Super! Natural!, 2009, oil and acrylic on wood panel, 96 x 144 inches

No rainbows cresting over misty waterfalls.  No soaring peaks at sunset.  Canadian artist Kim Dorland gives us a decisively unsentimental view of nature in his new paintings at Freight + Volume Gallery on West 24th Street in New York’s Chelsea art district.  Cheekily titled “Super! Natural!” after an old Canadian advertising campaign, the show presents landscapes rendered in an almost radioactive palette. Indeed, the riot of colors not only makes the eyes swim, the sheer weight of oil paint applied to the canvases produces a heady, slightly woozy experience.

The scenes which Dorland constructs from these heaps of pigment are not only depictions of landscapes, their very structures feel a bit like topographical maps.  While Dorland’s predilection for the gooey stuff of paint has its precursors—notably the School of London painters Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff—he wears this lineage lightly.  Unlike the steady seriousness with which Auerbach and Kossoff stir their paint, Dorland works with a breezy sense of play.  Alongside copses of conifers executed in several inches of oil, Dorland traces papery thin birch trees with acrylics and spray paint; or squeezes a few glowing globs of paint straight from the tube to suggest a clump of lupins or lilacs.

Sasquatch, 2009, oil and arcylic on wood panel, 96 x 72 inches

In the eight-foot-tall Sasquatch (2009), Dorland conjures a colossal Big Foot, drooling with pink, brown, and orange paint like he’s just snacked on a stack of canvases by Clyfford Still. Dorland has pasted patches of fur on the creature for good measure, and given him a dead hare to grip in his right paw.  Maybe this is dinner, or maybe our misunderstood Sasquatch is just trying to explain a picture to his furry companion, à la Joseph Beuys.

RIP Tom Thomson, 2009, oil and arcylic on wood panel, 96 x 72 inches

In the towering canvas RIP Tom Thomson (2009), as well as his smaller wooded scenes, Dornan scars the tree trunks with phrases ranging from the enigmatic—“The Boy is Lost”—to the decidedly more uncouth.  To some, this scribbling will simply connote a sense of desecration, the violation—yet again—of natural beauty.  Yet Dorland does not seem to be after such a simple environmental polemic.  There is too much beauty here, and that includes the graffiti.

This is nature as it is experienced by people who are surrounded by it, who can admit to once or twice tossing a beer can into a ravine, or proudly carving their name into a pine tree.  There is certainly a place for the mystical nostalgia of an artist like Peter Doig—another painter who plumbs the memories of his rural Canadian childhood—but Dorland gives us the pleasures of a more tangible natural world, in all its spectacular indelicacy.

Kim Dorland, “Super! Natural!,” May 21-June 25, 2009, at Freight + Volume, 542 west 24th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011.

Written by,
Dr. Aaron Rosen

Aaron Rosen is a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.  His first book, Imagining Jewish Art:  Encounters with the Masters in Chagall, Guston, and Kitaj, was recently published by Legenda Press in Oxford.

Photo by the artist herself, Dita Kubin.

“I don’t know much about Art, but I know what I like.” This phrase, repeated countless times in one form or another, was actually coined over a century ago. My version would be “I don’t know much about photography, but I know what I like” which, I must admit, applied to me at least until a few years ago. That is until I met the most talented of photographers who, with time, changed my view and understanding of the art form, and allowed me to appreciate and admire her creative process and the stunning visual results.

The artist in question is Dita Kubin, a Montreal-based artist who, in the course of the last couple of years, has received much attention for her photographic work. In particular, a series of black and white portraits entitled “Recollections” has garnered numerous international awards and much critical acclaim. The full title of the project, “Memory Streams and the Reconstructed Portrait”, provides insight into her artistic intentions as well as revealing her interest in the nature of memory and its relationship to space-time. Having been lucky enough to observe how some of these works were created, the importance of multi-dimensionality (the three spatial dimensions as well as that of time) to the conception of the project became clear. This is not obvious for a medium often seen as clearly two-dimensional.

The models, always solitary, were chosen amongst friends, acquaintances and strangers. Once a basic concept for a photographic work was formulated, many shots were taken over a short period of time using traditional black and white film. In some instances, several sessions were involved, generating numerous series of images which were then all scanned and the next creative step initiated. Through careful overlapping of the individual shots in a process of controlled improvisation, the captured span of time is fused into a single visual moment, just as a memory often consists of a sole mental image constructed from the many collected by the observer’s mind over a period of time. The final product of this painstaking procedure is a coherent visual work which in no manner betrays it’s composite nature. The portraits truly capture the uneven nature of visual memory, contrasting sharp details, be it an eye or hand, with less defined, blurred areas. Strong foreshortening often adds a sense of proximity. Unlike photographs which capture “an instant in time”, Dita’s work encapsulates the period during which the mind gathers and processes a stream of images which, after mental editing, congeal into a concise memory which often emphasizes one particular facet of the subject, something existing beyond the temporal realm. The results are truly beautiful.

Photo by Dita Kubin.

