Category: FEATURES

Delcy Morelos’ Ombligo doesn’t ask us to rethink our relationship with the natural world as much as it wants us to feel as though nature has given us everything from which we come from. It forces a physical reaction to the smell, texture and size of its form that places us at the mercy of mother nature, whether she is presented as a safe shelter or a trapped web.

Engulfed by the scent of a sharp natural musk, it is almost impossible not to feel transported to a different environment when first approaching this threatening presence that dominates the entire second floor of the gallery space. It initially feels invasive, curving to the forms of the concrete pillars and surrounding them as part of a larger circular structure. Its material seems untouched as if an exterior force of nature has accessed the space and invaded it over the course of several hundred years, molding to its architecture and slowly encroaching on every corner of its open space.

With a closer look, one that requires you to crouch down or slightly bend to the side, we start to understand its materiality and its conceptual ideals. The physicality of our interaction is within itself the embodiment of Ombligo, a reduction of the viewer to a smaller self that is at the mercy of a natural force. It at once asks us to think about our interaction with natural resources and what it really means to extract them from the earth while slowly grappling with our own natural source, birthed from the life-giving quality of our mothers. The structure’s woven fabric made of long strands of sisal rope treated with soil and corn roots harvested in the city, also recalls the strength and flexibility of these natural sources. One must wonder how methodical Morelos’ approach must’ve been to create such a daunting form within a relatively contained area.

With Morelos’ practice stemming from her Emberá heritage and a deep connection to Colombian land, we see her approach to materiality and focus on earth’s regenerative strength as a focal point found in many of her large-scale installations. Working with the materials of the earth and local production, she naturally activates our sense of memory through sensorial experiences that confront us with questions of extraction and restoration. Ombligo keeps building on this practice while actively rethinking the spatial immersion of the viewer and completely flipping it upside down. Moving beyond a physical surrounding, it allows the viewer to encircle its structure, inverting the dynamics between environment and those experiencing it firsthand.

After spending some time in the space and seeing different vantage points, we start to embrace the serenity of the work that moves beyond the initial threat of entrapment posed by its size and presence. The natural fragrances become familiar, and we begin to wonder what the space ever looked like without this perfectly fitted form attached to its central pillars. The defined curvature becomes discernible as the globe shape of the earth or that of a womb, a space that provides sustenance and ultimately brings us to our closest inner selves. Ombligo then becomes a completely different work, understood and interpreted through the themes of extraction and ritual that re-occur in Morelos’ work. It is only by spending a certain amount of dedicated time with this installation that we start to connect with it beyond its formal qualities, a beautiful by-product of work that is deeply researched and meticulously constructed.

What allows Ombligo to move beyond the casual installations of contemporary artists attempting to work with grandeur (often falling short of confronting larger questions of spatial experience) is the delicate line that Morelos’ draws between full immersion and observation. Through deliberate organization of space and the help of Mexican based architecture studio Tamat, the work reads as intentional as does its methodical planning and execution. 

Ombligo is beautiful, it is serene, but it is also dismaying. In it lies a complex confrontation that none of us can quite surmount. It asks us to live within fear for a short moment, allowing us to return to a smaller version of ourselves where everything appears giant and ominous. It comforts us, bringing us back to the earth and back to nature as a place where we once felt secure in our own powerlessness.

Marina Diolaiti

All images are Delcy Morelos, Ombligo, installation view, MOCA Toronto, 2026. Photo: LF Documentation.

*Exhibition information: Delcy Morelos, Ombligo, October 4, 2026 — February 14, 2027, MOCA,158 Sterling Rd, Toronto. Museum hours: Wed – Thurs & Sat – Sun 11 am – 5  pm, Friday 12 – 8 pm.

This year, Art Toronto brings together Canadian and international galleries across Main, Solo, Arte Sur, and other sections, offering encounters with art that explore human experience, cultural memory, and connections to the natural world.

Among the presentations in Main, Galerie LeRoyer, offers a dynamic platform for curated exhibitions featuring Canadian and international artists. Here, two Italian artists explore human experience through linden-wood sculpture. Matthias Verginer balances realistic figures with a sense of estrangement, using pencil lines to accentuate their character and playful tensions between space and gravity to question how we perceive the world.

Matthias Verginer, Siblings

Christian Verginer, from northern Italy, combines linden wood with acrylic paint, placing human figures in dialogue with animals, trees, and everyday objects to envision a more sensitive relationship between humanity and nature, a future rooted in hope and peaceful coexistence.

