Child of Rock: Solo Exhibition by VAYA

September 5 to September 28, 2019

VAYA UNPLUGGED/Acoustic Performance: Thursday September 19 2019 • 6 PM to 7 PM

RSVP either event to info@urbangallery.ca 

ABOUT VAYA

An incisive & provocative artist, Akin Ossington member VAYA explores, mixes, meets & transcribes the darkness in the angels’ voices. An energetic claw on each canvas, VAYA dances as she works and often by candlelight to be closer to the imperceptible. "It's always a discovery the next day in daylight." She also employs a camera to share her creativity, "A way of getting out of yourself and becoming your own observer is fun and fascinating". VAYA has fun, dances, writes prayers on the souls of her music legend subjects. "I like to pay tribute to those who have suffered so much, laying some particles of peace over their restless souls - isn’t that the artist's role? Transfigure suffering into masterpieces?

"It's always a discovery the next day in daylight."

~Would she become animal or simply an expression of the painting, these faces that invite her to dance, whatever it is? 

"The limit is tiny between Madness and Genius." It's just a question of knowing how to pass the stirrup to this crazy horse that takes you to the depths. Keep your eyes closed in all confidence with it, holding the reins with your fingertips, while keeping a clear vision, discipline and flexibility.

When she has fun with a camera, VAYA plays the photographer as the muse. 

"A way of getting out of yourself and becoming your own observer is fun and fascinating".

VAYA has fun, dances, writes prayers on the souls of Legends, particularly iconic.

"I like to give a tribute to those who have suffered so much, some particles of peace over their restless souls: Isn’t it the Artist's role? Transfigure suffering into masterpieces?”

ART SHOW: Verbal Gems - Zoë Bridgman

Verbal Gems
Solo Show by Zoe Bridgman

April 9- 10
Exhibition hours: 12-7
Opening Reception : April 9 6pm-9pm

Costume House
165 Geary Avenue, 2nd Floor Unite A

Akin Dupont member Zoë Bridgman is a painter and photographer currently living in Toronto. She studied at Parsons School of Design and graduated with a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She worked as a commercial photographer for over a decade in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. 

She has participated in several group shows throughout her career in San Francisco, Montreal and Toronto. In 2013 she exhibited her “Influence” project at Contact Photo in Toronto and in 2013 participated in Flash Forward. 

More recently Zoë has been painting and completed her “Verbal Gems” project which she started in 2017.

Akin Vitrine Galleries featuring 'Forest & Lakes' by Jen Pilles

We are very pleased to welcome in the New Year with new work from Akin King member, Jen Pilles! Forests & Lakes is an exhibition of plein air studies; each work created in nature using a combination of gouache, pencil, watercolour, and ink.

Jen Pilles has been developing her plein-air practice for many years, finding inspiration in the Ontario countryside, and joy in the act of studying the landscape. These works on wood and paper were created in the following locations between 2014 - 2018: Algonquin Park, Bobcaygeon, Bracebridge, Brechin, Dwight, Huntsville, Oastler Lake Provincial Park, Tamworth, Toronto Island, and Warsaw Caves Conservation Area.

Forests & Lakes begins its journey in the Akin Vitrine Galleries beginning at 1485 Dupont for the month of January and 1747 St. Clair Avenue West in February.

Jen Pilles is a freelance illustrator and plein-air artist from Welland, Ontario. She creates charming drawings and colourful illustrations using a combination of mediums including ink, gouache, watercolour and coloured pencil. She creates work for a variety of clients including publishers, public institutions, not-for-profit organizations, small businesses, and private clients. Jen holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts with Honours in Illustration from Sheridan College.

Jen has been practicing plein-air painting for over a decade and derives much of her inspiration from travelling and exploring the landscape. The work she creates out in nature informs and inspires her illustration practice. Feeling most at home out in the woods or floating in a lake, Jen is always on the lookout for new locations to draw and paint in the open air.

