March 30, 2009

Exhibition by Yechel Gagnon

Yechel Gagnon, Voyageurs, 2009, carved jequitiba plywood, 24" x 24"

If you're in the Toronto area during the month of April, Yechel Gagnon will be exhibiting her new plywood bas-reliefs in a solo show at the Moore Gallery.  Her last show there was in 2004, so it will be interesting to see her latest developments with her signature production. This upcoming show has already great visibility since it will be featured on the front cover of Slate Magazine

The gallery press release states "Gagnon's distinctive approach of materiality transforms plywood into a unique pictorial medium rich of its intrinsic layering. (...) In Vastness, she uses different plywood essences, such as Okoume and Jequitiba, in order to work with different colours and obtain a variety of contrast within each work... she incorporates for the first time the "lamination" of the plywood in the actual image making as a strong pictorial element. This new approach introduces geometrical elements to her compositions, enriching the carving vocabulary and bring forward the vast possibilities of the language she developed with her medium".  

Geneviève Chevalier wrote in Documents exhibition essay of 2007 :
" Yechel Gagnon's work have an amazing evocative power. This is perhaps because they do not focus on singular association, but leave the door open to an entire series of associations which ripen in the mind of the beholder" 

Alexandria Pierce wrote in Palimpsest exhibition essay of 2004:
"Gagnon's work is not an art of chance but one of precision, gradation and subtlety.  Her employment of monochrome or very restrained hints of colour bears comparison to medieval Chinese aesthetics where poetry, calligraphy and painting were intended to inspire contemplation."

I obviously think it's worth visiting this exhibit! 


Yechel Gagnon
Vastness
April 4-April 25, 2009
Vernissage: Saturday April 4, 2009
Moore Gallery
80 Spadina Ave, #404
Toronto, Ontario

March 19, 2009

Encaustic International Biennial


Où se livrent les nuages, 2009, encaustic on panel, 14.5" x 21"


From March 29 to June 19, I will be part of the Encaustic Biennial organized by R&F Paints entitled Encaustic Works '09 that will take place at the Castle Gallery of College of New Rochelle in New York State.

This exhibition will definitely be a rare occasion to check out what's happening in the realm of encaustic painting. There are among 40 artists participating in the show, working in a wide variety of styles and using the medium in their own personal way. R&F Paints published for the occasion a thorough catalogue that you can order from them (click here).

If you are in the area, this show is not to be missed.
  
R&F present the Seventh International Biennial 
Encaustic Works'09
March 29- June 19, 2009
Opening: Sunday April 5, 2-4 pm

March 9, 2009

Group Show, Galerie de Bellefeuille

From March 12 to 23, I will be part of a group show on landscape painting at Galerie de Bellefeuille, in Montreal. For this specific occasion, I have completed three large paintings pursuing my mountainscape series. The physicality of the paint is particularly important in these works due to their scale and treatment. Of course these images will only give you a small hint of their reality. I keep cursing against reproductions and their impossibility to convey what a painting is really about, but deep down I think it is a great thing a painting remains a unique object that has to be experienced in the flesh. Click on the images to have a better idea...




Où naissent les nuages, 2009, encaustic on panel, 40" x 60"


L'orée du ciel, 2009, encaustic on panel, 40" x 60"
 

Racines de Jade, 2009, encaustic on panel, 40" x 60"