INGRAM GALLERY | December 2021 |
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Greetings!
December brings togetherness and connection at the gallery. Both drop-in visits and guided gallery tours have met with meaningful interactions between art, artists, and art appreciators.
This edition of Ingram Art News offers highlights of compelling and available works from leading contemporary artists as well as significant artists from our past such as Jack Beder (1910-1987), E.B. Cox, RCA (1914-2003), and Joe Rosenthal, RCA (1921-2018). Further, we join Jessica Levman in conversation about the artist's Flatrock Tapestries and recent studio time in Newfoundland.
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DANIEL HUGHES Of Many Sides #2, 2018 - oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches
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The works of Jack Beder (1910-1987) embody the power of lifelong artistic endeavour. In his acclaimed subjects of city life and majestic landscapes, Beder's worldview transposes through seasoned decision making and brushwork. As in all of the artist's pieces, newly available oils at the gallery epitomize the subtle lushness and endless refinement of Beder's approach.
The sculptures of E.B. Cox, O.C., R.C.A. (1914-2003) hold universal attraction with their eloquent forms of expression. Regarded as Canada’s foremost sculptor in stone, Cox’s works are found in large numbers throughout public spaces in Toronto and public institutions across Canada.
E.B. Cox’s iconic Spring Break-Up was cared for at Ingram Gallery while Park Hyatt Toronto (4 Avenue Road) underwent renovations. The gorgeous limestone sculpture just travelled to its new and prominent home in their newly finished luxurious space.
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JOE ROSENTHAL, RCA (1921-2018) Market Woman - Standing, 2017 - bronze, ed. 3/8, 27 x 13 x 11 inches
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Now greeting visitors in the gallery's entrance is Joe Rosenthal’s bronze Market Woman - Standing, a work that exudes both fortitude and tenderness. Rosenthal's market women subjects have been referred to as offering reassuring and timeless reflections of life that gain importance through the seemingly ordinary figures.
Artist Jessica Levman has been splitting studio time in Newfoundland and Toronto, creating a sequence of stunning and artful revelations. Newly arriving at the gallery are fresh pieces from Flatrock Tapestries that find influence from the horizons and oceanic environment of Newfoundland.
Below, we join Levman in conversation as we explore the artist's process and most recent works through her boundless and insightful vision.
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JONATHAN CASTELLINO let.go, 2021 - archival print, ed. 1/3, 30 x 45 inches
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JESSICA LEVMAN | In Conversation
Flatrock Tapestries
Levman: I've lived in Newfoundland, and most recently spent several months in studio there. The most recent works come out of that time, and the intensity of that time in many ways. It is such a powerful landscape.
Landscape plays a big role in these newest works
Levman: Some of the work continued out of the subject of the human body – which all my work in some way is connected to – but also with the overlaying inspiration from the vastness of the surroundings and the elements. The rock is so dominant... The ocean is super dominant... and the sky and skylines... It transitioned into doing works that were more directly related to the landscape.
The motifs are lovely that recur in your works like the openings, whales and boats
Levman: Flatrock Tapestries are mixed media collage works that have the boat motif and whales but are also sort of abstracted and have repetitive horizon lines. Living with this horizon line every day it became such a part of my consciousness – the vast horizon between ocean and sky.
Fishing boats are such a part of the landscape and culture of Newfoundland... They also started feeling similar to the human body in some ways, because they're vessels, and they're fragile, but they have to survive.
A fishing boat in Newfoundland is very much a part of the culture and survival there for families – for the human body. But they also kind of remind me of coffins... It's a powerful landscape, and a dangerous one as so many people have died through fishing there... So it's this kind of a beautiful, romantic symbol of survival and sustenance and culture, yet it's also a frightening one because of the fragility of it.
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JESSICA LEVMAN
Flatrock Tapestries I, 2021 - chalk pastel, gouache, acrylic & collage, 27 x 9.5 inches
Flatrock Tapestries V, 2021 - chalk pastel, gouache, acrylic & collage, 27.25 x 9.25 inches
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How did your process for this series take shape?
Levman: All my work is quite intuitive in many ways but that process happened out of creating various supports or backgrounds for my work – very much inspired by that landscape.
I like working with paper – the spontaneity of paper and drawing – and a quality of paper that is very natural... almost skin-like.. tree-like.. many things. As I trimmed them I found that I have these pieces of absolutely beautiful paper inspired by ocean, rock and sky, and rather than discarding them I started collecting them and arranging them in various ways. The pieces started reminding me of the vastness of the horizon, and it transformed into these Flatrock Tapestries.
It's kind of bringing together different elements – sewing, weaving, spinning and that kind of work is also a part of my work, and I was weaving together these different elements, both literally and metaphorically.
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JACK NICHOLS, RCA (1921-2009) Declaration, 1961 - conté on paper, 25.75 x 19.75 inches
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From All of Us | At Ingram
We look forward to your next visit and to the unexpected events that arrive on the cusp of a new year.
The gallery is soon to receive new works from Travis Shilling, who captivates art lovers through his astonishing oils and never-ending escalation of artistic achievement.
With brightest wishes always,
Tarah Aylward, Director
Ingram Gallery
416-929-2220
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FLORENCE VALE (1909-2003) Ancient Head (Apollinaire 2), 1963 - oil & collage, 12 x 10 inches
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RYAN PRICE here and now, 2010 - mixed media on drywall, 16 x 12 inches
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