BOUNDLESS QUESTIONS

photo of fibre/string based installation
Sunday, February 11, 2018 - 2:00pm

BOUNDLESS QUESTIONS | Sunday, February 11, 2018 | 2 PM | FREE
Through their distinctive vision and creative processes, artists can carve out a space to ask the most difficult questions and explore our deepest fears. The anxiety of facing death and the unknown are at the core of human experience, leaving profound marks on the ways in which we construct our reality and shape society, politics and culture. In a conversation moderated by psychoanalyst Dr. David Dorenbaum, visual artists Nicole Collins, Erika DeFreitas and Tim Whiten discuss the role art plays as they grapple with these questions and their psychological weight. Seating is limited. RSVP required.

http://kofflerarts.org/exhibitions/2017/09/07/nicole-collins-furthest-boundless/

January 18 – March 18, 2018
Koffler Gallery
Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street
Curator: Mona Filip

In a major, new mixed media installation complemented by a series of recent paintings, Toronto artist Nicole Collins delves into the emotional territory of loss as she explores the human struggle between grief and acceptance, gravity and grace.

Developed for the Koffler Gallery, Furthest Boundless is inspired by two concepts of Ancient Greek philosophy: Aphelion – the point on the orbit of a celestial body that is furthest from the sun – and Apeiron – the boundless, the origin for all that is. At the centre of the installation, a monumental deconstructed painting built out of woven and knotted nets of materials, pigments and wax faces a delicate video that responds with ephemeral movement to its static presence. The immersive environment is completed by an atmospheric sound piece based on traditional shape-note singing.

Driven by an impulse to repair, Collins’ visceral paintings attempt to suture, layer and preserve the damaged. This new work further strives to dismantle and reconfigure the painted surface, pushing against the physical limits of materials lifted from stretchers and sculpturally re-envisioned. Engaging the potent vocabulary of the colour black, Collins evokes the accumulation of all colours, the darkest shadows, the burnt remains, the fertile soil, creating poignant works that consider both frailty and resilience. Holes, rips and indentations in the fabrics create permeable layers that disperse yet hold together the whole, materializing absences.

Through painting, video and sound, Furthest Boundless articulates a personal response to a universal experience, reflecting a collective search for meaning in loss.

Artwork courtesy of the artist and General Hardware Contemporary

Venue & Address: 
Koffler Gallery Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street Toronto, ON
Website: 
http://kofflerarts.org/public-programs-events/2018/01/24/boundless-questions/
Cost: 
Seating is limited. RSVP required.