More recently, Dita has added colour to her portrait work in a continuation of this project which has led, in turn, to a new creative endeavour. These newer photographs center on the theme of self-image and the letting go of the myriad of ways in which we deal with both negative and positive feelings as to how others perceive us. Admittedly a difficult act, Dita challenged herself by exploring nude self-portraits, confronting herself as a person stripped of the protective layers we, or more precisely women, use to alter or conceal who they are physically. In her own words, “What is this avoidance in women to look at themselves as they are? What would happen if I confronted this woman body that I am, and how would this confrontation unfold?” Indeed, this confrontation mediated by her camera has resulted in another stunning series of images – sensual and provocative, yet honest in its very personal examination of the struggle of a woman confronting her physical self in a world where this truth is often obscured by emotions, modified by dress and skewed by social conventions, all distorting the true image. Not limited to self-portraits or nudes, this recent endeavour will explore the issues of physical self-image in other individuals as well, underlining how different this confrontation can be from woman to woman. The results are sure to be striking.

Whether you are a well-versed connoisseur of the photographic medium or someone like myself who simply enjoys images, I encourage you to visit Dita’s website (www.phudge.ca). She is a consummate artist who stubbornly adheres to her artistic vision, constantly questioning the nature of the world around her and our perception of it. Through her lens, we can often see not only an image but an exploration of how we observe and process the river of visual information which confronts us constantly. Thanks to her, the phrase which opened this text no longer applies to my relationship to photography, at least not the first half of it. As far the second goes, “like” is much too weak a word to describe my sentiments towards Dita Kubin’s creations and her integrity as an artist.

Written by,
Stephen H. Kawai

Photo by Stephen H. Kawai

A city where good and bad art seem to go hand in hand around the strips of Montreal; very few artists stand out from the crowd. I’ve been to plenty art shows and have never been impressed by much that is out there. But once in awhile you attend a group exhibition and something out of the corner catches your eye… Was it an impressive painting, sculpture or installation art that had gathered my attention across the room? No, what caught my eye was a perfect balance of rocks, elements, wires and strings. These were the mobiles of Montreal artist Stephen H. Kawai.

Having met the artist, a humble man to say the least, his mobiles were impressive. With a background in chemistry  you can see the inner artist shining through his mobiles. Somewhere, somehow in a complex world of strands, molecules and the periodic tables, Stephen H. Kawai sees the beauty behind these elements and transforms them into a perfect balance of shapes represented in natural life or abstraction. However you analyze or simply enjoy the mobiles, one cannot deny the complexity but simplicity in its design. The complexity is in balance and materials; he uses anything from fossils, shells, coral, stones and marble spheres in his works; to create the overall “seemingly” simplicity of the final hanging mobile. A challenge for many artists is to convey the message, feelings and interpretations without over complicating the theme. It is that skill that makes Stephen’s artwork so special. Looking above or staring ahead at every slight movement, the mobiles will delight the viewers eye at every angle.

Stephen’s artistic history stems far beyond chemistry and years of fiddling with materials. His inspiration and style developed after he spent time in Paris,France in the early 90’s. The city where mobiles actually originated from. On his return to Montreal in 1994 with focus and new found inspiration; Stephen’s mobiles became reality. Now with over a decade of mobile creation; he continues to experiment with new materials, but the foundation of his artworks remain the same. I invite anyone interested in a visually intriguing experience to have a look and enjoy the works of Stephen’s H. Kawai.

http://www.shkawai.ca

Written by:
CAS Admin

I truly believe  artists have the power to suggest change through their performances, messages and mediums. In the harshest of times, in all walks of life people turn to art as a reminder and savior of cultures; and the beauty we are able to share as humans. What better gift can we give as a society than to be the voice for people who cannot speak, to enlighten and entertain people while they are at their worst moments. We are artists and we have that power to change.

~CAS Admin~

This is my commentary about one group who has been since March of 2003, that voice of change. The group I am referring to is the AAW also known as Artists Against War. They are an organization of artist in ALL mediums and talents who take time through their art to inform the ignorant, to help the helpless and to create a better world for us in which to live in. They create music, documentaries, films, performances, fund raisers and anything imaginable to combat the imbalance of corrupt war mongering governments. And boy did the AAW have their hands busy for the last 8 years under the tyranny of Bush. For every evil there is a good and the AAW has been there to fit that role. Located in Toronto they have proved over and over again through their campaigns of awareness that they are for real and they care. They have been sending out the message that we as a free society should be just that…free. Speaking of free they are also a voice to Canadian artists whom are fighting to keep the arts in Canada alive. If the Harper government isn’t going to care about us, who will?

The AAW organization is definitely one of good guys and with fund raisers, films and performances every month or so; they continually contribute to the peace of our great nation. We at the Canadian Art Scene have the up most respect for the AAW, they’ve done so much for peace and love the best we at the CAS can do is to help spread their message.

To find out more about the AAW, become a member or updates to their latest peace gathering events this is their official website: http://www.artistsagainstwar.ca

For realtime up to date events they also have a Facebook group: Artists Against War

Written by,
CAS Admin