For immediate release, January 20, 2011

Gerald Ferguson
Selected Works
North Gallery
Co-curated by Charlene Daignault

Opening Reception:
Saturday, January 22, 2-5pm

150’ Hose, 2000, enamel on canvas 48" X 60"

We are pleased to announce an exhibition of selected works of Gerald Ferguson, co-curated by Charlene Daignault.

In the short time that Daignault knew Gerald Ferguson, originally as an intern at Wynick/Tuck Gallery, her connection with him and his work grew exponentially. Recognizing in him a no muss no fuss character, Daignault got to know Ferguson while installing the show, discussing his work and the things that he was most passionate about. What followed was a Ferguson crash course, in how to look at and think about art and anything else that he had on his mind.

Daignault states “In selecting the works for the exhibition I felt an overwhelming urge to include at least one work from each of Ferguson’s series as each is integral to the development and exploration of the next.  As space allowed, I have succeeded in doing that, as well as sharpening the focus on technique and subject matter.

Beginning with the first of the frottage paintings, Fireback 3, 1998 as the anchor I selected other frottage works for their sinuous and gritty feel, then making a connection with the organic, painterly landscape works. The selection process grew and branched off to include Forty Drain covers, Eight Canvases (equivalents), 2007 and a work from his last series Spiral Squared, 2009.

I found that Ferguson’s small landscape panels from his 2008 grouping exhibited an idiosyncratic connection with 40 bowls of Tulips, 1996 a series preceding his landscapes by more than a decade.”

Together they form an astounding body of work with great integrity and amazing continuity and, as Jerry would have it, “beauty through the back door”.

Gerald Ferguson was a widely acclaimed conceptual artist, painter, writer, curator, collector and influential professor at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design for almost four decades. His groundbreaking work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Canada, as well as in the U.S. and Europe, with solo exhibitions at most major public galleries in Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. His work has also been seen in annual solo exhibitions at this gallery for over twenty years. It is included in numerous private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Gerald Ferguson passed away suddenly at the age of 72 in 2009.

Monica Tap
Study Notes
New Studies and Paintings
South Gallery

Opening Reception:
Saturday, January 22 Artist Present 2-5pm

Study (dervish), 2010 acrylic, charcoal and India ink on paper, 13” X 20”

We are pleased to announce the opening of Study Notes, an exhibition of new small studies and three new paintings by Monica Tap

Tap states: “I make small acrylic studies on paper to get acquainted with an image that I’ve short-listed as a possible source for a painting. The source images are in the form of video stills that I’ve extracted from short sequences recorded while traveling or commuting. The recordings document the landscape as it rolls by the window. I use a cheap digital still camera (or sometimes my cell phone), set to a low resolution to maximize the abstraction in the resulting capture.

This produces very many still frames which I sort through, looking for that certain something. Most of the video-stills are uninteresting. Some, however, stand out. In painting studies of these, I’m able to see them, to understand the image. This test determines if they have what it takes to stick to a canvas.”

Over the past fifteen years her canvases have been exhibited extensively in Canada, as well as in New York and London, England. Her work is included in significant public, corporate and individual collection across Canada and abroad. Tap is an Associate Professor in the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph. She is the recipient of many awards, grant and residencies from diverse institutions including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; Kunst & Complex Residency, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the Banff Centre

Taps work is also included in the exhibition; Another Roadside AbstractionJanuary 15 to March 12, 2011, curated by Jeff Nye and organized by Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, (Central Gallery). A catalogue for the exhibition has been published and will be available at WTG.

This exhibition features recent paintings by Canadian artists David Garneau and Monica Tap. Both artists have based their paintings on digital images of landscapes taken along roadsides or through the windows of moving vehicles. The speed of motorized travel and the instantaneous condition of the digital image, which can exist everywhere at once, are set in a dynamic contrast to the silent stillness of painting. The paintings by Tap offer glimpses into digitalized landscapes, captured by low-resolution video, that, once stilled, seem to be about to either materialize or unravel completely. Garneau's paintings of the Carlton Trail present the landscape through the lens of Métis culture and history, leading the viewer into new ways of looking at history, place, and identity.