Mark it on your calendars — this Friday April 15, new art concept space and creative hub, Rally Ossington, will launch their first art exhibit of this kind. The show will feature 11 of Toronto’s leading artists from the New Contemporary Movement, noted for their unique and distinctly Toronto contribution to the pop-surrealist genre.
‘In The Beauty I Hide’ celebrates the superior artistry and world class talent flowing outward from Toronto, setting the stage for the future of contemporary art in both this city and the world at large. Captivating, stylistically fresh and wildly alluring, these artists have a track record of keeping art lovers of all kinds on their toes—hooked and wanting more.
‘In the Beauty I Hide’
Opening Reception:
Friday, April 15, 2016 | 6:30 – 10PM
Exhibition Dates:
April 15 – 28, 2016
Gallery Hours:
Tues – Sat, 12 – 5PM
12 Ossington Ave | Toronto I M6J 2Y7
Participating Artists:
Richard Ahnert, Alex Garant, Paul Saari, Jay Dart, Christie Lau, Andy Kittmer, Steven Chmilar, David Krovblit, Samara Shuter, Elly Smallwood, & Harv Glazer.
This collection takes viewers on a tour through the brilliant artistry, attention-bearing detail and alluring visual repertoire of these 11 surrealist maestros. Rife with elements sure to satisfy any b.b lover’s visual appetite, the works offer a galvanizing mix of midnight blooms, decorous landscapes, and cherry death. Characterized by its visual decadence, staggering beauty and imagined dreamscapes, ‘In The Beauty I Hide’ dignifies the magazine’s striking and evocative tone, and adds to its winning pop-surrealist milieu.
‘In the Beauty I Hide’ was curated by distinguished Toronto painter and participating artist, Richard Ahnert, who invokes beautiful.bizarre’s unique stylistic palette throughout the show. Ensuring no shortage of beautiful.bizarre edge, he chose this collection for its countless flirtations with taboo, it’s irresistible temptresses, dark theatricality and tragic romanticism. Similarly honouring of the magazine’s subtler tones, selected works bear a quieter, whimsical undercurrent of sweet and sour dreams, graceful melancholy and storybook enchantment.
Richard Ahnert, “Wits’ Fortune”, oil on Panel, 24″ x 30″
Steven Chmilar, “The Stayfarer”, oil on Panel, 18″ x 24″
Jay Dart, “Treehouse Over Beyawnder”, graphite & watercolour, 14″ x 17″
Weaved throughout the entire exhibit is the notion of beautiful distraction, embodied in its exquisite imagery and visual trickery. On the surface, the artworks teem with ensnaring visual delights and eye-grabbing colour-gasms, but descend deeper to find moments of camouflaged emotion and nuanced plot lines.
Christie Lau, “Replicators VII”, mixed media, 24″x 32″
The interplay of beauty and disguise are abound in several of the paintings such as in the Double-Eye Queen, Alex Garant’s gorgeous female visages, which challenge the viewer to hone in on the woman’s face.
Alex Garant, “Way Up”, oil on canvas, 16″ x 20″
We can similarly look to Andy Kittmer’s portrait of a beautiful young woman: delicate and exposed, her neck clad in death-conjuring tattoo ink, while her mangled hair covers half her face. Notice the accentuated beauty of her neck and lips as her eyes remain hidden by a flattened paper fortune teller.
Andy Kittmer, “I’m Leaving, I’m Gone”, pencil, ink & acrylic on panel, 36” x 48”
Paul Saari too carries this theme forward in his painting: a forest scene engulfed by a spiraling tower of butterflies, whose magic and radiance foretells of mysterious happenings to come.
Paul Saari, “Walk in the Park”, oil on canvas, 41″ x 52”
It is not unusual to have to look more closely at each painting to notice the hints of satire or buried mystique projecting stealthily outward from the picture or subject’s gaze, as in Krovblit’s “Faberge Grenade”.
David Krovblit, “Faberge Grenade”, conceptual photography, 40″ x 40″
The exhibit will take place at Toronto’s most up-and-coming creative hotspot, Rally Ossington. Part event space, part art gallery, Rally exists as an intersection point for Toronto’s best and brightest artists, tastemakers, and innovators to connect and share their creative ambitions with the city. With a focus on accessibility, fresh and relevant contemporary artwork, and creative community empowerment, the gallery introduces a new inclusive wave of art experience to art lovers of all stripes. The 12 Ossington house is dedicated to creative hustlers and eager to show partners, artists and city what happens when today’s most celebrated creatives rally under one roof.
Harv Glazer, “Yoa”, digital drawing, 24″ x 36″
Elly Smallwood, “Untitled”, oil on canvas, 48″ x 60″
Samara Shuter, “Getting To Know You #2″, oil & acrylic on canvas, 48″ x 60”
