May 04, 2001 - June 03, 2001
This exhibition brings together the work of seven artists sharing a fascination with portraiture. From high realism to pure abstraction, each employs a unique technique and particular aesthetic in examining their subjects. Although unified by a central theme, Human Remains is designed to accentuate the multitude of observations and derivations that can be made on the common portrait.
Curated by: Bill Huffman
Artists: Selina Mullins -- Patrick Decoste
-- Ida Fong -- Pascal Paquette -- Kim Tomczak -- Aimie Tolton -- Mercedes
Cueto -- Patrizia Durisotti -- Paolo Ravalico Scerri
Patrick Decoste and Mercedes Cueto become the bookends of this
exhibition by providing our commencement and our finale. With the skill of a
classical painter, Decoste creates moody and sensual works that bear more than
a hint of the Renaissance grotesque. In a self-portrait and in his renderings
of two close friends, Decoste reinvents and updates an age-old painting
tradition. By contrast, Cueto employs a highly contemporary photo transfer
process to introduce us, to her brother. She enlarges and manipulates his
handwriting in order to create a series of ultimately abstract and organic yet
highly personal works.
Filling in some of volumes and stories in-between is Kim Tomczak, Aimie
Tolton and Selina Mullins -- each presenting photographs that collectively
exhibit a remarkable range of approaches. Tomczak gives us a survey of head
shots portraying notable artists, writers and cultural critics alongside close
friends and family members. Despite the languid almost bored poses of all
Tomczak's subjects, revealed to the viewer, are the specific qualities and
characteristics of each of his sitters.
In an intimate installation of six discrete photographs, Mullins
documents the goings-on in her household. Created several years earlier, these
sensitive expressions provide a window onto her personal domesticity.
Cinderella, Snow White and the Virgin Mary are the iconic subjects of Tolton's
photographic work. Using colleagues as models, Tolton stages a contemporary
and gritty production showcasing the not-so-public lives of this trio.
Ida Fong and Pascal Paquette create the ultimate works of fiction with
their highly stylized and media inspired pieces. Fong's self portraits are
rendered using complex computer technology and digital print output. Fusing
text and manipulated imagery Fong uses desktop publishing techniques to make
very public what is intensely personal and private. Paquette is fascinated by
media images of contemporary youth especially those depicted in fashion
advertising. His painting technique distils the original photographs into
monochromatic compositions articulating only essential detail. His destruction
of the media stylization becomes itself the ultimate style.
Completing our visual encyclopedia of contemporary portraiture is Paolo
Ravalico Scerri and Patrizia Durisotti. Both examine the universal issues
through two intimate, self-reflective and very idiosyncratic works. Scerri
presents a video designed to explore the true nature of aggression and
violence. Using himself as the actor, Scerri, in a series of slow-motion
lunges, lashes out at the viewer with a small weapon. Finally, after several
minutes of this accosting he bizarrely dies, seemingly a victim of his own
physical threats -- raising questions of who really wins or loses in the
battle field. Durisotti fuses the ancient techniques of encaustic painting and
wood carving with contemporary images of the female ideal. Drawing with
charcoal onto the skin-like wax surface she creates her stylized self -- a
rendition that is more akin to Japanese anime than traditional painting or
relief.
At the same time that Human Remains pays homage to the history of
portraiture, it also deconstructs our expectations of that portrait-making
tradition. The exhibition is a visual survey of representation articulated
through the eyes and hands of a contemporary generation.
HUMAN REMAINS / RESTES HUMAIN Artists'
Biographical Information
Mercedes Cueto is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and
Design in Toronto, Canada. Cueto's work is inspired by personal reflection and
nostalgia. Her themes and process are influenced by the work of Christian
Boltanski and Robert Rauschenberg. Cueto lives and works in Sudbury, Canada.
Patrick Decoste is a Toronto, Canada based artist originally from
Nova Scotia. His largely figurative work is charged with eroticism and the
grotesque while maintaining a serenity that is reminiscent of Italian
Renaissance painting. Decoste is currently represented by SPIN Gallery in
Toronto, and has a solo exhibition at the gallery scheduled for July 2001.
Patrizia Durisotti: Encaustic on scarred wood has been a medium
through which the artist has explored herself and the world around her. A
medium she has experimented with since her student years in the Visual Arts
Program at York University. Her fascination with personal and social
boundaries motivates her to search for answers from places deeply rooted in
society. After her 1996 solo exhibition, Durisotti went on to study video and
multimedia.
Ida Fong: Born in Toronto, Fong has worked with numerous
arts-related publications and organizations, and is involved in the
not-for-profit arts sector. Fong has experimented mainly with mixed media work
constructed from found objects, photographs, film, wood, acrylic, paper and
vinyl. In her work Fong tries to capture raw human emotion inviting the viewer
to rediscover old emotions while experimenting with new ones.
Selina Mullins is a graduate of the School of Crafts and Design
at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. Mullins explores the theme of
transformation -- both personal and universal -- through installation,
photography, poetry and the body itself. Her massage therapy and energy
medicine practice and the coordination of innovative community projects,
allows her to creatively integrate new fields for transformation without
drawing a line between the artistic and the pragmatic. Mullins lives and works
in Sudbury, Canada.
Pascal Paquette uncovers personalities through simplicity in his
urban subjects. Fusing references to music, film, photography and digital
media, he delivers visual samples of contemporary culture. Paquette works with
photographs or magazine images, digitally distilling emotion from his
subjects. Born in Hawkesbury, Ontario, Paquette relocated to Toronto from
Ottawa-Hull in 1999. He studied fine art throughout his education and trained
in the mid-90s in applied arts at La Cite Collegial in Ottawa.
Aimie Tolton is a graduate of the Art and Art History Program at
the University of Toronto. Tolton's photographic work is influenced by popular
culture and by literary and religious characterizations. Originally from
Walker ton, Ontario, she relocated to Oakville, Ontario in 1997 where she
currently lives and works.
Kim Tomczak is a multidisciplinary artist primarily know for his
work in performance, photography and video. Born in Victoria, British Columbia
in 1952 he graduated with honors from the Vancouver School of Art (now the
Emily Carr College) in 1975. In 1982, he became a founding director of Vtape,
a national information and distribution service for independent video artists.
Tomczak is currently the president of the Toronto Arts Council and he is also
on the executive of the Audio-Visual Heritage Trust of Canada.
Paulo Rivalico Scerri lives and works in Trieste, Italy. He uses
video to narrate excerpts of reality by manipulating footage -- freezing
frames, repeating sequences and slow-motion effects. His images concentrate on
the notion of movement, gesture and thought. The medium of video becomes a
container of ideas where Scerri becomes the subject. He also creates
performances that stand-alone or compliment his video pieces.
