Thursday, May 3, 2012 7 – 10 p.m.
Gladstone Hotel
Photo: Nicholas Liang
Thursday night, Gladstone Hotel was home to CONTACT’s photo shows, Be. Here. Now, Empty Vessels and Looking Askance. The shows were abuzz with Toronto’s art goers, who could be found either pushed up against the 100 year old walls of the hotel or getting some air on the beautiful south facing balcony. The hotel made the perfect venue with cathedral ceilings, warm wood floors, narrow hallways and small hidden rooms, perfect for an intimate moment or a break form the crowds. The number of works exhibited allowed the crowd to linger on some works and fly by others.
Be. Here. Now. Installation view. Photo: Nicholas Liang
Be. Here. Now, on the second floor produced in conjunction with Exposed 2012. The show was curated by David Brown and Ozant Kamaci.
Joseph Devitt Tremblay’s photo series 23 documented the last year of his life. Inspired by fashion photography and surealism Tremblay’s series combined both still-life objects and photos of himself. This is his first major show and it is at CONTACT; not a bad start for a man of 23.
Joseph Devitt Tremblay in front of his works. Photo: Shauna Jean Doherty
Akas Tarmaji: The Curtain. Photo: Nicholas Liang
Tom Ridout’s series, Blandscapes featuring nameless post-industrial spaces in an aesthetically simple yet conceptually complex way. For many of his projects, Ridout visits cities in decline like Buffalo and Detroit, and photographs evidence of their deconstruction. For Blandscapes, Ridout photographed large, drab edifices with minor hints of natural life; i.e. a verdant lawn in front of a mundane office building. Ridout describes this as “a subversion of nature”. Zoe Bridgman’s socioeconomic photos featured portraits of school-age children sitting in their home, a far departure from her regular portfolio of fashion photography.
Viewers and work by Annette Seip. Photo: Nicholas Liang
Laurie Kang’s show, “Empty vessels make the most noise” is on the 3rd floor. Her abstract compositions investigates the space between image and object. She tilts her photographies into the surrounding space to create a multidimentional image.
Works by Laurie Kang. Photo: Nicholas Liang
The exhibition on the 4th floor Looking Askance contains staged scenarios. Jamie Campbell’s images are focusing on ghosts by showing them in a way that make it hard to decide what is fake and what is real. On Lay the gost to rest the white sheet seems to float by itself and be occupied by a man at the same time. His legs are behind the wall while his head is in front of it giving the illusion of a starnge presence, being and not being there. Campbell’s other images show how these effects are created in his studio by models standing in front or behind sheets partly visible but more real than ghostly. The ambiguous images are mesmerizing.
Jamie Campbell, work from Looking Askance. Photo: Nicholas Liang
Text: Shauna Jean Doherty