372 Sainte Catherine ouest, #425
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Standing Outside of Circles; Spending Time Thinking In
By: Michael A. Armstrong
Comfortably nestled on the fourth floor of Montreal's Belgo building located at 372 Rue Sainte Catherine, Galerie Push and its recent exhibition "Out Thinking in Circles, in Circles Thinking Out" has what it takes to draw in any art fan in. But that's the easy part. Curated by Kyle Beal - a Montreal based artist represented by Galerie Push, "Out Thinking in Circles, in Circles Thinking Out" was as a thoughtful addition to Montreal's Belgo, delivering a thematically cohesive collection that pushed intellectual buttons without staying heady. Unapologetically living up to its founding mandate, Galerie Push delivered an attractive dose of art, transforming an otherwise sterile 20x20ft room into a conceptual playground, proving what a wealth of talent, a sharp mind and a keen eye are capable of.
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| Lucy Pullen – "Hole" |
The Belgo is a pretty unassuming building, with a main entrance on Ste. Catherine street that is sandwiched between its in-house coffee stop Café Crème and Souvenirs Jannat. What lies beyond the doors of the Belgo has emerged as something of a hub for Montreal's contemporary artists' scene. Galeries D'Art Contemporain du Belgo hosts a diverse mixture of more than 30 state subsidized artist run centres and privately operated galleries, with Galerie Push standing as a flagship for the next generation of emerging Canadian artists to showcase their work here in Montreal.
An effort of entrepreneurship, operating an art gallery must at the end of the day pay the bills. Founding director of Galerie Push, Megan Bradley however, compromises none of her credibility simply for the sake of selling art. A challenge she's admitted to being an unfortunate factor fellow members of her profession routinely face. "It's tricky," she's noted in past interviews, "you have to be very selective and you have to pick things you really think exemplify what your gallery is all about, but you have to also think about how it's going to be perceived in the marketplace." Yet, despite the very real pressures operators of gallery space face to showcase what might be – politely - deemed as "sellable art," Ms. Bradley remains keenly aware of the importance her role at Push, dismissing, quaintly I might add, the politics of profitability, mere moments after bringing it up herself in our conversation.
While art does have to sell, she never loses sight that art still needs to be "art." There is a comforting absence of elitism that a statement like that might otherwise initially elicit; in fact, far from it. Rather than seeing her position in the art circuit with any sense of power - that say a struggling student of the arts might otherwise perceive in such a role, Ms. Bradley views her position instead with a sense of purpose and dedication; attuned to showcasing the work of emerging artists in as many forms they are able to present, and she, able to accommodate. A genre, she admits is pretty broad, but also one that keeps her proactive and immersed. Keeping an eye on the pulse of Montreal's art scene is one thing, keeping the other on what is present and prescient, regardless of where it came is a different challenge altogether. Especially for the owner of a gallery in an arts scene that I, an outsider, bravely ventured to guess was "insular," a description that left her nodding in agreement.
"Obviously I want to be able to support artists who are directly in my community; you're always more inclined to work with those around you; those who you know and care about" she said, then clarifying further, saying that... " ultimately what's important for the gallery to be able to distinguish itself is to have a really strong grouping of emerging, contemporary, mostly Canadian artists. That to me will be stronger than any ties I have here; with Montreal or otherwise. It's just not my mandate." This perspective may come to the chagrin of some proud Quebecois, but I found her rationale compelling. "[Artists] feed off each other artistically... by bringing an artist here from elsewhere... [and having] works that can be displayed side by side. It's the best of both worlds" she states, describing the bounty that occurs when artistic circles overlap and resulting in an exchange where both camps stand to benefit.
Whether she knew it or not, it seemed as though she was describing her role in Montreal, better than if I asked her to do so directly. For Ms. Bradley, art trumps tribe but the diversity of the in-bound artistic talent Montreal hosts, in the end, makes the tribe stronger and their perspectives fresher. Building on the premise that the work shown at Push be representative of the gallery Ms. Bradley seeks to run, she remains focused to deliver on that promise by displaying works by artists that are sometimes quirky, often daring but always new.
This review wasn't initially meant to be a biographical affair, but I'm not sure I'd be able to speak to the kind of gallery Ms. Bradley runs without touching on the virtues she brings to the table. It's part of Push's success. She's a thoughtful and well-spoken member of Montreal's next generation of smart, young professionals, who approaches her role as operator of Galerie Push with a sense of responsibility and purpose. Truth be told, I admire her courage. It takes guts to venture out of the guarded gates of theory and into the jungle of practice, but doing so fresh out of school and on her own terms make her success all the more inspiring.
