In Toronto: 1,001 Chairs for Ai Wei Wei

 This video was shot at the Toronto action for 1,001 Chairs for Ai Weiwei, an event which took place around the globe on April 17, 2011, to protest the arrest and disappearance of the Chinese artist. Here, KWT artist and event co-organizer Svava Thordis Juliusson discusses the importance of the protest. Her comments accompany a canadianart.ca report by editor Richard Rhodes on the event. (Video courtesy Chris Healey)

JP Robinson: ArtSync Interview on Opening night march 5, 2011

John Paul Robinson has recently been interviewed by ArtSync about the exhibition "New Work" which will be on exhibit here at KWTcontemporary from March 5 - 26, 2011. You can watch the interview in which Robinson speaks about the themes in his work: time, space, nature, science and personal mythologies, here.

“The work in this new series explores the connections between the sublime nature of natural phenomena, the subconscious, and the fields of physics and biology.  The pieces themselves are part of a set of metaphorical symbols that I am building to describe my experience, my place, and my life, to myself.”

Born in 1954 in Toronto, Ontario, John grew up in cottage country 2 hours north of the city. He was first introduced to glass while studying Child Care at Georgian College, Barrie, Ontario. In 1980, after working with children and then alcoholics for 6 years, he built his first glass studio with a friend, who had studied glass at Georgian. In 1982 he was hired by the Ontario College of Art, Toronto, where he worked as a glass studio technician and instructor until 1998. His work has been exhibited internationally, and is represented in public collections such as the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Museum of American Glass. John is presently living, working and teaching in Montreal.

deMooy, Robinson and Langstroth: Opening March 5, 2011

 

We are pleased to present three exhibitions of new works by three contemporary artists, each working in a Modernist vein.

Lower Gallery
"Visible World": Caroline deMooy
With this new series of oil paintings, deMooy continues to explore abstractions which are layered and complex, and suggestive of urban architecture and street scapes. DeMooy says:"The work is not based on any specific idea, but rather a feeling or thought that I have about the essence of the world around me. Depending on time of day, climate and seasonal conditions, my experience and my perception, nature provides me with a symphony of information that becomes my palette- much like notes in music. The multi-layered world, with its endless possibilities and outcomes presents a vast riddle of visual, emotional, psychological and spiritual information. These paintings represent the architecture of this complex survey."

Mezzanine Gallery

"New Work": John Paul Robinson
Robinson's latest sculptural works in glass are elegant, arcing and streamlined forms, suspended from polished metal wall mounts. Robinson says: "Science and technology are revealing a universe that is completely counter intuitive. Solid mass turns out to be a lot of energy and a lot of space and what time it is depends on how fast you are going. My work is an attempt to build a set of symbols that describe this reality. The pieces combine aspects of natural phenomena we grasp intuitively, pebbles in a pond, with those we don’t particle – wave duality. I am attempting to build a functioning model/myth of my world."

Upper Gallery 

"Between Lines": Chris Langstroth 

According to Toronto based art writer and educator, Betty-Ann Jordan, "Chris Langstroth's semi abstracts ostensibly depict people in crowds, but really, the main attraction is his patchwork of streaky, thick-as-boiled-frosting acrylic paint. The artist works intensely and swiftly while his pigment is still wet, laying down his colour swatches with a small trowel-like palette knife and plasterer's scrapers. About his self-appointed challenge to blend abstraction and figure painting, Langstroth says: "I don't want my paintings to be still - I like them noisy."

Paul Dignan at Benedicta Arts Center, Minnesota

Paul Dignan has been invited to exhibit work created between 2004 to 2009 in a solo show at the Benedicta Arts Centre at Saint John's University in Minnesota. The exhibition runs from March 3 to April 8, 2011. These paintings, which differ from the work now showing at KWT Contemporary, use ambiguous imagery taken from sources such as monograms, wallpaper designs, sections of cartoons and other sampled imagery as well as self generated drawings.

"Untitled", 2006, acrylic on canvas, 48"x48"

Paul Dignan's latest paintings (on view at KWT Contempporary through Feb. 26, 2011) can be described as neo-op, hard-edged geometric abstraction. Dignan is a master of the unexpected when it comes to colour,. His work has literally been stopping traffic on Richmand St. W. for the past few weeks.  The sidewalks may be slushy and the skies grey, but it is spring on the other side of our 14' main floor windows. Given that Minnesota has even harsher weather conditions than we do here in Toronto, we know that Dignan's work will be well received.

"Untitled (pink)", 2010, acrylic on canvas, 54"x54"

Of his latest work, Dignan says: "I make hard edge abstract paintings that use a simple grid as a starting point.  The paintings produced for this show came about through a decision to re-examine the defined, schematic striped paintings I made in the UK in the 1990’s and also in relation to the paintings I made between 2004 – 2009, after I had relocated to Canada. I wanted to reintroduce the illusion of order into this new body of work by using a rigidly defined specific structure as a starting point - usually an 8 x 8 grid. This is then deconstructed, manipulated and altered through intuitive decision-making processes whilst at the same time making reference to the original grid format.... The colour choices have been influenced by my experience of living in Canada as I have become more and more aware of the effects of the extreme shifts in Canadian weather.  Objects and buildings become faded, bleached and weathered - for example, the faded orange of a rusting child's bicycle that has been left out all winter or the bleached yellowing green of a fence subjected to constant bouts of humidity and a scorching summer sun." 

