The Good, and the well? Not so good

So  I chanced into my second adventure with the AGO'S presentation of MOMA'S ABEX collection. For some reason my feelings have not changed. Before I rant on about the work that both moved me and made me feel completely inadequate as an Artist, after my first visit I wanted to go home and burn my brushes , I would like to discuss the two items in the exhibit that I found missing appropriate treatment.
When an opportunity comes to ones' mind and eye to present to the community a collection of Art that is as poignantly definitive of a place and time such as post war America, one must consider every detail with the eye of the Artists themselves. There is a heavy handed ego in place if this process is not given the sensitivity so deserving.
I handed over my ticket to the young lady standing guard over the gates to heaven, and found purgatory. The first room that presents the works of Arshile Gorky and Adolph Gottlieb is not a room but a corridor. The first time I visited the exhibit was on a Sunday, the galleries were packed with wanting eyes. This corridor was like negotiating an urban highway during rush hour. Lots of bumping, very little seeing. The second time I went was on a Tuesday, the population was moderate. yet still I could not give the work the view both it and I deserved.
Let's move on to the second room. If one wants to enjoy the large and exciting works of De Kooning in the comfort of their living room then this room was perfect although missing the divan and fireplace.
Those are the only censures I have of this otherwise bravado exhibit.
I could rant on and on about the work, but I'll let you make up your own mind on that account. Although I was taken rather strongly by the Franz Kline works.

There's Art In My Garden

"There's Art In My Garden" is an annual exhibit featuring both older and newer works in the tranquility of my urban garden.

The Bather

The Bather, Oil On Routered Plywood, 36" x 48" 2011

So there she sits
A hummingbird hums
It doesn't know the words
The lush life grows
Coltrane blows a sad lament
The world is not as it seems
So she cleanses
And the river
And the river
And the river.....

Joy Walker at MKG Gallery

One has few opportunities in this frenzied world to experience serenity, walking into Joy Walker's world is one of them. This kind of meditative expression comes from a being here and now experience. Images such as are displayed in Ms. Walkers "Chanced " exhibit come from an immediate reflection, reminding me of a quote from Jack Kerouac, " First thought best thought...". Chewing for too long can only result in a muddied mess of confusion. The muted colours and faintly suggested shadows take me further into the meditation of relative reality verses ultimate reality, the reality of complete clarity as opposed to the frantic jumble of thoughts that race through the mind every moment of every day. Ms. Walkers images, (all of print process), cut through with definitive certainty. Her exhibit continues at MKG Gallery at 127 Ossington Ave, info@mkg127.com until April 16th.

JJ Lee at Loop Gallery

The story of this exhibit is about a story, a story of collaboration between an Artist and an Author. Ms. Lee was asked to illustrate a childrens' book, to which she accepted with enthusiasm. The story is called The White Tortoise of Ch'u. I won't give away the narrative, only to say it is certainly a story I would have read to my daughter when she was a child.
I found myself making up my own story as I walked through the exhibit. JJ's adept and childlike imagery makes it very readable. The Tortoise as in any myth is presented with several obstacles of evil to overcome, and is in the end successful in doing good and is rewarded with the knowledge of it's good deed.
The technique she uses is not the slick dineyesque imagery that seems to be often utilized in a child's story. Her approach comes from the subconscious using layers of transparent paint, ink drawing and collage, which adds a depth not usually seen in a bed time story book, and maintaining a dream like quality.
There are some of the works that really stand out for me, and do work individually. I would though find it hard to steal a part of the story and leave a piece missing from the tale, which just might make for another story itself.

Madame Morphine

This is the second piece in a new series called In The Garden Of... It is rather new for me in that I am not just digging into the plywood with my router but I am also adding to the surface. The figure is water colour on 300lb water colour paper. Again it is on the larger side at 36" x 48"

Pat Dumas - Hudecki

PAT DUMAS-HUDECKI

Bearing Witness: Totems Of Communication, Propeller Centre For The  Visual Arts       

There are many visual objects in our daily lives that simply blend in to the background without jolting our consciousness at all. It is one of these objects that are so adeptly expressed in this exhibit. The hydro pole, not the newer very slick concrete poles that are now used, but the old wooden poles of days gone by. You know, the poles that still occupy much of the urban landscape, often plastered with announcement bills stapled to their coarsely hewn skins. In fact it is the random peppering of these staples that occupies much of the aesthetic of Pat's tableaus. She uses a mixed media photo process which lends itself well to her subject matter.With a little tongue in cheek she has taken the poles out of the urban setting and placed them in Group Of 7 and Emily Carr settings. Her pictorial representations show them not only as a functioning hanger to carry electricity, but also as a place of rest for natural phenomena, birds, snow and ice. She depicts them as objects of romantic beauty standing stoically in the softness of a moonlit evening. What really steals the show though is an actual, cleverly placed, section of one of these totems to urban function.