Christian Verginer, Inner Wilderness II, 2026

Further exploring connections between human experience and the natural world, Galerie de Bellefeuille celebrates 46 years of bringing international art to Canada. Its presentation showcases Canadian and international artists, including Jane Waterous and Roman Feral. Canadian multidisciplinary artist Waterous captures human energy and collective joy through richly textured works that bridge painting and sculpture, with light animating their surfaces. Paris-born Feral brings luxury and nature into dialogue, pairing recognizable fashion icons with delicate butterflies arranged as if in flight. His compositions suggest perpetual movement, transforming a fleeting moment into an image of enduring beauty.

Roman Feral, Louis Vuitton Azur II, 2023, made with rare natural butterfly

Moving from gallery presentations to community-led initiatives, the Yellowknife Artist Run Community Centre makes its Art Toronto debut. The nonprofit organization supports the production and presentation of art from Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories. Its presentation includes Hana Steinward, whose beadwork explores ancestral connections and tradition, and Maura Meng, a multidisciplinary Canadian artist based in the Yellowknife area who focuses primarily on ceramic sculpture. Meng’s use of locally sourced clay and alternative firing techniques connects her practice to her off-grid life in a cabin in the Northwest Territories.

Maura Meng, Weak in the Knees, 2025

Hana Steinward, I dream of medicine, 2023

Connections to place, history, and cultural knowledge continue in Arte Sur, where Instituto de Visión, a women-led conceptual art gallery in Bogotá, presents artists Aycoobo and Olinda Silvano. Their works carry histories and knowledge not readily accessible to outsiders. Colombian artist Aycoobo’s vividly coloured drawings draw on Amazonian plant knowledge and shamanic experience, exploring connections to ancestral territory and displacement.

Aycoobo-Wilson Rodriguez, Arbo de agua 2026 (left) and Maloka ancestral, 2025 (right)

 Peruvian Shipibo-Konibo artist Silvano uses traditional kené designs to express spiritual relationships with plants and the forest, making her practice a form of activism against discrimination and in defence of the Amazon and its peoples.

Olindo Silvano, Diseno de Anaconda, 2022 (left) and El poder de la planta mistico, 2024 (right)

There is more to discover in Solo, where Fazakas Gallery presents Don Yeomans, a celebrated Northwest Coast artist whose practice spans two-dimensional design, wood carving, and gold and silver jewellery. Recently commissioned to create a 15-foot totem pole, Yeomans has work in public and private collections worldwide, including UBC’s Museum of Anthropology and the Royal BC Museum.

Don Yeomans art

Fazakas Gallery also presents a solo exhibition by Métis and Cree artist Audie Murray, whose practice explores material, memory, ancestry, and care through transformation. Central to the presentation is Rootless, an installation combining approximately 100 sheets of artificial grass with live roses that naturally decay throughout the fair. Murray will turn the collected roses into pigment for future works, treating decay as a beginning rather than an end. A drawing made with rose pigment from an earlier iteration accompanies the installation.

Audie Murray, We are always Love & Rootless

Extending these encounters beyond the gallery booths, Art Toronto offers talks, special events, and more. Artists, curators, collectors, and art advisors will lead tours throughout the weekend, while the Platform Talks series brings together voices from the Canadian and international art worlds, creating further opportunities to engage with the ideas behind the work.

Text and photo: Nusrat Papia

*Exhibition information: Art Toronto, October 29 – November 1, 2026, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building, Exhibit Hall A & B, 255 Front Street West. Hours: Fri – Sat 12 – 8 pm, Sun 12 – 6 pm.

Installation view of Art Toronto, 2025. Photo: Phil Anderson

October 29 – November 1, 2026 / METRO TORONTO CONVENTION CENTRE
North Building, Exhibit Hall A & B, 255 Front Street West
Hours: Fri – Sat 12 – 8 pm, Sun 12 – 6 pm

In 2026, Art Toronto celebrates its 27th edition featuring an incredible range of galleries from across Canada and around the world, including the United States, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Europe. Canada’s oldest and largest international art fair will host over 100 national and international galleries, installations, project spaces, and so much more!

Arte Sur, a new section that debuted at Art Toronto 2025, celebrated the vibrant artistry of Latin America and was curated by the renowned Karen Huber.

The programming involves:

• Platform hosts insightful talks with leading voices in the art world.
• Free guided tours are presented by experienced curators, collectors and artists.
• Special projects, installations and the Focus exhibitions enrich your visit.

For programming, ticketing and more information click here.

With Chloe Chlumecky’s View from the Window exhibition, the outside and inside meet at the intersection of doorways, doors, and windows. This installation captures the universal experience of being somewhere new. In these works, the sun’s presence settles on nearly all interior surfaces, influencing inside spaces to become something spectacular.