You can see more of Dignan's work here.

Lauren Nurse: "you are my mirror": Feb 5 to 26, 2011

Lauren Nurse interviewed by Tali Dundin at KWT Contemporary on February 5th, 2011 (later aired on ArtSync)

Click here to watch the interview

"Cultural perceptions of nature have always held a certain amount of anxiety, and have spawned numerous myths, legends and fables.  These narratives expose culture’s uneasy relationship with the natural world.  For example, the figure of the werewolf is the ultimate symbol for the transgression between human and animal, and fears about being consumed are embodied in the figure of the vampire.  I believe that looking closely at these legends provides a key to understanding the culture that produced them. In viewing the monstrous body as a metaphor for the cultural body, I consider the mythic as a symbolic expression of the cultural unease that pervades a society and shapes its collective behavior. 
Previous works of mine have revolved around the idea of collisions between nature and culture - passing comment on some of the ways in which we see nature as existing outside of culture and society, yet simultaneously influencing the ways in which we live. 

The new body of work that I am exhibiting synthesizes my previous interest in the modern separation and opposition between culture and nature, and my current interest in locating the mythological/uncanny in evocations of the ‘wild’.  I am interested in the dissolution of boundaries between categories, ideas, and objects, the tension between inside and outside, and the intersections that occur when borders of the body become fluid and porous." -Lauren Nurse (2011)

Pearls. Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle paper. edition of five, framed. 2009

Svava Thordis Juliusson: "Saman Safnast": Feb 5 to 26, 2011

Svava Thordis Juliusson interviewed by Tali Dundin at KWT Contemporary on February 5th, 2011. (later aired on ArtSync).

click here to watch the interview

Juliusson is interested in using and manipulating traditional sculpture techniques and various non-traditional sculpture materials to express her concerns and ideas. The studio investigations, which often commence at the kitchen table or the laundry room, tend to oscillate between curiosity and the desire to articulate a response to her surroundings.

Current investigations, such as Horizon Orange, are part of a recent shift in her art practice. While still wanting to respond to larger events and domestic situations, the works are executed with a more intuitive approach to material and are primarily composed of plastic such as the cable ties, or safety fencing. These materials are designed for a specific purpose, but once manipulated, or re-purposed, the elements as a new whole, have the potential to become something else, something perhaps found in a natural environment like a cloud or a landmass.

Accolades and International Exhibitions for Annie Tung

Above: Annie Tung, "Love Spoons, erotic poem in Braille to be read with one's tongue", edition 3/3, 2009: cast silver and brass.

(poem by Gwendolyn MacEwen (CAN, 1941-19870)

This work was most recently shown in Annie Tung's solo exhibition, "Strangely Familiar" which ran from Dec. 4 , 2010 through Jan. 26, 2011, KWT Contemporary (formerly XEXE Gallery)
 

Congratulations to Annie Tung for having been selected for the following honours and international exhibitions:

Best of 2010 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Sculpture:
Annie Tung won Best of Show in the Sculpture Category at this past summer's Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. Her work was on exhibit through January 2011 in "Best of 2010, Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition Award Winners" at FCP Gallery, Toronto. (First Canadian Place,100 King Street West, Toronto) (more information here).

Silver Triennial, 16th Worldwide Competition:

"Love Spoons"  will be traveling until Jan 2012 to the following locations:  

German Goldsmith’ House inHanau; Fair Ambiente, Frankfurt; MuseumKunstgewerbesammlung Huelsmann, Bielefeld; Zilvermuseum Sterckshof, Antwerp, Belgium; Wasserschloss Klaffenbach, Chemnitz.  

 (more information here)

9th Helen Keller International Art Competition:

"Love Spoons" will be exhibited in Glasgow through May, 2011  (more information here).

Three Exhibitions and Gallery Re-launch

Three Exhibitions and Gallery Re-launch

Reception: February 5, 6-8 p.m.

Lower Gallery
Paul Dignan: "Another After One"

Mezzanine
Svava Thordis Juliusson: "Saman Safnast"

Upper Gallery
Lauren Nurse: "you are my mirror"

Exhibition runs from February 5 - 26, 2011
Gallery Hours: Wed-Sat, 12-6 p.m.

Welcome to KWT contemporary

Kristyn Wong-Tam (owner) and Aurelie K. Collings, Director and Curator, are happy to announce that we are ringing in the New Year with a name change, a new look, and a new curatorial direction. We are now "KWT contemporary".  During the transition, the old XEXE site (xexegallery.com) will remain active.

KWT contemporary (formerly known as XEXE Gallery) is located at 624 Richmond St West, Toronto, Canada. please send your inquiries to info@kwtcontemporary.com

KWT contempoary welcomes new staff:

Jessica Vallentin, our new Gallery Administrator,
Ebony Jansen, our Communications Intern, and
Emily Mahon, our Archives Intern.