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ON THE WALLS | AT INGRAM
TRAVIS SHILLING
Unknown Legends
March 22 - April 12 . 2018
Artist's opening celebration: Thursday, March 22 | 6pm - 8pm
The cast of characters that have presented themselves in Unknown Legends are telling stories and Shilling, in turn, is sharing their storytelling with us. Through his unexpected encounters with visitors and friends from near and far, Shilling's canvases allow for a connection and an understanding without overthinking.
We are all connected to the pulse of the earth, we cannot lose this - although as humans we may forget. With a focus on the birds, fish and forest creatures hunting and fishing, we are reminded of the balance between ourselves and the natural world. By way of offerings, negotiations, and challenges, Shilling presents works that enable us to consider our shared capacity for endurance in our working together.
Shilling first exhibited with Ingram Gallery in 2011 and has produced an ongoing body of narrative-based paintings and landscape works that are open to interpretation. An understanding and a respect exists between Shilling and his subject matter.
You Came Back (2018) 40 x 48 inches, oil on canvas
Born in 1978, Travis Shilling's practice consists of painting, assemblage, video and film work. His paintings have been included in exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon, Orillia Museum of Art and History, MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie and most recently, The Latcham Gallery in Stouffville (solo exhibition). His work is in public collections across Ontario; in the United States at the Smithsonian Institute, National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. and The Citadelle Art Foundation in Texas, as well as numerous corporate and private collections across North America.
Current projects include Shilling's The Village Dream being included in Art in the Tunnels, a public art exhibition on now in Ottawa curated by Deanna Nebenionquit. Another public gallery solo exhibition is ahead for Shilling at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation in June of this year. In addition to his painting, Shilling has also worked in film and theatre as writer, director and producer. His short films have screened at the Images Festival and the imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival in Toronto, and at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in New York City.
Please contact the gallery to receive the Unknown Legends catalogue as a PDF. For those keen to connect on the new collection or for those unable to attend on opening day - Wednesday, March 21 will be a full preview day, with all new works released for purchase.
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NEW & NOTEWORTHY | AT INGRAM
STEVEN VOLPE
A natural fit on the sheer strength of his oeuvre, figurative painter Steven Volpe has joined the gallery.
Volpe's capacity to present paintings rich in allegory and visual metaphor is matched by his technical ability and his interest in the process of painting itself. His rendering of light, paired with his deft brushwork results in meticulous canvases worthy of close consideration. Featured here, Balzac's Café is Volpe's latest painting and is new in at the gallery along with a small collection of the only works available by the artist at this time. Please contact the gallery for a catalogue.
A graduate of Queen's University, Steven Volpe received his Fine Arts degree in 1989. He has since exhibited his paintings in galleries across Ontario, and in the past 10 years Volpe's works have been shown in a number of public galleries including the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Wellington County Museum & Archives, and Etobicoke Art Gallery.
Volpe has received recognition in the form of several awards and grants - highlights from recent years are the prestigious Laura Ciruls Painting Award from the Ontario Arts Foundation, and the Insights Award for the Wellington County Museum's 38th Annual Juried Exhibition. His paintings hang in numerous corporate and private collections in Canada.
Steven Volpe was born in 1966 in Mississauga, he currently lives and works in Orangeville, Ontario.
Balzac's Café (2018) 32.5 x 36.75 inches, oil on canvas
I paint open-ended narratives derived from unremarkable scenes: ordinary people engaged in ordinary activities. Achieving an effect that is out of the ordinary is where the work begins: the transformation, the editing, the re-imagining. That's the point at which art overtakes illustration and the specific gives way to the universal. Equal parts 'eyewitness account' and 'symbol-laden parable' contribute to the tendency of my paintings to invite interpretation yet still retain a comfortable and coherent plausibility. It is a fine balance.
If I were a filmmaker, I'd probably cast the movie before the script was written. Long before I know how the story will unfold, the spark of an idea presents itself in the form of a face, an expression, or a gesture. The gesture, almost always candidly captured, is prominent in most of my work. Since body language is held in a tenuous relationship with any kind of objective truth, context is indeed everything. I use this to my advantage to highlight tension through visual irony - all in the service of provoking thought.
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UP NEXT | AT INGRAM
JACK NICHOLS (1921-2009)
Fluid
May 5 - 26 . 2018
Looked at on its own, line quality can be seen as the cornerstone to all great art. When an accomplished line is minimal and rendered in ink - the resulting confidence that exudes can be intoxicating. The adage 'less is more' could not be more true of the exquisite ink on paper works of renowned Canadian artist Jack Nichols (1921-2009). Building on the international recognition and strength of his printmaking as explored in our last Nichols exhibition - The 1940s to 60s Lithographs (March 2015) - Fluid will present an important complement to our appreciation of Nichols' art.
Please click here for our complete 2018 exhibition schedule at a glance. #bookmark
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FROM ALL OF US | AT INGRAM
In 1956 The Park Plaza Hotel (now Park Hyatt Toronto) commissioned
E.B. Cox (1914-2003) to create
Spring Break-up. Installed in front of the hotel in 1958, the limestone sculpture has been an iconic part of the neighbourhood for 60 years. As the hotel is currently undergoing a major transformation, Cox's
Spring Break-up is on loan to the gallery and is positioned to greet you at the door on your next visit.
Jane Everett's new large-scale landscape paintings have arrived from her Kelowna, BC studio. Her works, along with a new oil from
David Michael Scott's studio are on the gallery walls.
Ryan Dineen has a new Georgian Bay painting in, as well as additions to his
Wreckyard series and more. New works on paper and on mylar from
Jessica Levman are just in at the gallery. Please stay tuned to the web and the walls for Levman's new creations.
My best wishes,
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