The collection of multi-disciplinary works by six artists, which were on display in "Out Thinking in Circles, in Circles Thinking Out" stand vibrantly individually but are enjoyed in full effect when seen as a collection. With Kyle Beal presenting his vision in his ode to the circle - the spiral and all things circular - we'd be taking for granted Megan Bradley's role at the helm of Push, who makes possible a project like "Out Thinking in Circles, in Circles Thinking Out" possible, let alone have it come to embody what Galerie Push can be all about.
In a conversation Megan Bradley shared with Kyle Beal - a Calgary based artist who's recently made waves by playing with language and irony in his art, Mr. Beal indicated that he was flirting with the idea of curating his first exhibit. Working together on his recent Galerie Push debut "Surveying the Danger Field," it just so happened - to their pleasant surprise - that Push had just the vacancy to fill. Enticed by Mr. Beal's proposal that called for bringing together "the simplicity of basic forms; to act as a ground for which things can get complicated" he chose works that purposefully "perplex you a bit so [that] you keep look[ing] at it... offer[ing] a kind of resistance." Mr. Beal selected for inspiration in this project the circle, a form "so common as to be nearly invisible" - forms that dominate the exhibit but don't oppress it.
Mr. Beal's exhibition begins, or at least it should, with a quick viewing of his exhibition text. Drawing you in on a cognitive level, spiral text spins outwardly from the center, featuring the fundamental place of circles in human instinct, rhetoric, and symbolism. It's a text that's counter-intuitively easier to read than one might find at first glance. From Jan Somson of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics speaking to humanity's bewildering tendency to wander in circles when lost, to quoting a lyric by the American 60's rock band staple The Byrds, Mr. Beal draws on the traditional meaning of the circle both metaphorically and literally. It's basic place in nature, the cosmos and our daily lives. Imploring us to join him in his journey to rediscover the place of the circle, Mr. Beal uses his own suggestions as a base but provides the space for us to draw our own connections and conclusions.
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| Galerie Push – Kris Lindskoog "13 Untitled works" |
Kris Lindskoog's set of 13 "Untitled" paintings dominates the southern wall of the exhibit, carefully arranged in an irregular 6x3 configuration, it draws your eyes to the set as a whole at first, then forcing you to scale your focus on each piece individually. In a visual grouping he explicitly directed Ms. Bradley to assemble, over the phone no less, your vision is immediately anchored to the empty center of the grid, rotating out, and taking in each of the thirteen works; one by one. Using watered down acrylic paint and the occasional of iridescent spray, Mr. Lindskoog entices the viewer to come find your own circles. For this he provides plenty to work with. The works span from spheres of color to what look like eclipses, almost Venn diagrams of watercolor inspired simplicity. These pieces are partnered with what Ms. Bradley described as "semi-photographic" pieces, where hues of color blend and at once convey the descent of night or the glorious arrival of sunrise.
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| Galerie Push – Kris Lindskoog "Untitled" |
By fusing the complimentary and opposing colors, Mr. Lindskoog pulls your perspective to controlled constellations of iridescent flecks of paint or to shades that dominate and bleed from the edges of the painting, to the middle - always drawing your eyes to the work's epicenter, wherever it may lie. The sum of his "Untitled" works are drawn and painted on a single piece of paper, Mr. Lindskoog's framed illustrations present a perfect place to begin our exploration of the sphere. Progressing to Push's western wall we encounter three photographic prints by David Prince, an American artist, whose subject is what appears to be a nest, situated in the urban environment of what looks like San Diego or Los Angeles, California. What I initially assumed to be a nest, made out of brown sticks, I later came to find - only after my conversation with Megan Bradley - that it actually isn't made up of sticks at all.
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| David Prince – 53 Street Cleaning bristles" |
Mr. Prince assembles the 53 piece "nest" according to precise instructions that come with every set- consisting of broken bristles from a public street sweeping vehicle, adding a completely new twist to my original impression. The safety and sense of normalcy we might associate symbolically with a nest – of the most natural of homes and source of protection from the world outside it - is at once, totally turned upside-down. The "sticks" become instantly recognizable metal blades, with broad sections of the exposed metal rusting into shades of warm sienna and mahogany browns. What appeared at first to be a series of natural subjects in atypical, urban environments instead turn foreign, cold and themselves unnatural.