Forests & Lakes
Media: gouache, watercolour, pencil, ink
Dimensions variable
Dates: 2014 - 2018

To contact the artist:
Instagram: @jenpillestration
#Akinvitrine
www.jenpilles.com

Akin Collective + Akin Projects are excited to present our 2019 programming in two Vitrine Galleries located at Akin Dupont and Akin St. Clair. These miniature galleries feature the diverse talent of our members with travelling installations rotating each month. Each artist will be featured for the first month at Dupont and second month at St. Clair. For more information about our artists and our programming, join us on Instagram @akinvitrine.

Forests & Lakes will be on view for the month of January in our Dupont Akin Vitrine Gallery, located in the Clock Factory Building at 1485 Dupont Street (entrance on Campbell Avenue). Find Akin Studio 215 on the second floor and follow the sign into the hallway around the corner. The building is open from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.

The exhibition will then travel to the Akin St. Clair Vitrine Gallery and be on view for the month of February at 1747 St. Clair Avenue West. Gallery is street level and can be viewed at any time.

For more information about Jen and her work, follow our Instagram account @akinvitrine.

Jen will also be taking over the @akinprojects Instagram account on January 28-30th. Stay tuned for more of her beautiful work and some behind the scenes.

Sarah Letovsky's 'I Like For You to be Still' →

Project Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Sarah Letovsky of Akin Dupont.

In this series of work, Letovsky's reverence for the portrait evolves to encompass more of the figure and spatial context; in doing so, evoking a sense of intimacy, hinting at spaces of belonging and familiarity such as bedrooms and living rooms. The paintings are reminiscent of selfies; a camera is never directly featured but implied, and raises questions about who the image is for, and by. The work invites the viewer to consider the self-photograph as a contradiction and an equilibrium in which the private becomes public, a work of both intimacy and exhibitionism.

The title of the show is a reference to Pablo Neruda's poem of the same name, in which Neruda describes the quintessential female muse – still and silent, an object of desire set apart to gaze upon:

I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent,
and you hear me from far away and my voice does not
touch you.
It seems as though your eyes had flown away
and it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth.

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Opening Reception: Sept 6th, 6:00-9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Sept 6-Sept 30, 2018
Location: Project Gallery, 1210 Dundas Street East

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Letovsky's subjects challenge this narrative; they are both confrontational and inviting, a director in their own representation. Their image is a performance, and we are invited to view the subject and their body through a negotiation of the self. It also invites us to consider the particularly gendered discussion of self-documentation. As Anne Burns discusses in Self(ie)-Discipline, "the gendering of selfies and the prevalent assumption that they act as proof of narcissism limit how women’s personal photography is socially valued... selfishness is a particularly barbed insult when directed at women, as it references the subject’s transgression of the norm of feminine self-sacrifice". 

Letovsky also takes inspiration from her love of prose and poetry, in particular, stories of the interior lives of women and girls, and their private narratives of love, joy, anger, grief, self-pity, and insecurity operating beneath the surface. In these paintings, Letovsky’s subjects are caught in an ambiguous and mundane moment; they seem observant, sexual, uncertain, and sometimes indifferent or bored - belying a rich interior complexity.

Sarah Letovsky lives and works in Toronto, Canada. She graduated from the University of King's College in Halifax in 2009 where she studied literature and film. She completed her BFA at OCAD University in 2014 in Drawing and Painting and was the recipient of the Mrs. W.O. Forsyth Award for Excellence in Painting. Her first solo exhibition with Project Gallery, Girls Girls Girls, opened in 2016. Most recently Letovsky exhibited in the group show "Today's Paper" at Angell Gallery in Toronto.

Project is a commercial art gallery in Toronto that exhibits a critical selection of artists, whose work reflects new and innovative developments in contemporary art. It is located at 1210 Dundas Street East, in the heart of Leslieville with accompanying studios overlooking the Don Valley in Riverside.

