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I went to see the new show at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art the other day.

I discovered that since they have begun collaborating with the National Gallery of Canada, they no longer allow dogs inside, which was an unfortunate discovery for Hudson, who was with me.

Faith La Rocque, Crystal Ladder, 2011. All images: VoCA

Anyway, I found the work on view to be fresh and exciting! When all of a sudden you see work like this you realize something special is going on. There’s an energy here that I haven’t seen in the city for some time. Bravo to curator Camilla Singh for bringing it all together.

Faith La Rocque, Salt Ramp with Celestial Children, 2011.

Having said that, I found something amiss in the curating. I couldn’t reconcile the grouping of work with the show’s title. I asked for some reading material, but was told that it was all available online. It was only later, when I read the somewhat awkward exhibition text that I realized that I think the title for the show is wrong.

Faith La Rocque, Salt Ramp with Celestial Children, 2011.

There’s a phrase in the text that resonated much more with me than the title ‘Ineffable Plasticity: The Experience of Being Human‘ It’s this: “The life force that animates us” and I think I would have called the show ‘Life Force’ with some kind of subtitle. The work seems to speak more to a Life Force; it doesn’t put such a fine point on it and I feel that it works better with the art. But that’s just me.

Sherri Hay, What dream became amongst our accumulated daylight, 2011

Susy Oliveira, Nature Stoned, 2011.

In any case, I do recommend the show. There is some wonderful work there, most particularly the terracotta sculpture installation by Jordan MacLachlan and the paintings by Anders Onionen.

It’s on until December 31, 2011 and you don’t want to miss it.

Mat Brown, All Within the Circle of Willis.

Mat Brown, All Within the Circle of Willis.

Mat Brown, All Within the Circle of Willis. Intallation view

Susy Oliveira, Petal Piece, 2011.

Jordan MacLachlan, Unexpected Subway Living, 2010-2011.

Jordan MacLachlan, Unexpected Subway Living, detail, 2010-2011.

Jordan MacLachlan, Unexpected Subway Living, detail, 2010-2011.

Anders Onionen, Noseum, 2011.

Anders Onionen, installation view.

The other day, I stopped in at the studio of Toronto artist Francisco Gomez.

A detail from Empire of Dust, Macca, 2009. All images: VoCA

Born in Caracas Venezuela, he moved to Canada in 1991 and studied at OCAD. Gomez generally works in ink and pastel on mylar – an unusual combination that Gomez tells me is difficult, since the pastel resists the mylar after a certain point, but it’s a very clean, effective look. I can see why he likes it.

A detail from Empire of Dust, Macca, 2009.

You can find his work at Art Interiors, where there are a number of floral works, but the large scale animal paintings that he brought out in his studio are from the series Empire of Dust and are much, much more interesting, to my eye.

Empire of Dust, Macca, 2009.

They are wonderfully drawn & painted, quite magnificent, gothic works of (mostly) tropical beasts and flora inspired by literary influences including Dante’s Inferno, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Ovid’s Metamorphosis and Schopenhauer’s On the Suffering of the World.

More works from the series Empire of Dust.

Artist Francisco Gomez with the works. Here you can see how large they are.

Other works including from the series Architecture of Being.

The studio wall.

Some inspiration for the burning fire works Gomez is currently working on.

The other week I dropped in to see one of my new favorite galleries, General Hardware Contemporary, in Parkdale. Not only was owner Niki Dracos super friendly, happily accompanying me in my rush around the gallery (I was late for a talk at Art Toronto) but I was really impressed by the work.

Paintings by Anahita Rezvani-Rad. All images: VoCA

R.M. Vaughn is right, in his Globe and Mail review, that we don’t see these kinds of shows often enough in Toronto and when we do, it’s with relief to those of us who deplore the art scene’s typical back-patting. As Vaughn points out, what makes it so vital is that it is work “seen through the eyes of artists experiencing displacement (internal or geographic) from their homelands.”

Below is a photo essay of some of the best works in the show, in my opinion. Click HERE to read an essay by curator/artist Matthew Carver. And hurry if you want to see it – it closes Saturday, November 12.

These small paintings by Anahita Rezvani-Rad are simple enough, but their subject matter (Iran’s green revolution) together with their presentation in a kind of film strip perfectly alludes to the media through which we receive the images. All of which is at odds with the precision with which they are painted.

