Two artists exhibit their solo shows in the simple and neat Loop Gallery. Mary Catherine Newcomb and Maria Gabankova are both art professors as well as veteran artists. The space is more or less divided into two, the front space displaying Newcomb’s works, and the back Gabankova’s.
Newcomb’s works are entirely sculptural, utilizing animal remains as well as the edible parts, pondering the identity and belonging of animals that exist both as domesticated and in the wild: frogs, hares, cows, and bees. Two tables greet the visitors: one with cattle bones painted with decorative blue paint, and the other with clay toads, jars, a pot, and dirty paintbrushes. The curation proves to be quite effective here. On the wall are bees pinned in a circular pattern, leading the eye to the work around the corner: a hare skeleton positioned on a glossy black surface. The cattle bones have decorative patterns similar to that of heirloom china one might see displayed in a cabinet. Icons like home, portraits, flora, fauna are painted on the bones. These two tables exist in opposition to each other. Whereas one is organized and neat, displayed on a clean white table, the other is unruly, disorganized, messy, and dirty on an unfinished wooden table.
Mary Catherine Newcomb, Miss Real Silver, detail, watercolour on cattle bones, dimensions variable
The dirty table looks like the work table for all of Newcomb’s works in the show. It has the jar of honey and honeycomb for the bees, blue paint for the bones, and clay remains for the frogs. The pot on the table is definitely one of the more interesting thing here, filled with congealed wax, leftover clay, with metal and wire sticking out of it, that produce a fascinating abstracted visual.
Mary Catherine Newcomb, Augury 1, Plasticine, dried currants, and honeycomb, dimensions variable
Furthermore, her exhibition as a whole has a fascinating visual to it. The hare skeleton arranged with edible ‘organs’ made of Plasticine, dried currants, and honeycomb.
Mary Catherine Newcomb, Augury 2, detail, Plasticine, dried currants, and honeycomb, dimensions variable
Mary Catherine Newcomb, Augury 2, mixed media, dimensions variable
Past the hare is the beginning of Gabankova’s exhibit. Two large building facades, portrait paintings, as well as sketches of faces adorn the walls. While Gabankova has certainly proved her skills in rendering a face with paint, her pencil/charcoal sketches are where the power really is. In one of the Residents section, four works are hung, two paintings on top and two sketches on the bottom. On the paintings the faces are effectively painted, but their rough sketches grab our attention immediately. The sketches are fast, rough, gestural, and powerful. They focus on the face and the expression; the ‘essence of the moment’.
Maria Gabankova, House without Home I, charcoal and encaustic on paper, 64″ x 57″.
The overall theme of the show is fairly clear. These dissidents have been displaced from their home, just like the nursing home residents. However, while the residents are portrayed in their moment of action, either walking or being fed; the dissidents are grouped together in an incongruent manner. Certainly paintings by no means require a ‘finished look’, and they do not have to be painted with the same style or colours. In this show each painting is different. One is half finished with conte, one is a black and white face overlaid with bright rainbow-like colours, one is a traditional portraiture with a splash of glossy black around the face, and one is an off-green portrait that shares none of the same palette with the rest. They are not connected in any other way than the theme of the show, depicting people who are displaced and removed from their original place.
Maria Gabankova, Dissidents, 2016, acrylic on canvas
Maria Gabankova, Resident feeding, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 20″ x 30″
In the corner of the space there is a little sketch of two people walking away accompanied with a quote from Vincent van Gogh about a heavenly journey. This dialectical presentation, along with the quick but powerful sketch, remained most in my head afterwards.
Maria Gabankova, Coming home, pencil on paper, 10″ x 8″
Text and photo: Sunny Kim
*Exhibition information: Mary Catherine Newcomb, Augury & Maria Gabankova, Home / Residents & Dissidents, June 18 – July 10, 2016, loop Gallery, 1273 Dundas Street West, Toronto, (three doors west of Dovercourt). Gallery hours: Wed – Sat 12 – 5, Sun 1 – 4 p.m.