A new installation, October 30, 2025
figure – ground
Greg Curnoe, figure – ground, Sept 25/ 80, watercolour, ink and graphite on paper, 8″ x 6.5″
Greg Curnoe was a fine watercolourist with an unique command of colour. He collected things! -rubber stamp and stencil sets among them. He had boundless curiosity and a contagious wit.
And from a young age and as a fine artist, using many techniques, his collected knowledge, surroundings and various histories, he made iconic works of art, as in figure-ground from 1980, -simply put!
J.E.Valois, circa 1970′s, Causapscal, wood, plastic and ink, 10″ x 4″ x 5″
Causapscal, exhibited originally at Aggregation Gallery (forerunner of Wynick/Tuck Gallery) was included in our first Ontario and Quebec Folk Art exhibition in 1975, at our 83 Front Street East location. Causapscal is the name of a town in Quebec, with its name is taken from the geographic township of Casupscull (proclaimed in 1864), which in turn is derived from the Mi’kmag word Goesôpsiag (or Gesapsgel, Gesôpsgigel), meaning “stony bottom”, “swift water”, or “rocky point”, likely referring to the rocky river bed of the Causapscal River.
A prolific and varied artist; Elphege Valois, 1894 – 1980, filled his world (and his back yard) with his carvings of people, animals and birds. He often worked with ‘as found’ material; particularly in his yard carvings, as in this dramatic work.
Carroll Taylor Lindoe, A figure, (curving itself into the shape of a seed), 1999, wartercolour, chalk, graphite and varnish on paper, 9″ x 7.5″ (each of the pair).
Visiting Chappice Lake, where her artist father Luke Lindoe once painted, and where Carroll at the age of 10 or 11, with her older brother, Allan Lindoe, now a palaeontology technician, once swam. Visiting again in 1998, she recounts her process as “a brief skimming of what’s possible in any place. With magical groupings of twos, or threes, a detailed description of a place, built on pieces of information evolved. Here, her poetic drawing, the artist’s way of knowing the world, are paired with more scientific illustrations of fauna, to great, other-earthly affect!
Installation view of the figure and ground grouping at WTG , October, 2025: J.E. Valois, Carroll Taylor Lindoe, Kelly Mark and Gerald Ferguson
Installation view of the figure and ground grouping at WTG , October, 2025: Greg Curnoe, J.E. Valois, Carroll Taylor Lindoe
Greg Curnoe, Jan 8, 1990, stamp pad ink on paper, custom frame (Curnoe reclaimed and cleaned a plastic sign to a deliberate point), 26″ x 32″ x 2″
The frame materials become part of the work, including the partially cleaned re-used commercial plastic sign.
A powerful, multi layered work, honouring an important early influential jazz figure Chick Webb, one of Curnoe’s jazz heroes, whose life was cut short. But not before his creative spirit and fine drumming influenced many of his generation and those to come.
Exhibited in the WTG 2010 Curnoe exhibition; Original Copy, Collages, Drawings, & Rubber Stamp Works, 1962-92
Co-curated by Rebecca Tuck
November 20 – January 15, 2010
Kelly Mark, Q, 2001, Letraset on paper, 11″ x 14″
Kelly Mark, gone too soon, was well known for her down to earth explorations of the every day. Here, found Letraset, that had its day, before the digital era, in the lives of many designers, typesetters, hobbyists and artists alike, became her inspiration.
The material led the way, the type used spontaneously, almost a doodling of sorts.
What appears is a great deal more!
Q, first exhibited at WTG in 2000, her solo exhibition in 2001, Mark then developed on this earlier work, with two continuous 16 foot Letraset line drawings. See past exhibitions.
Gerald Ferguson, from the Mark Twain series, left; No Bottom, right; Mark Twain. 2002, enamel on canvas, each 18″ x 18″
No Bottom, Any depth over 24 feet
Mark Twain, 12 feet above the lead
Two rare Ferguson Spiral paintings!
Mark Twain, the pen name for Samuel Clemens, was taken from his days as a RIver Boat Pilot on the Mississippi. Navigating the shallow river, a leadsman would take soundings and calls out the depth to the captain. “Mark Twain” or “safe water” is what the captain wanted to hear.
Ferguson took each “depth” as his length for the frottage “rope” spiral paintings. Standardizing the canvas size, he used each of the 14 possible depths. Originally exhibited at WTG in 2003 as part of The Boat Show.