When entering the Dianna Witte Gallery, I was immediately welcomed by the fourteen paintings that share Chlumesky’s summer memories. Every painting highlights the space and information shared through these openings between walls. A door, doorway, or window enables light and greenery to enter an interior space, and the rendering of such elements is done with precise consideration. Chloe Chlumecky’s artistic presence is deeply felt in every area she inhabited. As all the doors are depicted ajar, I feel invited into the scene and am curious to find out what is waiting in the next room. Every work provides a sense of the space within, as well as the space beyond. The use of sunlight, contrasting against shadows, is present on nearly every surface of the rooms and clearly demonstrates the powerful relationships seen between the outside and the inside. Overall, these works remind us that even when we are inside a house, we are constantly being touched and influenced by the outside environment.

Installation view of Chloe Chlumecky’s View from the Window at the Dianna Witte Gallery

Apart from the wonder that Chloe Chlumecky depicts through her paintings, the feeling of comfort is brought to life through her use of texture. In every painting I was able to notice the deliberate brushstrokes upon the canvas that adds definition. Photographs do not capture all the textures and brushstrokes of Chlumecky’s work; it is something you must experience in person. I was especially captivated by the gorgeous brushstrokes seen in her works: self- portrait in wardrobe, chateau after hours, morning in my bedroom, and my studio light.

self-portrait in wardrobe, 2026, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches

The carving of the doors, the landscapes, the window frames, and the drapery present in her paintings are organic and elegant. The elements of everyday life appear so familiar. While Chlumecky also provides close-ups of some scenes, no two works read the same because they all reveal new details about her spatial experiences. The more time I spent alongside the paintings, the more I felt fascinated by stories of adventures in the French countryside and the more I felt enveloped by a complete sense of curiosity and happiness.

oquevaux view, 2026, oil on panel, 16 x 12 inches

Capturing the impression of light in space is not easy. In this exhibition, each marking of sunlight adds an unexpected geometry to the room. The imprint of sun is time specific. These details, like depicting the transition of light from the outside to the inside walls and floors, show how graceful a special moment can be.

my studio light, 2026, oil on panel, 16 x 12 inches

Chlumecky’s paintings act as a window into her memories, and they tell her story through features that can often be overlooked. Windows and doors are not barriers to the outside, instead they are tools that allow us to bridge two worlds together. Nature and its influence is ever-present through all her works, reminding us how nature plays a big part in our lives. Through the French-style furniture, floor tiling, wardrobes, gold ornamentations, and displays of food, it was so easy to understand the joy of the artist’s experience in nature.

view from the window, 2026, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches

Chloe Chlumecky’s paintings celebrate being an artist and finding the striking beauty of one’s surroundings.

Angie Ospina

Images are courtesy of the Dianna Witte Gallery.

*Exhibition information: Chloe Chlumecky, View from the Window, September 17 – October 10, 2026, Dianna Witte Gallery, 1122 Dundas St. East, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat 12 – 6pm.

The city of Toronto has reason to celebrate with the recent opening of a beautiful new exhibition space downtown, called ‘the modern.toronto’. It is not a commercial gallery, but rather is funded independently. Indeed, it is more of a museum than a gallery. Its stated mission is to showcase non-objective abstract art, otherwise known as abstract expressionism. This genre, as their website points out, began soon after World War II. That is a long time ago now, prior to the living memory of all but a few. So one might ask: isn’t its mission somewhat anachronistic? I’ll get back to that presently.

The gallery is spacious and light and is divided into two exhibition areas – one at the front of the building, and a larger space located at the back. Today I’ll talk about the works displayed in the rear space. These are ten abstract paintings by the venerable artist and educator Ron Shuebrook who, among many other roles, served as president of the Ontario College of Art and Design between 2000 and 2005. He currently resides in Guelph. For decades he has been represented by Olga Korper Gallery.

L-R: Ron Shuebrook, Untitled (Contested Territories Series#2), Towards the Light and Black Mountain, Blue Monkeyrope, both 2021,  84 x 48 inches

It would be hard to find a living artist with more of a pedigree that aligns with the modern.toronto’s mission. Born in Virginia Shuebrook studied visual arts and then for an M.Ed in art education at Kutztown University, Pennsylvania. From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, through scholarships and a teaching assistanceship, he came into contact with many luminaries at the time, including Leon Golub, R.B. Kitaj, Robert Motherwell, Myron Stout and Fritz Bultman.

Ron Shuebrook, Untitled, 2021, 84 x 48 inches

Shuebrook’s accomplishments, in terms of where he has taught since moving to Canada and the number of public and private collections that have his work, are too numerous to list here. But what of his paintings themselves? The works on display were done in 2021, bar two works dating from 2015 and 2019 – distinguishable by their slightly smaller scale. Most are large, measuring seven feet high and four feet across. They are acrylic on canvas.