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| Galerie Push - David Prince"53 Street Cleaning Bristles" |
The "nest," officially titled "53 Street Sweeper Bristles" was also modestly featured at the sill of Push's window overlooking the highly urbanized view of Montreal's downtown. These are but one set of Mr. Prince's work on display at Push, his other being a 43"x42" pencil drawing titled "One Hundred," taking its place to the right of Ms. Bradley's sequestered desk space. It's a simple work made up of what seems to be the work of an unshakable virtue of patience, as well as one hundred pencil drawn rings. Viewed in perspective, it instantly triggers the image of a severed tree trunk, revealing its rings, each representing one year in its life. I dare you to find imperfections and eraser marks; I know I tried!
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| David Prince - "One Hundred Rings," courtesy David Price |
Between Mr. Prince's photographic prints and Shawna McLeod's homage to the disco-ball, we're presented with a TV screen playing a twelve-minute loop of video titled "Tricks in a Cesna." It's an easily dismissible film at first glance with aerial footage from an aircraft mid-air, but attention paid to details pays dividends; not withstanding its breathtaking views of lush islands, full of green, on British Columbia's western coast. Midway though the video Ms. Pullen instructs the pilot to cut the engine above Vancouver Island at 50,000 feet. What results is a dizzying suspension of weight presented by zero gravity, before the plane naturally begins to turn, ever slowly, into increasingly larger arcs in its downwardly spiraling descent, demonstrating how it stays true to Mr. Beal's original theme. Another of Ms. Pullen's work is featured prominently in Galerie Push and is hanging in the center of the room. Titled "Hole," Ms. Pullen fashioned the piece out of a single strip of wooden ash, manipulating with steam, the result is what appears to be part-möbius strip, part-figure eight, instilling in the viewer the circular signs of the infinity.
What came to be my favorite work in Mr. Beal's exhibition is the impressive pair of Shawna McLeod's "Disco Confetti" pieces. Featuring two separate works, both painted in acrylic on wooden panels, one on exposed wood and the other on a softened teal base, Ms. McLeod's "Disco Confetti" is a colorful, controlled explosion of paint. Seeming to be revolving and itself in motion, brilliant multi-colored panels of confetti seem to just lift off the orb, imbuing the painting instantly with a sense of dynamism and movement. The one artist in the collection with whom Megan Bradley has worked with in the past, Ms. McLeod's delicate and striking strokes of color won't fail to impress.
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| Galerie Push – Shawna McLeod "Disco Confetti 1" |
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| Galerie Push – Shawna McLeod "Disco Confetti 2" |
To the right of Ms. McLeod's work is the subtle addition of Robert Hengeveld, whose artwork I had totally taken for granted. Consisting of what looks to be a generic coffee cup taken to-go, it looked like the one of Galerie Push's guests didn't quite find the trash can and left it there. A second glance reveals the small box that the cup is resting on is actually plugged into a nearby outlet, the sleeve on the cup quietly running laps around the circumference of the cup -and most unsuspecting visitors. Mr. Hengeveld's work takes items that are both identifiable and overlooked, leading us to believe we know what they are. Only then does he turn that notion on its head, and I gotta say, I totally fell for it. I'm not sure that feel so bad about it now though, at least because that's precisely the point.
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| Robert Hengeveld – "Paper Cup" |
The final work on display in "Circles" is Amélie Guérin's treatment of Galerie Push's east wall. Featuring the framed "Portrait of a Slow Movement" prominently in the center, it is surrounded by a series of black holes, which appear to be eating away at the integrity of Push's –sometimes- painfully white walls. Ms. Guérin, a Quebec City native who currently lives in Montreal, maintains a playful sense of "transforming the mundane" to "reinvent the wheel." Her works are often humorous and according to her, "transform the ordinary into something creative (or) deceptive." "Portrait of a Slow Movement" is no exception to this rule.
Featuring a blurry photo of what looks to be a group of people engaged in Tai-Chi exercises, when you pay closer attention, the viewer should notice an eminently present smiley face. Taking advantage of the already blurry nature of the photo, Ms. Guérin constructs the face with staggered cutout copies of same photo it's affixed to, making the face appear to blend in, even though it doesn't. It's not supposed to. The result is a subtly humorous and at once perplexing piece. When viewed together with Ms. Guérin's treatment of the wall, it transforms the other-worldliness conjured by the photo and the face, to strangely fit and make sense.
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| Amelie Guerin – "Portrait of a Slow Movement" |
Kyle Beal's attention to basic elements conceptually is inescapable, a major factor in why "Out Thinking in Circles, in Circles Thinking Out" works so well as a collection. It is minimalist in concept but uses the opportunity to maximize every piece's redefinition of it. The exhibit would have been compelling to both the average passersby on the street and serves as an overt reminder to previous visitors of what makes Galerie Push such a unique fixture in Montreal's art scene.
