Posts Tagged ‘Sandra Brewster’

oh the people you’ll meet

Posted: August 5, 2026 in galleries
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On a recent wander through the Art Gallery of Ontario I encountered a few ‘people’.  They were happy, forlorn, busy, engaging, cute, creepy, odd, and more.   I hope that you’ll agree!

below: “Interesting Story” 1898, by Laura Muntz Lyall (1860-1930)

below: A Louis Valtat (1869-1952, French) painting that depicts a couple at a cabaret. Can you see the dancer?

below: “June”, bright and bold, by Lynn Donoghue (1953-2003, Canadian)

below: This is a section of “Torn Heart” by Natalka Husar (b. 1951, Ukrainian roots).  One comment about her painting that I saw on an AGO website is, “Husar’s paintings are a compelling mix of joy, guilt, mystery, and seduction, and Torn Heart vividly expresses the complexities and paradoxes of love stories we have all lived.” (source)

below: “Night Games at the Paradise” by Rae Johnson (1953-2020, Canadian) is a painting of people sitting in the outdoor section of a bar next to Johnson’s Toronto home.  No one is happy.

below:  Watching one the videos made by Diego Marcon (b. 1985 in Italy).  I am having trouble with this one as I found Macron’s videos to be too creepy, too dark.  His digital/CGI people don’t look quite right (on purpose?).

The AGO has a photography exhibit, “Picture Space” (until 1 Nov 2026) that features some photos from their collection, including from the following four photographers.

below: Barbara Astman (b. 1950, Canadian) –  two big eyes staring back at you.  This is “Seeing and Being Seen #1”

below: Luther Konadu’s photos from “Ambient Photo” are actually four put together  and displayed in one horizontal image.   I have separated them into two halves (this photo and the next).  “Ambient Photo” is on ongoing project that looks at the mechanics of photography.

below: Sandra Brewster’s “Hiking Black Creek” 2018 is a very large picture that is printed on wood panels.  The original photo was taken in the 1970s and shows her parents hiking shortly after they arrived in Toronto from Guyana.

below: “Beauty at a Proper Distance” by Suzy Lake (b. 1947 in Detroit, now in Toronto).

And last, with a bit of silliness, a quirky photo taken in Yayoi Kusama’s infinity room.

 

Women (mostly) at the AGO

Posted: September 27, 2019 in galleries, people
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women looking at paintings at the Art Gallery of Ontario

below: Two pieces by Valerie Blass from her collection titled “The Parliament of the Invisibles”.   Blass used plaster casts of body parts,  dressed them in clothing, and then arranged them in little installations.  (On the fourth floor of the AGO until 1st Dec)

art by Valerie Blass, a parliament of invisibles, clothes taking the form of people

below: Stepping out in denim shorts and red boots.

artwork by Valerie Blass at the Art Gallery of Ontario, one red boot, a pair of denim shorts and a blue ikea bag on a step stool

below: Working among the heads

below: Part of “Mother and Child with Pulled Tooth”, a sculpture made of whale bone, antler, grey stone, ivory, and sinew by Karoo Ashevak.

whale bone sculpture in art gallery, mother and child, large round face with open mouth and two outstretched arms with large hands

below: A print by Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge, Screenprint and ink on paper, about 1975. “Why does the woman do the laundry and cooking?”  Although in the image the woman is using a tape recorder and is no where near the kitchen.

q print that shows a woman working, in red ink on green background, with black words written on top of it, why does the woman do the laundry and cooking

below: Part of “Blur” by Sandra Brewster – a collage of more than 80 black and white “portraits” of people out of focus and uncentered.

a collage of many black and white blurred and uncentered portraits of people on a wall in an art gallery, part of Blur series by Sandra Brewster

below: There is also a very large out of focus image on a wall of its own.  The photo on its own wasn’t very interesting but it provided a wonderful backdrop to some experiments of my own.  There are those who stop and look and linger and those who pass by without a second glance.

people, out of focus, walking past a large out of focus picture of a woman, a photo by Sandra Brewster as part of her blur series

a couple holding hands with the woman leading the man, out of focus, walking past a large out of focus picture of a woman, a photo by Sandra Brewster as part of her blur series

people, out of focus, walking past a large out of focus picture of a woman, a photo by Sandra Brewster as part of her blur series, three men, two are together and the third is walking in the opposite direction

people, out of focus, walking past a large out of focus picture of a woman, a photo by Sandra Brewster as part of her blur series, a man in a green shirt

people, out of focus, walking past a large out of focus picture of a woman, a photo by Sandra Brewster as part of her blur series, a man pointing

Sandra Brewster’s “Blur” is on exhibit until 20 March 2020.