Al Razutis, “Aether Vane,” 1974 (photo by Felix Rapp, courtesy of UNIT/PITT)
Al Razutis: Gravity Wins, Entropy Rules
Avant-garde filmmaker and 3D art innovator Al Razutis has been part of the West Coast art scene since the 1970s. His latest exhibition, Gravity Wins, Entropy Rules, is on now through April 30 at UNIT/PITT in Vancouver.
Guest curated by Felix Rapp, the show is part of the Capture Photography Festival and features holographic sculptural plates and assemblages that Razutis created in the early 1970s at Visual Alchemy, a studio space that he had under the Granville Street Bridge.
The show is accompanied by a limited-edition publication featuring work by Razutis and Rapp, as well as Sidney Gordon and Catharine MacTavish, and an experimental film screening of Razutis’ work will take place in the gallery’s garden space in April.
“When you see a hologram for the first time, you will either get hooked by what you are looking at, or not,” Razutis once told Area of Design. “For me the enchantment was instantaneous. I could see the future clearly in what holography was. It was the future of ‘imaging’ and within it was a remarkable capacity for art.”
Nate McLeod, “Blue Shelf (Overnight Tomato Sauce),” acryla gouache, acrylic, and clock hardware on canvas over panel, 24" x 32" (courtesy of Herringer Kiss Gallery)
Historical Still Life Painting Inspiration for Nate McLeod
There’s something playful and fun about Nate McLeod’s new work: anonymous hands holding playing cards, 16 coloured balls on shelves, watermelon, candles, a chess game (but who wins?)
His latest exhibition, Slow Burn, is on view now through April 6 at Herringer Kiss Gallery in Calgary.
“Drawing upon a collection of images the artist has amassed over the past two years, Slow Burn adopts the conventions and symbolism of historical still life painting to suggest layered narratives, both personal and universal,” according to the news release.
“The images themselves come from a variety of sources including: screenshots of social media posts; documentation of previous work and the work of other artists; and personal photographs of possessions, food, plants, pastimes, and recent trips. Occasionally, AI image generators are used to expand upon the images by creating variations of the originals.”
Formerly Contemporary Calgary’s associate curator, McLeod holds a MFA from AUArts and is currently the university’s education art technician in the drawing and painting departments. His work is in public and private collections across Canada, including Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Encana and Royal Bank of Canada. He lives in Calgary.
Shary Boyle, “Cabaret,” 2022, gouache acrylique, céramique, textiles et encre sur lin, 30" x 36" (courtesy of Patel Brown)
Shary Boyle's Fantastical Art at Patel Brown, MacKenzie Art Gallery
“The life spark, that’s what I’m interested in. Working with life spark, and I believe you can do that with art,” Toronto artist Shary Boyle told Christine Pountney for Hazlitt in 2013.
“The fact is, I’m quite earnest about what I make. It’s the earnestness that makes people uncomfortable. I’m trying to do something elegant; I’m trying to do something beautiful. I absolutely believe in my materials, and my hands, and when I make my work, I try to just do it the best I can.”
Boyle's new exhibition, Vesselling, is on now through April 13 at Patel Brown in Montreal.
It is her first solo exhibition with Patel Brown, but follows the success of her touring show, Outside the Palace of Me, which will be on view at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Saskatchewan from April 5 to Sept. 9, 2024.
Outside the Palace of Me was also shown at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.
Boyle's many accolades include the Gershon Iskowitz Prize in 2009 and the Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award in 2010. She also represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 2013. ■
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