This summer the Ottawa Art Gallery presents four shows – Jerry Grey on the Grid: 1968-1978, Paula Murray: You Are Me, Robbin Deyo: Still Moving and Gail Bourgeois: Correspondence.
The first three feature examples of non-representational art (you know, stuff that doesn’t look like stuff). This sort of thing sometimes causes members of the general public to stand in the middle of the gallery, arms in the air with a puzzled “WTF?” expression on their faces. But surely if we’ve learnt anything at all from the current craze for adult colouring books, it’s a deeper appreciation for the sheer joy and beauty to be had in exploring pure line, colour and form – a revelry of which is to be found in all three shows.
Jerry Grey, Bloor Street, 1973, gouache on paper,44 x 34.3 cm. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: David Barbour. ©Copyright Jerry Grey and CARCC
Jerry Grey on the Grid looks at the artist’s earlier grid paintings and colour theory exercises from the 1970’s prior to her famous commission for The Great Canadian Equalizer (a mural commissioned by the Department of Public Works for the Jean Talon building for those of you who work near Tunney’s Pasture). While I love the crisp, clean lines, and precision of the shapes, the way colours work together, it’s the different media that I liked best. I can honestly say I’ve never seen an artist work in stovepipe enamel before and I loved the delicate work silkscreened on mylar (so shiny!). Don’t be fooled – these works may appear deceptively simple, but there’s some political edge here too.
Paula Murray, You Are Me, installation view, Ottawa Art Gallery, 2016. Photo Credit: Guy L’Heureux
It was a smart choice to put Paula Murray: You Are Me in the next room which offers a lovely counterpoint to Grey’s show with several organic, large-scale ceramic vessels beautifully displayed. Walk around and enjoy the surface of the forms – what do they remind you of? The shapes of chlorophyll in a leaf, unusual bark on a tree or maybe even the delicate network of veins under a newborn baby’s skin?
Robbin Deyo, Kaleidoscopic Spirograph Still #22 2013, watercolour on paper, 51 x 65 cm. Photo: Guy L’Heureux
If you’re still struggling with non-representational art, go have a look at Robbin Deyo: Still Moving. Here the artist has explored the creative possibilities of the Super Spirograph! Yes, you read that right. Included is a stack of all 7,905 drawings she created using all the possible shapes the toy’s 21 gears produces. She digitally photographed each one individually and sequenced them into an animation that’s playing in the gallery on a continuous loop.
Gail Bourgeois, Extending A.Y. Jackson and Arthur Lismer, 2016, ink on Stonehenge paper on board, 68.58 x 228.6 cm. Photo: David Barbour.
Last up is Gail Bourgeois: Correspondence. I find no fault in the artist’s work but unfortunately, the show suffers from some poor communication. While the intro panel and catalogue does explain that the artist has “excavated” or “engaged” the OAG’s Firestone Collection of Canadian Art (without explaining what that is) it spends so much time trying to touch on every idea and theme that it doesn’t make it abundantly clear what’s going on here. A single work each by renowned artists Arthur Lismer, A.Y. Jackson, Edmund Alleyn and Anne Savage from the Firestone Collection are displayed and surrounded by the work Bourgeois was inspired to create around each of them. For some reason, the Gallery has not clearly labelled whose work is whose. Shame on the gallery for this, shame, shame! It does a disservice to the artists and creates the sort of confusion that will cause some visitors to leave the gallery, hands in the air saying “WTF?”
If you want to learn more about the artists and their work, there are several opportunities to get up close and learn more:
- On June 28 at 6pm, there is an artist talk with Paula Murray.
- Gail Bourgeois: Correspondence, from roots to rhizomes to mycelial networks curator, Rebecca Basciano, will offer a walkthrough of the exhibition July 5 at 6PM.
- On July 20 at 6pm, artist Jerry Grey and University of Ottawa Master of Fine Arts candidate Justine Skahan will take a closer look at Grey’s exhibition through conversation.
- A curator’s walkthrough of Robbin Deyo’s: Still Moving exhibit will take place July 27 at 6pm.
All four exhibitions are on display at the Ottawa Art Gallery from June 4th until September 18th.
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