Linda Heffernan and Ester Pugliese at loop Gallery

September 1 –23, 2012
Reception: Saturday, September 8, 2012, 2-5 PM
Q&A Session: Saturday, September 22, 3PM

loop Gallery is pleased to announce two exhibitions by loop members Linda Heffernan entitled Plus 2, and Ester Pugliese entitled False Relations and Fractions. 

Linda Heffernan, 'Plus 2' (2012)

Plus 2 continues Linda Heffernan's exploration of the potential ramifications of extreme climate change and the opposing points of view that make a considered global response so challenging. The textured semi-abstract paintings in this exhibit use satellite views of major cities and snippets of media commentary as a jumping off point to depict the consequences of choosing to explore or ignore the search for a green economy. 

Linda Heffernan is a Whitby-based artist exploring themes of consumer capitalism and bureaucracy in an ever more interconnected global economy. She has a BFA from OCAD University and her work is included in a number of private and public collections in Canada. Linda Heffernan is a member of loop Gallery and has exhibited her work in a number of galleries in Toronto 's Queen West district as well as Whitby's Station Gallery and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa. 

Ester Pugliese, 'False Relations I' (2012)

The mixed media works in Pugliese’s False Relations and Fractions offer up an arrangement of incongruous image pairings and split second variations that layer cultural references, natural elements and imagined realities. Roofs of Toronto houses open up to reveal ephemeral hierarchies; output graphs from Ontario's wind power facilities intertwine with musical notation spectrograms of Italian madrigals; and groupings of fragile objects invite closer inspection. 

Pugliese is a Toronto-based artist who has exhibited her work in Canada and England. She holds a BFA from York University and received the Humber College Board of Governors Achievement Award with her post-graduate certificate in Arts Administration/Cultural Management in 2004. Her work is in private and public collections in North America and Europe, including the Donovan Collection at St. Michael’s College, Toronto.

Photos from Don Allain's show

'anti-gravitational particle acceleration' by Don Allain ends this Sunday, August 26!

Photos by Patricia Njovu

'anti-gravitational particle acceleration' at loop Gallery

August 15th – 26th, 2012 

Reception: Saturday, August 18, 2012, 2-5 PM

loop Gallery is pleased to announce a guest exhibition by Don Allain entitled ‘anti-gravitational particle acceleration'.

Don Allain is an abstract painter currently based out of Toronto, Ontario, (b. Summerside, P.E.I.) whose studio practice and theoretical research focuses on evolving temporal states and overall spatial cognition. Allain explores multi-dimensional contemporary understandings of physical and cognitive reality by investigating various concepts from the frontiers of theoretical physics and neurological scientific research. They both serve as points of artistic departure and are echoed throughout his paintings, ie. (CERN’s LHC, the large hadron particle accelerator and collider in Geneva, Switzeland). Specifically, this research motivates an expressionistic studio practice and style that explores offshoot trajectories of the drip, line, geometry and colour theory by layering many different optical and abstract strategies. He engages in this method as a way of potentially discovering, re-envisioning and collapsing historical abstract wave functions towards new vistas of thought. To translate and articulate this discursive formation he has been considering and maneuvering via multiple routes so as to not consider things in a similar manner while simultaneously opening potential for visual growth. Allain does this via an interdisciplinary blend of art, philosophy, physics, neuroscience, and mathematics with the psychology of colour, optics and perception.

"I have been investigating the drip technique for over 10 years now and extensively as a form of expression over the last 5 years since graduating from the MFA program at York University in 2007. The paintings that make up this exhibition are examples of some of the experiments and discoveries that I have made along the way working in this style. They are formatted to echo and mimic HD flat panel televisions and engage the viewer in experiences of varying optical energies and resonances of hi-def colour, depth, and navigationally diverse visual trajectories encompassed within the cultural phenomena of electronic visual entertainment. Simultaneously, I have activated discoveries from the frontiers of theoretical physics as points of cognitive departure while maintaining an abstract visual vocabulary towards a means of conveyance and invites viewers to engage in an experiential menage of painting, optics and physics. Vestiges of past painterly tropes are strategically employed so as to arrive at a final abstract synthesis that is both contemporary and referential towards various historical abstract formations and artists.” - Don J. Allain

‘anti-gravitational particle acceleration' opens on Wednesday, August 15th, followed by the opening reception on Saturday, August 18th, 2-5pm. 

Image: Don Allain, anti-gravitational particle acceleration - lime rickey green, acrylic on canvas, 44.25" x 24.50", 2012.

Collective Vision Q & A

The Q & A on July 30 was moderated by William Huffman, Associate Director of Toronto Arts Council/Foundation and Grants Officer for Visual/Media Arts and Literary Arts, who for the next 18 months will be taking a sabbatical from that position to head up the Audience and Market Development Office at the Canada Council for the Arts in Ottawa.

Panelists were Richard Mongiat, who along with Catherine Beaudette, founded loop; Libby Hague, who just returned from a residency in Ireland, and Mark Adair, artist and Executive Committee Chair of loop.

Photos by Sandra Gregson