In Case You're Wondering...

Sometimes, we might think that there is a fine line between art and craft. My take on it is if you do something crafty, make one or two things, paste a few baubles here and there, splatter some paint on some barn board or turn your palette or paint smock into something to hang on your wall, it, as in one, may very well be craft.

However, do it over and over again, refining your technique each time, thinking of new ways to Épater la bourgeoisie do your craft ten or twenty, do it one hundred times, and then surely, it is art.

Some of these artful SCULZ will be on display starting Saturday, October 22/11 at Gypsy&Co Vintage Boutique and Cafe, 209 Gilmour Street at Elgin in Ottawa, Canada. The shop is open from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm and Halloween is the shop owner's favourite time of the year so look for an arresting decor as we edge closer to that most hallowed of evenings.

As Seen in On-line News Magazine, True North Perspective

By Shannon Lee Mannion

Contributing Editor

True North Perspective

Thursday, October 6, 2011 saw art by 17 contemporary artists displayed at Patrick John Mills Gallery, 286 Hinchey Ave., in Hintonburg, Ottawa. The theme is I Killed the Group of Seven and it runs until October 29, 2011.

In a call-for-art paragraph describing what sort of art he was looking for, gallery owner/curator Patrick John Mills wrote:

Artists who are bored with safe, traditional landscapes, tired of happy flower paintings, and same old colourful commercial crap art ... Artists who push art in a new direction: fresh ideas, cutting edge, think-outside-the-box, non-conformist ... will be showing their art in this show.

Among the artists present are two Montrealers, Mathieu Laca and Graeme Welch, absolutely contemporary as in NOW art, and absolutely different styles.

Laca is all brush and gush and over-the-top bold with slashing strokes, bright colours and sexually-charged themes while Welch is a figure painter, nonpareil , who handles his large canvasses with wit and aplomb.

 

These painters are two of the Patrick John Mills Gallery mainstay artists who show avant-guard work rooted in this millennium.

Patrick John Mills Gallery presents an eclectic mix of art with a new show each month.

Additionally, there is a wonderful Sculpture Garden, the only one in Ottawa, in the yard beside the gallery building.

Meanwhile, there are two recent artists' work adorning the gallery walls, some spectacular still-lifes by octogenarian, Ted Zuber, and several whimsical collages and paintings by James Boyd (1928-2002).

 

The show, I Killed the Group of Seven, runs until the end of the month, at which point, Patrick John Mills will host his own solo show.

ARTIST P.GREENE: Walking in Someone Else s Shoes

ARTIST P.GREENE: Walking in Someone Else s Shoes: Photo by: Patrick S. Greene Walking in Someone Else s Shoes The concept of walking in some else s shoes never appealed to me in t...

In-SCULZ-ation

Or inskullation. Most of us work with a variety of tools, materials and methods to create an inimitable style of art. Some of our techniques, we have down pat. We know what paint and brush to use for what medium in order to show detail, depth and definition.

For the past month, I have been working with plastic skulls, pretty well human head size. Getting paint to adhere, plus the application of baubles, rubber, glass, bits of plastic, cloth, metal, wood...whatever I find in my studio that I think might suit, has been an ongoing challenge.

Today's adventure was to create an entry wound on one side of the head and the exit on the other. I started with two fake wounds made of rubber. These were not flat but 3D. An affixing headache.

I determined fairly early that contact cement was not going to work. It would not stick rubber to cement, and worse, when I lifted the rubber from the plastic, it took the pink paint with it.

An all-purpose glue, Weldbond, seems to be holding the wounds in place. In order to create a seamless effect, pink plasticine has been smoothed around the edges, light pink for the entry and darker for the exit. Both subsequently will be sprayed the same colour as the skull which will be the next challenge, will the paint stick to the plasticine.

When I get the actual in -SCULZ-ation completed, perhaps tomorrow, I will post the finished project.

I have created ten SCULZ and will do at least ten more before the week of Halloween as these will be on display at various Ottawa venues. One has already been taken to Brighton, England and another is residing in Kingston.

SCULZ away!

Countering Chaos: Lorena Ziraldo “Kills” with Emotion

Delicate, sophisticated, penetrating: these three adjectives accurately describe the work of Ottawa-based artist Lorena Ziraldo. Many of the works featured in “I Killed the Group of Seven” attack the exhibition’s theme head on and in a very literal, “in your face” manner. Ziraldo, on the other hand, tackles the theme with quiet technical sophistication. Her prime focus is on brushwork and colour placement. The result is a tender and thoughtful work of art that touches and inspires its viewer. 

Lorena Ziraldo, Sorry I Missed You, I Was at the Gallery

Ziraldo is inspired by people. She watches them, takes photographs, reads magazines and newspapers, and chooses the images that have the greatest emotional impact. She combines this inspiration with the formal and technical qualities one sees present in her paintings. In this sense, her paintings often tell a quiet and unassuming story rooted in human emotion. For example, her work, Sorry I Missed You, I was at the Gallery (featured in this month’s exhibition, “I Killed the Group of Seven”) mediates a relationship between the art world and personal, emotional narrative. The work focuses on the back of a lone man standing in front of a beautiful painterly interpretation of a Warhol silkscreen. Ziraldo has captured a seemingly mundane scene but her skillful rendering of the figure tells a complex and emotional tale. The viewer must question; why is this man enjoying the art alone? The simulated gallery space in this work becomes a quiet space for private contemplation and the presence of the figure removes the work from the crazy, chaotic, and ever-changing contemporary art world. The viewer is left to reflect on the story behind the figure, whose face we cannot see. The impact of human emotion is a question that Ziraldo frequently concerns herself with. In fact, when she prepares a scene to paint she will often stage it herself. “[I] will place people, [will] want them to wear certain items, ask for emotions, subtle shifts of their bodies, etc.

“Painting and drawing,” Ziraldo states, “is something that I have always done. Painting sort of chose me.” There really is no method to her artistic process. Ziraldo allows herself to become inspired by the images she creates and captures in the world and will often paint the same image in many different ways before she stumbles across the finished product. She believes that the artist’s role in society is to document, comment on, and explore the world around her. “Whether [the artist uses] film or found garbage – we are all saying something about who we are, what is going on, and what it is to be.” Ziraldo’s self portrait, titled C, in our current exhibition aptly reflects this idea of how she views the artist in society. It is a beautiful and colourful rendering of her self-image that penetrates the viewer with a tranquil sense of purpose and confidence. She presents herself to her audience in the exact manner she wishes to be seen – as an emotional and quiet observer of the world around her. This painting is simply breathtaking in its subtlety.

Lorena Ziraldo, C

Ziraldo’s works balance the chaos and blatantly murderous themes represented by many of the other works in the show. Ziraldo successfully “kills” the Group of Seven by attending to emotional impact rather than the landscape. Her focus is on the emotions of people out in the world, something she captures with sophisticated elegance and raw painterly talent.

In a world preoccupied with a consumerist and political agenda, it is refreshing to find an artist who takes genuine pleasure in human emotions. It is a further pleasure to witness an artist that renders such emotion with enough elegance and sophistication to tenderly stir her audience.