporary. 

Upper Gallery
Alexis Lavoie and David Lafrance: "Nature Deficit"

In their first exhibition at KWT contemporary, visiting artists Alexis Lavoie and David Lafrance present a series of new "landscape" paintings which explore themes of fragmentation and human desire, in collision with the natural world. Both artists are Montreal-based.

  Alexis Lavoie, "En Pièces (14)", 2011 (oil on canvas, 48"x48")

 David Lafrance, "Dépeupler", 2010 (oil on canvas, 48"x42") 

Alexis Lavoie is the 2010 winner of the RBC Painting Award, and is a recent graduate of UQAM. He states: " In "Nature Deficit",  I create zones of uncertainty, places that seem to be both the result of fragmentation and tension between several worlds. These psychological landscapes give rise to a troubled impression of lack and disconnect. Through the traces and scattered remains of past events the nature of these ambiguous locations constantly eludes us. What remains is only a threatening atmosphere, a sense of doubt and emptiness."

David Lafrance holds a B.F.A. from Concordia University, where he was awarded the Guido Molinari Prize. He is well known and respected in the Montreal art scene, as a prolific artist, working in painting, drawing and sculpture, and also as a musician and composer. Of his work in this exhibition, he states: " Nature Deficit Disorder is a contemporary urban affliction. We lack authentic experience with nature;  "wild" nature, but also the ritual and celebrations of "deep" human nature. In this context, my paintings could be described as highly delusional and broken landscapes with the elements of nature and culture locked in a strange and struggling balance."