Three new exhibitions — the Big Foldy Painting of Death, Rhythm in Blue and Artistic Dreams — open this Friday night at 6 at the Comox Valley Art Gallery.
The members' preview runs from 6 to 7, with the public reception from 7 to 9. Everyone is welcome to attend, admission is free and most of the artists will be in attendance.
In the Contemporary Gallery, CVAG’s main exhibit hall, Vancouver-based artist Ian Forbes exhibits The Big Foldy Painting of Death, Volume One (an ongoing work).
This piece was created on a continuous roll of canvas approximately 127 feet long, and six feet in height (the viewer is engulfed inside one large artwork).
The acrylic painting is a panoramic, unrestrained and personal narrative using the multiple vocabularies of contemporary art to investigate the destructive qualities of creation and the creative qualities of destruction.
Viewers are invited into a “deeply personal conversation about how we are inhabiting this planet, this country, this city, this street, this gallery, this studio.”
Here they encounter the provocative juxtaposition of the horror and pleasure of the impending apocalypse; the betrayals and fealties of the aging body and, perhaps, an optimistic hope for apology and reconciliation.
In its presentation of multiple, fragmentary concepts and themes, this piece offers an opportunity for viewers to occupy a highly visceral, contested terrain of emotional experience, and to emerge from this fragmented landscape with new appreciation for that which has, through processes of industrialization and modernization, been lost.
This Saturday at 11 a.m., Ian will present an hour-long Art Talk, discussing his artwork, process and current projects. Admission to the Art Talk is free or by donation.
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In the Community Gallery, The Art Group of the Comox Valley exhibits a show titled Rhythm in Blue features; art works unified by the theme of “blue” in its varied meanings, and each contains the colour blue.
Oil paintings, acrylic paintings, glass, textiles and sculpture are among the media appearing in this exhibit.
Rhythm in Blue will be sold via silent auction, with proceeds supporting L’Arche, an organization helping challenged individuals through art. The silent auction will run throughout the show and ends with a public reception Feb. 18 when the successful bidder will be announced.
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In the George Sawchuk Gallery, the Grade 4-5 students from École Robb Road in Comox exhibit Artistic Dreams.
Inspired by the piano version of the song Mad World, Ms. Yourchik’s students discussed the emotions they felt while listening to this piece of music and the power music can have in our lives. Combining this with their studies of Pablo Picasso’s blue period artworks, they used only blue, black and white paint to create shades and tints on canvas paper to explore an abstract visual vocabulary of line and shape.
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CVAG is in downtown Courtenay at 580 Duncan Ave. For details, visit its website or call 250-338-6211.
— Comox Valley Art Gallery