Maggot Paintings by Christian Gozenbach.

A detail.

Would you believe me if I told you that the beautiful paintings above – Christian Gozenbach‘s Maggot Paintings – are made by dipping live maggots in ink and having them drag themselves around – slowly dying, presumably apparently the ink does not hurt them – inside a sort of fenced in area on the paper, created by the artist to resemble a Rorschach ink blot? These works are harsh, and brilliant.

Josephine Turalba, Manhattan Reloaded – Red Bullet Dress

A detail.

This traditional Phillipine-style  dress by Phillipine artist Turalba is made from bullet casings. The artist’s father was apparently violently killed, which may have been the reason for her use of the medium, but if you look closely you can see small falling men cut out from the centre of the garment, reminding us, of course of the famous image of a body falling from the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. And of the relationships between (and effects on) both victims and perpetrators of violence.

Christian Gozenbach, A Hunter’s Collection, Sony, 2005, 24×30 in.

A close up.

Sophie Baker, A Long Time Ago/and Later Still, 2011, oil on canvas, 48×59 in.

One of Canada’s most important collections of vintage and modern photography will go on view at the University of Toronto Art Centre in the new year.

Peter Henry Emerson. A Stiff Pull, ca. 1886, photomechanical process, photogravure. Image:utac.utoronto.ca

The Malcolmson Collection, which I can tell you is a spectacular, very special selection of rare photographs,  is comprised of work dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the present and includes work by Gustave Le Gray, Eugene Atget, Man Ray and many others.

A Man Ray photograph from the Malcolmson Collection. Image:meandmymamiya.com

The exhibition, which will feature selections from the collection, is curated by Heather Diack to examine the relationships “that are created between individuals and photographs and between individuals within photographs.”

On top of that, it’s good to think about the earliest days of photography, long before digital processes and consider all that was involved for these artists to capture an image. There was a connection to the experience and an artistry that we just don’t see as much anymore. It’s as if they were in awe of their subject, and I guess they were. Today technology allows us to dominate nature – you can see it everywhere in contemporary art. I wonder what the effects of this will be. What would McLuhan say?

In any case, this should certainly be a show worth seeing. More information is HERE.

I stopped by the studio of young painter Rob Davidovitz the other afternoon. Rob doesn’t paint in the traditional sense, though. Instead he uses paint to create these textile/painting hybrids.

A woven painting by Rob Davidovitz. All images: VoCA

He mixes paint colours in a kind of pastry tube (more on that below) and squeezes it out in long lines, like thread. Each ‘thread’ incorporates its own mix of colour that blends nicely in the final piece.They he lets the paint dry and weaves the strips, which he attaches to board. Pretty simple.

Another view.

The work may not be terribly mature (yet) -  he’s a young guy, but it’s beautiful, and an interesting approach when you consider other artists who have used paint in a sculptural way – I’m thinking of Kim Dorland‘s earlier work, for one. It’s also interesting that Davidovitz cites the poured paint sculptures of feminist artist Lynda Benglis as an influence. His woven paintings do come off as strangely feminist, meaning that one can comfortably view them through the lens of feminist art–weaving being a traditionally ‘feminine’ craft.

The works are seductive – Davidovitz encourages you to touch and bend them; they’re not delicate.

The back of the work. The paint is glued to the board.

Davidovitz went to art school with plans to be a photographer. Believe it or not, he was working in a bakery, making a cake when he came up with the idea of pushing paint through a piping bag. Shortly thereafter he began experimenting, and eventually perfected the technique..

Three smaller finished works.

Are the works paintings or textiles? “I weave paint,” says Davidovitz. He’s been showing here and there (including at Toronto’s Textile Museum) since he graduated in 2005 and is currently preparing for a group show titled Hard Twist at the Gladstone Hotel which opens on November 25th. The exhibition, all textile-based work by 40 artists, will feature his largest work to date, an enormous piece that weighs over two hundred pounds and involved over twenty gallons of paint to create.

This is good – he should be encouraged to think big and beyond, the way Benglis does.

The artist with a single strand from his Gladstone Hotel piece.

Some small strands.

The weaving process.

An early, experimental work.