Howard Lonn, Shape Imitator (Study), 2012, oil on canvas, 30 x 22 inches
September 13 – October 6, 2012
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 13, 6 – 8 p.m.
NICOLAS METIVIER GALLERY
451 King Street West,
Toronto, M5V 1K4
T: 416.205.9000
www.metiviergallery.com
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 – 6 p.m.
Nicholas Metivier Gallery is pleased to announce Signals Back to the World, an exhibition of new works by Howard Lonn. The exhibition will open on September 13 and will be on view through October 6 with a reception for the artist on Thursday, September 13 from 6– 8 p.m. This will be Lonn’s third exhibition at the gallery.
Since the mid 1980s, Howard Lonn has been steadily building his reputation in the Canadian painting community, earning the respect of critics, collectors and fellow artists. Working on both canvas and paper, Lonn is an ambitious artist known for his visual language of deconstructed architecture and visceral technique. Approaching each painting as a problem, Lonn’s ‘solution’ involves a multitude of processes including layering, scraping and dripping paint. Rather than feeling overworked, Lonn’s expressive brushstrokes and, in some cases, gaudy colour conveys immediacy and gives the work a playful sensibility.
The exhibition, Signals Back to the World, is comprised of twelve paintings, Lonn’s most cohesive body of work to date. Finding inspiration in the urban landscape, Lonn’s compositions combine architectural, human and abstract elements that defy logic.
In a recent text about Lonn’s work, curator Ihor Holubizky states, “Lonn, like other thinking artists, will do anything to achieve the results that cannot be anticipated. He transforms and mutates his graphic sources by building up and tearing down.
In the end a structure necessary for his painting appears, and makes it knowable, yet not to describe, but to propose.