L-R: Ron Shuebrook, Tower, Untitled and Untitled, both 2021, acrylic on canvas, 84 x 48 inches

While all the paintings betray Shuebrook’s preoccupation with the formal qualities, with their emphasis on the division of the picture plane and colour, some appear to possess a narrative element. For example, his Tower (2021) suggests the tragedy of 9/11. Indeed, Shuebrook speaks of being influenced in another painting, for instance, by his reading of Melville’s Moby Dick. These large paintings, predominantly in blue and black, are compositionally complex and remind me in this respect of some of Richard Diebenkorn’s abstracted landscapes.

Ron Shuebrook, Tower, 2021, 84 x 48 inches

The tightest and most accomplished works in the show are his three grid paintings. Parsimonious in their palette, the edges become integral to their composition. In this regard, they are entirely self-contained. The combination of geometry and gestural brushwork is masterful. To the extent they are purely abstract they are paradigms of non-objective painting in the way originally championed by Wassily Kandinsky in the early twentieth century. Kandinsky saw reality as divided into two – the external material world and the spiritual inner world. In his theories and through his paintings he aimed to ‘paint music’, which he saw as the epitome of a spiritual artform. What I see in Shuebrook’s work is an attempt to paint, if not consciously or intentionally, music reminiscent of that of minimalists like Philip Glass and Steve Reich, who coincidentally are Americans of the same generation as Shuebrook. The grid paintings are repetitive, restrained and enchanting in the manner of Glass’s and Reich’s music.

Ron Shuebrook, Untitled (black, grey, red, yellow), 2019. Acrylic on wood panel, 40 x 30 inches

Kandinsky’s division between objective and non-objective art has been stressed in particular by American art theorist and critic Donald Kuspit, who indeed has written a brief endorsement of the modern.toronto and its mission, that appears at the bottom of its website’s homepage. Kuspit lays out his thesis in detail in his book The End of Art. There he essentially argues that commercialism and the growth of the entertainment industry have turned what we call ‘art’ into a consumer product – one that is devoid of spirituality, of any quality that transcends the banal material world. Further, non-objective art is by nature spiritual, and so is a genre that resists what Kuspit sees as the emptying of art, which is now best decribed as ‘postart’. The modern.toronto’s owner, Ben Woolfitt, in agreement with Kuspit, holds that there is an obligation to champion non-objective art, as the works of this genre still have genuine intrinsic worth, independent of any financial considerations.

Installation view of Ron Shuebrook, Selected Paintings at the modern.toronto

Finally, we come back to the question of whether the modern.toronto’s mission is anachronistic. In many respects abstract painting in general is flourishing. And abstract expressionism in the broadest sense is still practised by many artists, as the shows at modern.toronto attest. But one cannot help but notice that almost all these artists are senior, belonging to a generation that has grown up with abstract expressionism. It is less clear whether the genre will survive over the decades as these artists die out. Let’s hope it does.

Hugh Alcock

Images are courtesy of the modern.toronto

*Exhibition information: Ron Shuebrook, Selected Paintings, September 12 – 27, 2026, the modern.toronto, 230 Niagara Street, Toronto. Gallery hours: Sat – Sun 12 – 5pm.

William Ronald, a founding member of Painters 11, was a prominent Canadian abstract expressionist painter who would have celebrated his centenary this year. In honour of this milestone, the Christopher Cutts Gallery and the modern.toronto are hosting an exhibition showcasing his artwork to commemorate what would have been Ronald’s 100th birthday.

Who is William Ronald and why is he so important to Canadian art?

William Ronald in his studio, 1970 in front of Altar, 1970, oil on canvas, 78 x 60 inches. Courtesy of the Christopher Cutts Gallery

Many art historians, critics, and collectors alike call him one of Canada’s most critically acclaimed and internationally successful artists emerging in the 1950s. He was born William Ronald Smith in Stratford, Ontario in 1926.

William Ronald, Opus No. 3, 1963, oil on canvas, 36 x 42 inches. Private collection

Ronald graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1951 and then went to New York to study with Abstract Expressionist Hans Hofmann. Upon his return to Toronto, in a landmark exhibition, Painters Eleven was formed in 1953.  The group was accredited with bringing avant-garde American abstract expressionism into the mainstream Canadian art scene.  Ronald is best known for the crucial role he played in establishing this highly influential group.

