West End Gallery kicks off a gilded start to 2022 with a mixed-media artist using metallic leaf, glazes and resin.
David Graff’s circuitous, but creative journey began with a burgeoning career as a singer/songwriter, including a stint as a writer/recording artist in Los Angeles in the late ’80s.
The urge to expand into the visual arts led to his own faux-finishing company in 1994 that saw success with sought-after work on high-end residential and commercial projects in Los Angeles, Vancouver, Hong Kong, and China. His work on the lobby of the Wilshire Grand in L.A. won an Interior Design Institute Award in 2001.
In 2002, Graff began his Gilded Series of paintings and three-dimensional works by applying many of the processes and techniques used for large scale installations on walls, floors, and ceilings to canvas and wood panels. The combination of metallic leaf, colour glazes and high-sheen resin saw him quickly gain representation by numerous galleries in Canada and the U.S. Graff’s work is held in private and corporate collections around the world and can be seen in movies, television shows and magazines. Find his work locally at Victoria’s West End Gallery.
Visit westendgalleryltd.com for more.
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Madrona Gallery presents its fifth year of Pulp and Process this month.
The group exhibition features artists from across Canada working in drawing, watercolour, pastel, photography and collage to highlight the diversity of paper as a medium. Featured artists include Luke Ramsey, Meghan Hildebrand, David Ellingsen, Hashim Hannoon, Harry Stanbridge and Megan Dietrich.
For further details on the exhibition and hours visit madronagallery.com.
The Avenue Gallery kicks off the year with feature artist Marianne Meyer through Jan. 12.
Meyer’s work is always changing, she said, which gives her the pleasure to experiment and to move forward.
“I work and re-work my paintings until I reach the point when I feel that they express just the right amount of layering, structure and depth. The final colour constellations invite the viewer to find their own personal experience of my pieces,” she said. “I believe that that’s what art should do.”
An exhibit featuring Linda Wilder follows, running Jan. 13 through 20.
With intuitive energy and the use of bold strokes, light and texture, Wilder strives to capture the mood and emotion of her environment. Her paintings appear vividly representational, but upon closer inspection, one can see the intimate nuances and abstract tendencies which elevate and enrich her work.
Glass blower Lisa Samphire will also be on display.
Samphire has produced a diverse body of work over 35 years, including private and public, sculptural and functional pieces.
“Glass is the medium I have chosen to express and explore my interests in making art. It is the resolution of interrelated aesthetic and technical problems that makes glass an exciting and challenging medium in which to work,” Samphire said.
In 2008, she had four pieces acquisitioned by the Federal Government of Canada for its Visual Arts Collection. The following year, her work was selected to represent Canada at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea. Samphire has been recognized and applauded for her work, receiving numerous awards scholarships, teaching appointments and commissions.
Visit theavenuegallery.com for more details.
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The Chapel Gallery showcases Once for a While, the works of Chrystal Phan, in her debut solo exhibition Jan. 21 through Feb. 6, with an artist talk set for Jan. 21 at 5:30 p.m.
Phan is a storyteller. Her paintings document some aspects of the Vietnamese-Canadian immigration experience and the tales she tells through her work are based on versions heard from family and friends, embellished by her own imagination.
In this showcase, she arranges her cast of characters on canvases as large as six by eight feet. The actors are captured in everyday scenarios such as camping, biking and sharing food.
Each of the paintings tells a bittersweet story about the challenges of assimilation into Canadian culture. Camping, for example, recalls the story of a Vietnamese family taking a deep fat fryer on a wilderness adventure.
Visit the Chapel Gallery, 600 Richmond Ave. or learn more online at artopenings.ca.
Provincial COVID-19 health measures are in effect at all galleries.
