In his fourth solo exhibition with Madrona Gallery, Toronto-based artist Sean Yelland aims to make the viewer look twice at urban settings.
Running Feb. 24 to March 8, Yelland’s exhibit The Long Way Home finds the beauty in mundane settings, but also looks at them through a lens of voyeurism. His scenes border on the uncanny; these places should be full of action but instead are quiet and still. Without the comfort of the expected, the viewer is left to confront ideas of place, community and identity.
Working from photographs, Yelland then paints over each piece. His style uses saturated colours, intensified lighting and reflections that allow for multiple viewpoints in a single image.
Visitors have the chance to meet Yelland at the opening reception on Feb. 24, running from 1 to 3 p.m.
Visit madronagallery.com for more.
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From Feb. 3-15 at West End Gallery, Grant Leier’s exhibit If You Know, You Know celebrates relationships and shared creativity.
Leier uses the canvas as a dialogue between himself and his partner, Nixie Barton. The couple share their Nanaimo kitchen as their art studio, and the space comes to life with their exchanged passion for art and Barton’s candid observations (“You’re screwing it up, Grant!”), creating a comedic atmosphere from which both of their talents flourish.
Leier explores a visual representation of their love; the pieces show expressions of their shared language of spirited debates and loving discussions.
From Feb. 24 to March 7, West End Gallery will display David Graff’s exhibit Elements Converge, his latest collection of new, abstracted landscape paintings.
Graff’s artistic journey started in the late ’80s as a singer/songwriter in Los Angeles. He expanded into visual arts in 1994, with a focus on interior design and faux-finishing in high-end residential and commercial projects. In 2001, he won an Interior Design Institute Award and by 2002, he switched to paintings and 3D works.
His dramatic mixed-media paintings include a combination of metallic leaf, transparent colour glazes and high-sheen resin, reflecting the natural world that surrounds him on Bowen Island.
Visit westendgalleryltd.com for more.
Cindy Revell’s imagination and a diploma in graphic design led her to illustrate books all across North America. Her oil paintings will be on display at The Avenue Gallery this month, featuring flowers, creatures and patterns all coming together into vibrant worlds on the canvas.
Also at The Avenue Gallery will be the work of Carolyn Houg, whose playful sculptures celebrate interconnectedness with nature and among humans.
Though Houg has worked in oils, acrylic, water media monoprinting and concrete, this exhibition features her clay animals and figures.
“My goal is to make people smile and feel a caring connection with the animals and birds that surround us and those that are endangered in other parts of the world,” Houg said.
Houg, who has won Best 3D Award at the Sidney Fine Art Show, is not afraid to put her sculpture subjects in unlikely situations. Think of birds riding when they can fly, or polar bears sailing when they can swim. In Houg’s words, the purpose is to make the viewer consider “all we have in common with our fellow creatures”.
Calgary-based artist Becky Holuk’s paintings often draw inspiration from the natural, majestic beauty of the Alberta Foothills, Canadian Rockies and the West Coast. After working full-time in the field of graphic design and illustration for 10 years, Holuk now primarily focuses on acrylic paint on canvas.
See Holuk’s work at The Avenue Gallery this month.
Visit theavenuegallery.com for more.
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Selected works of photographer Kali Spitzer are on display in an exhibit titled Bodies of, Bodies Within presented at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria running until March 17.
The collection features tintype photography from her series An Exploration of Resilience and Resistance and 35mm film photography from her Our Bodies series. Through visual storytelling, this collection embraces the stories of contemporary BIPOC, queer and trans bodies in a self-determined representation, meaning Spitzer works together with her collaborators (she avoids calling them subjects) to create the final image.
On her father’s side, Spitzer is Kaska Dena from Daylu (Lower Post, B.C.) and on her mother’s side, she is Jewish from Transylvania, Romania. Spitzer has spoken to the fact that her ancestors, and the ancestors in many cultures, have had a difficult relationship with photography due to its past of being used as a violent colonial tool for state documentation and controlling historical narratives.
Spitzer creates a new narrative, laying bare each person’s story visually with trust and vulnerability.
For more information, visit aggv.ca.