William Ronald, Altar, 1970, oil on canvas, 78 x 60 inches. Courtesy of the Christopher Cutts Gallery

Ronald was a flamboyant character with a love for the dramatic. He loved to paint in public, frequently hiring strippers and showgirls to dance around him as he painted. He was incredibly prolific creating large-scale, explosive abstract expressionist paintings that disrupted the traditional Canadian art market. His work evolved significantly over his career, shifting from raw, textured gestures into structured colour blocks, along with ambitious public murals. He became internationally famous for creating the central image style within abstract expressionism. Rather than scattering detail across the entire canvas, his paintings featured a singular, highly energetic focal point surrounded by aggressive brushstrokes.

William Ronald, Wellfleet Harbour, 1983, oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inches. Private collection

Ronald moved back to NYC and eventually became an American citizen. He shared a studio with Frank Stella and joined the stable of artists at Manhattan’s Kootz Gallery. He was accepted by critics and collectors and enjoyed a period of success. Eventually, Ronald returned to Toronto and continued with his career that included work for CBC, CTV and CityTV as the host of a variety show. He continued to paint through the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, moving to Montreal and then to Barrie, Ontario where he maintained an active studio.

William Ronald, Jamine, 1997, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches, inscribed on verso “first painting executed at 21 Dunlop St. Barrie”. Private collection

He continued to work until his death in 1998 when he suffered a heart attack while painting. However, he lived long enough to name the work Heart Attack.

William Ronald, Untitled, 1997, acrylic on canvas, 72 x72 inches. Recognized as one of Ronald’s final work. Courtesy of the Christopher Cutts Gallery

Ronald won the International Guggenheim Awards, Canadian Section in 1956, and was part of the National Gallery of Canada’s Second Biennial of Canadian Painting in 1957.  In 1977, he was awarded a Canada Councils senior arts award to pursue his Prime Ministers project. He gained some notoriety for his portrait series of Canadian Prime Ministers, abstracted portrayals of heads of government opened by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in Toronto. The exhibition toured Canada. These works are in the permanent collection of the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery in Kitchener, Ontario.

1984 media photograph capturing Canadian abstract painter William Ronald standing alongside then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau in front of Ronald’s vibrant, non-representational portrait of the politician

The Christopher Cutts Gallery is hosting the exhibition from September 10th to October 10th, showcasing a selection of works spanning from the 1950s to the 1990s, including one of the artist’s final pieces that encapsulates his extensive creative journey. Cutts’s connection with William Ronald began serendipitously when Ronald entered the gallery, acknowledging his status as a member of Painters 11 with the declaration, “I’m here.” This encounter led to Ronald being represented by the Cutts Gallery. Ronald is a significant figure in the art world, with his works featured in major museum collections across North America, including The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and The Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as numerous Canadian institutions such as the National Gallery and the Art Gallery of Ontario. A standout piece in the exhibition is titled September, a 1961 oil on canvas from the Rockefeller collection, measuring 60×50 inches, which was acquired from the Kootz Gallery in New York City. Additionally, the exhibition will include an Untitled painting from 1997, an acrylic on canvas measuring 72×72 inches, recognized as Ronald’s final work.

Rayvin Chow, Christopher Cutts, and Michael Adamson are positioned before a 1961 oil on canvas 60 x 50 inches artwork entitled “September,” in conversation about the William Ronald paintings currently on display.

The modern.toronto, will also host an exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of Ronald, showcasing works from private collections starting October 24th through to the end of November. This exhibition, curated by Lawrence Brissenden, who is currently cataloging Ronald’s extensive body of artwork. The William Ronald Authentic Inventory (WRAI), currently Version 5 catalogue raisonné project, highlights the artist’s remarkable contributions. Ronald, unquestionably the most flamboyant member of the Painters 11 group, produced a vast array of works, each accompanied by intriguing narratives from his life. Notably, he would often inscribe messages on the backs of his canvases, such as on his 1997 painting titled Jasmine, an acrylic on canvas measuring 48×36 inches where he inscribed “first painting executed at 21 Dunlop St. Barrie”. 

Furthermore, Ronald will be historically acknowledged as one of Canada’s most prominent abstract expressionist artists, bringing abstraction to the forefront in the country. The exhibition at the Christopher Cutts Gallery, along with the forthcoming exhibition at the Modern Toronto Museum, represents a significant historical showcase, allowing viewers to experience a concentrated collection of works by the master William Ronald. These exhibitions are essential additions to any art enthusiast’s bucket list.

Roy Bernardi and Jennifer Leskiw

*Exhibition information: William Ronald “THE GREAT”, September 10 – October 10, 2026, Christopher Cutts Gallery, 21 Morrow Ave, Toronto. Gallery hours: Tue – Sat 12 – 6pm.