Cari Cohen

Totem light . Mixed media on wood with LED light

2022

This painting by Linda King Ferguson is part of her equivalence series, which began as a feminist project; works that subvert the historically male gaze and a material language speaking of gendered concerns. While typically, King Ferguson paints both sides of the canvas and cuts a flap on the the frontside to reveal the color of the back of the canvas, she unexpectedly does the opposite here. The painting is hung from the "frontside" of the canvas, revealing to us the raw edges of her linen canvas, stapled to the stretchers. Two oblong shapes of pink and red dominate the center of the painting. A thin semioval cut has been made inside of both of these shapes. Her color choices first came from Helen Molesworth’s essay, Painting With Ambivalence, published in WACK! Art of the Feminist Revolution. The Essay includes a large reproduction of Mary Heilmann’s 1979 painting...

"Maybe" is an abstract artwork by Stan Olthuis composed of acrylic paint on polystyrene mounted in a painted wood frame. Maybe measures 26" high by 30" wide by 2.5" deep. Typical of the artist, this minimal geometric abstraction resonates with a rich charge. It's a sculpture and a painting. The circles, the discs, almost touch but not quite. The artist's obsession with geometry and shapes in proximity is a clear gesture here. The eye delights in the formal play of shape and color, while the mind engages the material force of the wood and paint. From Stan Olthuis – "My work has always involved tactility and expressionistic energy. I visualize the story and imagery simultaneously, allowing the work to surprise me and come to life as I work. I am almost careless in how I use color and texture, facing the fear of improvising on-the-fly. I like to leave the obvious raw record of the process visible, but I believe a mystery remains." Stan Olthuis looks for expressive opportunities in found and harvested raw material – wood, stone, metal, rubber – and brings a fabricator's expertise to the work of making minimalist, joyful sculptures. Geometry is key, as are a sense of play and an adept's feel for sacred energies. His work is exhibited and collected internationally, including private and corporate commissions in Canada, United States, France, Japan and Norway. Stan is represented by Gagné Contemporary in Toronto and New York City, and has select works available through the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), and Motokawa Gallery in Japan. Stan Olthuis' formal education began in Chicago with Henk Krijger, the celebrated master printmaker, type designer, painter and sculptor. Back in Toronto, Olthuis graduated (with distinction) with a degree in Experimental Arts at Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD), studying under artists Fred Hagen, Tom Hodgson...