The night of January 15th was bustling with energy as people crowded Gallery 1313 to see Emerging Young Artist‘s new show, 2116: Art of Leverage – a show highlighting young artists who are beginning their artistic careers. Gallery 1313 was filled with various works from painting, photography, video, and sculpture.
Artists, curators and guest at the Opening Reception, January 15, 2016. Photo: Sunny Kim
Most of the works were predominantly paintings, and with good reason, too. Paintings by Luis Figueroa, and Fernando Pendas Fernandez exemplify a sophisticated set of paintings impressive for young artists. “Induction to Aggression” is a minimal art painting with spray paint. With great use of negative space, Figueroa produces an abstract work that utilizes simple colours (blue, green, and red) and repeated gestures that by no means produces a simple work.
Luis Figueroa, Induction to Aggression, 2015, spray paint on plastic panel, 26″ x 29″. Photo: Sunny Kim
Fernandez’s “Beginning” is another minimalist painting that has a great use of negative space – a pattern perhaps – and a colorful palette. Like “Induction to Aggression”, “Beginning” is gestural. However Fernandez establishes a deeper dimension and atmosphere with his gradation of blue in the background, and the overlaps of his marks.
Fernando Pendas Fernandez, Beginning, 2015, mixed media on canvas, 34.5″ x 68″. Photo: Sunny Kim
Near the paintings there is Yong Zhang’s “Yang Zhi”, a small figurative sculpture. There was an initial confusion as the didactic panel stated that this was a bronze sculpture. However it looked more like a plaster-type with branch material as well. Furthermore, what is more confusing is the curation of this piece. It is situated in between two paintings up against a wall. It is difficult to look at the piece dimensionally, from the plain fact that one cannot walk around it. Whether this was artistically intentional I do not know. Nevertheless, “Yang Zhi” is a powerful work that generates a great amount of emotion and the branch piece on top contributes a lot to the sculpture in terms of its composition.
Yong Zhang, Yang Zhi, 2013, sculpture, 17″ x 18″ x 48″. Photo: Sunny Kim
Vineetha Savathasan’s “Per-Formation” is another highly successful artwork. Presented in the video are intriguing uses of overlapping, editing, and opacity. Textures are constantly moving geographically while a figure (solid black) moves organically.
Vineetha Savathasan’s video work, Per-Formation. Image courtesy of the curator
Works presented in this ambitious exhibition clearly carries an overall sense of successful artistic endeavours. However, there is also a disconnection between the works and the written statements. Emerging Young Artist‘s press release promises a certain rebellion and revolution from these art works. Hence their title ‘2116‘. They are trying to present works that, in a hundred years, will prompt art historians to “draw parallels between the unprecedented social restructuring of our century and the French Revolution’s impact on the development of European Culture.” This suggestion, while could be true for some works in the current art scene, fails to meet its promise in this specific exhibition. Partly because most of these works – while highly successful – still remain quite traditional in terms of medium, subject matter, and curation. Furthermore, the press release only manages to tunnel-vision these pieces, by fitting them into generic themes such as, “technology is actually pulling people farther away from each other, despite its promises of a closer connection”. These visually and thematically complex works are washed down by these narrow observations, simplifying both the pieces and contemporary society.
Curator Anne Tom Wong adresses the audience at the Opening Reception. Image courtesy of the curator
On the positive side, these written statements are not present in the didactic panels or as large writings on a wall. Disconnected statements will only put the artists in a disadvantage; sometimes it is better to say nothing at all.
Image courtesy of the curator
Sunny Kim
*Exhibition information: January 15 – 31, 2016, Gallery 1313, 1313 Queen Street West, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sun, 1 – 6 p.m.