NAMARA projects

STATEMENT

‘The Haptics of Optics’ is an exhibition that brings together three Toronto-based artists examining the intersection of weaving and image making through painting, experimental film, photography, and textile. Using the paradigm of one medium to influence and shape another, Eva Kolcze, Robert Davidovitz, and Colleen McCarten are artists actively engaged in the conceptual and formal practice of unraveling perception and time through material.

For instance, Robert Davidovitz investigates the materiality of paint through strands of extruded matter that are then woven together either in intricate grid systems or with bold gestural shapes. The resulting images are both optical and tactile, with attention paid to pattern, structure, and space. Davidovitz’s recent work draws on deep celestial or cosmic spaces drawn in sweeping gestures that loop back on itself; where the kinetic action of the painter’s hand is expressed in white explosions, or air bubbles that act like shooting stars. In his work, paint functions as both literal surface and illusory space, like both of the other artists in the exhibition.

Eva Kolcze, known as a lens-based artist, shoots on a 16mm film camera then hand processes footage to engender scratches, dust, light leaks, and various destructive accidents on the emulsion itself. Her film, The Image in the Stone explores the Rocky Mountains in Banff National Park where the camera pans across the landscape, capturing fleeting unstable images of the mountains, which are iconic, heavily touristed sites. The intricate textures of rocks and trees collide with the photochemical scratches and traces that result from film processing. To accompany the film, Kolcze will present new fabric-based photo-sculptures as a natural extension of her filmmaking practice. She manipulates the cotton fabric to draw a relationship between the formal qualities of rock and stone while resisting the flatness of a traditional printed photograph. The erosion of stone is kindred to the fraying threads and loosening of the woven structure of the textile.

Finally, Colleen McCarten‘s textile-based work engages weaving, sewing, and other fiber practices with unconventional materials, such as monofilament, recycled rubber, and LED light strips, to destabilize traditional weaving processes. Referencing Minimalism, hard-edge abstraction, and Op art, McCarten plays with optical illusion and destabilizes the image through warping, shaping, painting, layering, or stretching. The stacked and overlapped patterns of her textiles create a moire effect, forcing the viewer to move their body across space to understand the continually shifting image.

All three artists speculate on materiality in their respective medium and question notions of perception and time. ‘The Haptics of Optics’ as an exhibition, ruminates on the tactility of vision and the hand manipulated ways that space and time can be shaped, warped, and twisted much like the threads of a woven textile. 

CURATOR

Jessica Thalmann (jessicathalmann.com) is an artist, curator and educator currently based in Toronto and New York City. She received an MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from ICP-Bard College and a BFA in Visual Arts from York University. Thalmann has taught at the International Centre for Photography, Akin Collective, MacLaren Art Centre, Toronto School of Art, Gallery 44 and City College of New York. She has been an artist in residence at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, Alberta, Canada, and at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a recipient of grants from the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council. 

Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at Aperture Foundation, International Centre for Photography, Camera Club of New York Baxter St, and Humble Arts Foundation (New York), VIVO Media Arts Centre (Vancouver), Museum of Contemporary Art, Harbourfront Centre, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Varley Art Gallery of Markham, Angell Gallery, Gallery TPW, Art Spin, and Gales Gallery at York University (Toronto). 

ARTISTS

Eva Kolcze (evakolcze.com), a Toronto-based artist, explores the fluidity of time and its expression in natural and built spaces through projects involving geology, architecture, and the environment. Her projects incorporate material explorations with analog film, fabric, and digital imagery. Her work has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC), MOCA Toronto, the Gardiner Museum, Nuit Blanche, Cinémathèque québécoise, Birch Contemporary, and the Images Festival. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from OCAD University and a Master of Fine Arts from York University. 

Robert Davidovitz (robertdavidovitz.com) is a Toronto-based artist working in painting and weaving. He studied Visual Arts at York University and after graduating in 2007, his work has been exhibited in public galleries and museums including: Durham Art Gallery, Thames Art Gallery, Harbourfront Centre, and Museum London to name a few. Davidovitz has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council, and has been featured in various publications and press including the Huffington Post, Moco Loco, and Bizarre Beyond Belief. 

Colleen McCarten (colleenmccarten.com) is a material based visual artist & educator residing in Toronto, Ontario. She holds a Bachelors of Design in Material Art & Design (Textiles) from OCAD University, a Diploma in Fashion Techniques & Design from George Brown College, and a Certificate in Landscape Design & Horticulture Techniques from Niagara College. McCarten has taught textile programs through various places including the Toronto School of Art, the Toronto District School Board, the City of Oshawa, and the Design Exchange. She is currently a CLTA Lecturer at OCAD University, in the Material Art & Design department. 

McCarten has held solo shows at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery and Angell Gallery in Toronto. Her work has also been included in group shows at The Harbourfront Centre, The Idea Exchange, Ontario Place, as well as the Textile Museum of Canada. She has received grants from both the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council. Her work is in the permanent collection at the Bank of Montreal, La Maison Simons, Canopy Hotel, along with various private collections.