2018 Thesis Award Show: 'Patria Potestas' by Michelle Peraza at ARTiculations →

MICHELLE PERAZA

Patria Potestas

June 13th - July 13th, 2018.

Reception: Thursday, June 14th, 7-9pm

Location: ARTiculations, 2928 Dundas St West / Mon-Fri: 11-6, Sat: 11-5, Sun: 12-5

Michelle Peraza's recent body of work 'Patria Potestas' explores themes of ethnicity, origins, culture, tradition, skin colour, value systems, customs, identity, migration, integration, and familial hierarchy and bonds that raise vital questions. Large-scale portraiture is the catalyst allowing expression of these themes. Peraza chooses to paint individuals close to herself; people often ignored and unseen in the history of the painted portrait, particularly the Latino race/ethnicity. Matte black gesso creates a foundation of intensity and somberness to construct a version of the individual through a meticulous point system and linear comprehension of the face. High-realism allows the character, ethos, psychology, identity and appearance of the person to manifest. Large-scale provides a status as well as time for acknowledgment given the individuals frequent invisibility. The individuals Peraza chooses to paint are everyday people. They are immigrants. They are Canadian. They have stories and struggles. They provide consideration of their humanity, the artist's own humanity, our places in the world, and an interpretation of the face through paint.

The Thesis Award Show is a collaboration between ARTiculations, Graven Feather Studio and Akin Collective in support of graduating post secondary students. A call was sent out across the Province for applications in search of students demonstrating a coherent body of work unique in both concept and execution. Overwhelmed by the response, we extend a huge thank you to all of the applicants and congratulate this year's winner, Michelle Peraza. In addition to a solo exhibition Michelle will receive studio credit with Akin Collective as part of the award. 

Painters Make Better Lovers Group Show →

Painters Make Better Lovers is a group painting show inspired by American painter Molly Zuckerman-Hartung’s 95 Theses on Painting. Using her manifesto as a jumping off point, the group proposes works that examine and reflect their own personal, political, and theoretical motivations as painters. As emerging artists, they seek a greater understanding of how elements including: aesthetics, the history of painting, and gender inform the underlying ethos of their work. Like Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, the artists work intuitively and celebrate painting as an ongoing conversation with oneself, other artists, and the environments they inhabit.

Painters Make Better Lovers

Location: Northern Contemporary

Dates: May 31st - June 5th, 2018.

Opening Reception: May 31st, 2018 at 6:30PM

Painters Make Better Lovers features the work of Rebekah Andrade of Akin King, Cristine Yunyk, Adelaide Thorhallsdottir, Inga Gircyte, and Kristin Morthens.

Through languages of painting and sculpture, Rebekah Andrade’s work explores definitions of the ideal form in its many expressions of architecture, geometry, space, and colour. Within these elements, she is interested in our desire to perfect characteristics and draws inspiration from challenging personal instincts to control and manipulate her inhabited spaces. Using this as a jumping off point the methods and boundaries of subject and medium are negotiated, intuitively evolving her geometric combinations, application of paint, and construction of forms. With a minimalistic approach of transitioning overlapping layers of ambiguous lines, texture, faded curves, and contrasting colours, we become emotionally receptive to the spaces within her paintings.  Rebekah holds a BFA in Visual Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design and is currently completing a Graphic Design certificate through Parsons School of Design in New York City. Her work has shown in Chile, Vancouver, and Toronto.

Introducing Akin Collective Career Launcher Award Winner Natalie King! →

Congratulations to Natalie King, recent OCAD University Drawing & Painting graduate and winner of the 2018 Akin Collective Career Launcher award! We look forward to having Natalie join us at the studio! Natalie will receive a free 50sqft foot studio space for a 4-month period at one of Akin's shared workspaces in 2018-2019.

The Career Launchers are unique, high-profile opportunities for graduating students of OCAD University, developed in partnership with industry organizations such as Akin in order to help new graduates start their professional practice after school. 

