Arms Race Catharine MacTavish

catharine mactavish arms race 1984 detail

I visited the Art Gallery of Ontario last week.
The most interesting piece for me was this painting by Toronto artist Catherine MacTavish.
I liked the scale of it.
I liked the layers of acrylic paint over and under beads.
I liked the slashes that are used as if drawn marks.

catharine mactavish arms race 1984 acrylic, glass and plastic beads, metal grommets

The painting dates from the mid 80's and I assume that the title refers to the nuclear arms race of that period of history.

The bead-marks are intuitive yet obsessive.  They attract yet repulse.
I yearn to touch them, even pick at them but they look as if they might rub away.

I'm afraid of that.

catharine mactavish arms race collection of Art Gallery of Ontario

It's white like a piece of paper, only extra large.
A cosmic scale.

arms race detail of acrylic and bead painting by Catherine MacTavish

It's hard to find information about this artist but there are several paragraphs on the Paul Petro gallery web site - here and here.

From these I learned that Catharine MacTavish studied at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and then at York University in Toronto during the early 70's and that she then exhibited at both artist-run and public galleries.  I learned that her work is included in important public collections, (the Canada Council Art Bank and the AGO) and that she acquired a Masters degree in 2005.  I learned that although she removed herself from the art scene during the late 80's she continued to make art.

"Each piece entails a slow conceptual and technical percolation, she produces one dense painting every two or three years."  Paul Petro. 

Judith and Sheila and bundles, oh my

Judith Scott  Untitled

 

This post is about two exhibitions I viewed at the end of October 2017 during a visit to Toronto.
First:  Judith Scott at Oakville Galleries

I admire this artist's exploration of wrapped form.
This exhibition satisfies as the maze of large plinths display the work well and invite the viewer to come close to the pieces.  A chart on the wall of their drawn outlines informs us that they are all named  "untitled" and were made between 1991 and 2004, the year before Judith Scott passed away.

 This one reminds me of a book wrapped shut.

 

My body understands these objects better than my mind does.  When I look at them, my arms feel the familiar gesture of wrapping, repetitive and large, a healing motion that carefully covers something mysterious with threads.  It all makes me feel better.
The exhibition  of Judith Scott's bundles continues until the end of this year.

Sheila Hicks    Perpetual Migration 

 Sheila Hicks Material Voices was on show at the Textile Museum of Canada.
Again - wrapped forms.  These tall narrow bundles are bamboo wrapped with cotton, wool, metal wire, linen and coins and are a small section of Sheila Hicks' large installation from 2015's Art Basel which dwarfed viewers at 14 feet x 40 feet.

Lares and Penates
1990 - 2013  Sheila Hicks
Wrapped Memories
This method of displaying small circular bundles across a wall is very inspiring.

The textile museum has audio clips of Sheila Hicks speaking about her work throughout the gallery.
Her voice as so full of joy.  You can hear her passion about the materials she explores.

Mandan Shrine 2016
Linen, cotton and synthetic, Sheila Hicks
This piece uses 'pony - tails- her own method. The artist puts long pieces of soft linen threads together and then binds them tightly and neatly with bright threads.

Dotted here and there within this exhibition of large sculptural pieces, are some of Sheila Hicks' miniatures,  woven experiments that she has continued doing for her entire career. (50 years).  The two shown here are very recent.  A book devoted to this body of small works is precious.
Above,  Sentinel des Sentiments 2016
Below,  Cour de Rohon 2015

Say yes before saying no.
Include rather than ignore and exclude 
Always carry a pencil, paper and camera.' 

Sheila Hicks

This beautiful exhibition is on view at the textile museum of Canada until February 5 2017

Sati Zech

 When I started to use the internet as a research tool, I came across the work of Sati Zech.

A 2006 exhibition of her red and white bollenarbeit series excited many art lovers.

The rounded shapes refer to the rounded hills of her childhood landscape in southern Germany. Currently, the artist resides and works in Berlin.

 This beautiful white space is the Heidelberg gallery that held that important 2006 exhibition.

Sati Zech also works with black vinyl. The wall piece above is large, nearly 160 inches wide.

New work is in rawhide and uses the motife of repeated circles.  (2014)

In 2010, Zeck participated in a resdency in California.  James Chute interviewed her and the following quotes are from his article in the June 27 San Diego Union Tribune.

“I don’t want to have any contact with quilts,” exclaimed Zeck, whose English is salted with a pronounced German accent. “I never thought about quilts. I don’t want to make quilts. I have nothing to do with it.”  The only parallels between Zech’s work and most quilts is they both involve fabric.  Both also have the function of providing warmth. Of course, you have to pull a quilt over you for that to happen. With Zech’s larger pieces, you stand in front of her strange, hypnotic red shapes and layered canvasses and your temperature starts to rise.

“You can see, I’m not a drawer; I’m not really a painter. I’m a sculptor. I’m not really interested in color. I use color to show energy, that’s why my work is warm.”   Most of all, she’s intrigued by the “language beyond normal language,” how people reach out, cope and connect beyond mere speech.  “What happens when the normal language stops and you are in a crisis in your life?” she asked. “You are in really deep trouble, then you use other languages.

“I traveled and worked for 10 years in Africa, and for me this was very important because I found the same experience, that people don’t trust what you are telling. They don’t trust your words but they trust your body, they trust how you move, the way you look into my eyes, much more than the words.”   “The color red, I don’t use it as a color, it’s more like a statement, more like reminiscent to Africa. I never thought about it, but I’ve always lived in cities, and I think it’s reminiscent of the warmth, the heat and the energy of Africa, and the empathy between the people."

click here to read the complete article

More about this artist over on modernist aesthetic.