Currently based in Toronto, Natalie's work is influenced by colour, form, shape and identity. Her practice ranges from drawing, painting, print-making and installation. Centered through a queer lens involving portrayals of femme identities. Natalie King’s works are about embracing the ambiguity and multiplicities of identity within the queer femme experience. King’s works are a portrayal of life with it’s both harsh realities and the resilience of the human spirit.

'A Portrait Gallery' Group Show Featuring Akin Member Andrew Kennedy →

Akin Dupont member Andrew V. Kennedy will be exhibiting two works in the group show 'A Portrait Gallery' at Propeller Gallery in Toronto: 'Always Within Our Hearts' (72" x 60", Oil and printed text on canvas) and 'Timing' (40" x 30", Oil on board). 

Through the use of painting, portraiture, and text, Andrew's work seeks to explore the 'water' surrounding the modern human condition. Andrew received a BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Painting from Brooklyn College. 

'A Portrait Gallery' runs from May 2 to May 13th at Propeller Gallery.

Opening reception on Saturday May 5th, 2 to 5pm.

Exhibition features the work of Andrew Kennedy, Audrey Smith, Corynn Kokolakis, Elham Fatapour, Elsa Hashemi, Evelyn Rapin, Five Eight, Gabrielle Lasporte, Janet Horne Cozens, Janet Kimantas, Jason Lee Rhyno, Kari Serrao, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, Lea Belegris, Lisandro Pena Madeline Strang, Michelle Winters, Mo Jamal, Paul Kilbertus, Qiao Wang, Ross Winter, Shahla Etemad-zadeh Jamal, Shawna Munro, Vanessa Le Page, Wilfred Wong and Zoey Zoric.

Obvious and Implied: Paintings by Nancy Bennett at Deer Park Public Library

A new solo exhibition of sky paintings by Nancy Bennett of Akin Sunrise are on display for the month of August at Deer Park Public Library, 40 St. Clair Avenue East. 

Nancy Bennett is a self-schooled artist. She has studied under several Toronto artists in formal and informal settings. Nancy is also co-founder of Four Corners Studio in Riverside/Leslieville. 
Her work is held in private and corporate collections in Canada and the U.S.A.

www.nancybennett.ca

Far Away, So Close / Azadeh Elmizadeh solo exhibition at 26 Art Space

A collection of new paintings by Azadeh Elmizadeh of Akin Lansodwne will be exhibited every Saturday in March at 26, a domestic viewing space for contemporary art.  You are invited to join artists Nicole Collins and Michael Davidson in their home-turned-gallery every Saturday in March to see the paintings and to share some tea and casual conversation.

Far Away, So Close / 2 - 6pm / March 4, 11, 18, & 25 / 26 Mackenzie Crescent, Toronto

About Far Away, So Close
"The passage of time amplified by geographical distance affects one’s response to a moment in time. On occasions, these instances can be discerned better from afar. Working from autobiographical references as a point of departure, I’m interested in the gap a painter deals with, using photographic sources; the gap in representation, between what is seen and what is felt.

While revisiting a moment might bring closer the actual event, it might also lead to a more distant and disconnected response, allowing me to project my own subjectivity. Far away, So close, represents my back and forth approach; between borrowing from the past and making in the present during the past two years. ” - Azadeh Elmizadeh

About the Artist:
Azadeh Elmizadeh is a Toronto-based Iranian-Canadian visual artist. She recently graduated from OCAD University with a BFA in Drawing & Painting. This is her first solo exhibition.

About 26:
26 is a domestic viewing space for contemporary art in the Beaconsfield neighborhood of Toronto, Canada. A curatorial collaboration between artists Nicole Collins and Michael Davidson, 26 features an open program of diverse local and international artists and seeks to engage the viewer in a critical and relaxed experience with art.

Beautiful paintings by former Akin Collective member Laura Krick

It is always sad to see someone leave the Akin Collective studios, but we are always thrilled to see their new work even after they have left. Here we have beautiful images from Laura Krick who left Akin to study at Emily Carr University in Vancouver. We can't wait to see more!