BRENDAN FLANAGAN : PRESET MISPRONOUNCED

As he rose to his feet he noticed that he was neither dripping nor panting for breath as anyone would expect after being under water. His clothes were perfectly dry. He was standing by the edge of a small pool—not more than ten feet from side to side... There were no birds, no insects, no animals, and no wind... The pool he had just got out of was not the only pool. There were dozens of others—a pool every few yards as far as his eyes could reach.

C.S Lewis, in his book The Magician's Nephew, goes on to explain how each pool leads to a different world.  It is this inter-dimensional gateway aspect of Brendan Flanagan's new work that we find so engaging.  He is not showing abstract paintings but rather entry points to the murky and often unnerving world found behind the computer screen.  In this regard the work could be viewed as landscape paintings, depicting an environment that to many people is closer than the wilderness of nature.

Intent on revealing the quirks of the computer programs that have become the ubiquitous mediators of images today, in his paintings, Flanagan plays up and tinkers with the structures that are concealed beneath virtual images. While some grids appear to lie on the surface, others seemingly rise from within the painting’s core, an effect simulating three-dimensional rendering in digital design. The result is a palpable tension between depth and flatness, illusion and abstraction, actual and virtual.

The implausible aspect of his work is felt in a physical way making it crucial to see this visceral work in person to appreciate the full effect. Flanagan's focus surrounds cultural preoccupations with the future, and by insisting on handmade components he undermines the digital processes that "clean up"and standardize contemporary production.

Preset Mispronounced is on view at Division Gallery, Toronto, until February 28, 2015.

A MATTER OF ABSTRACTION

While in Montréal for a wedding we visited the MAC (Museé D'art Contemporain de Montréal) with high hopes.  Our wishes were gratified by the poignant video installation Citizen Band by Angelica Mesiti.  In one portion, an Algerian man sings rai music on a Paris subway surrounded by indifferent passengers.  His performance is heartbreakingly beautiful as are the other three pieces, each in an indigenous music tradition, presented by an artist who has been displaced from their culture.

Citizen Band runs until September 7, 2014

Down the hall was the less cohesive exhibition A Matter of Abstraction, pictured here.  This show has been on for over two years, set to close in September.  Perhaps this extended run caused the curators to overpack the space.  Presenting abstract work from 1939 to the present, the exhibition seeks to illustrate the relationship between Quebec artists and their international contemporaries. Although many of the works were interesting, the cluttered curation and strange colour choices for walls and plinths, made the space look more like the home of an overzealous collector than a contemporary gallery.  That said, we like to sift though homes of overzealous collectors and it's a pleasure to spot pieces we like through such visual cacophony.  The tightly packed spaces also made for some interesting photographs.

GERHARD RICHTER : CAGE (1) - (6)

Room 14 at the Tate Modern houses Gerhard Richter's painting Cage (1) - (6) from 2006.  The works were painted to, and named after, the music of John Cage.  The room, overwhelmed by the massive paintings, was a pleasure to inhabit even when swarmed with jaunty British schoolchildren.  I did yearn to hear a track of Cage's to accompany the experience.  Here is one for you if you'd like to partake while viewing these detail shots : link

(Richter) has long been interested in Cage’s ideas about ambient sound and silence, and has approvingly quoted his statement ‘I have nothing to say and I am saying it’. Richter is also drawn to Cage’s rejection of intuition as well as total randomness, planning his compositions through structures and chance procedures. While there are no direct links between any particular work in this series and any composition by Cage, some critics have suggested affinities between the two figures’ approaches and between the constant flux in Cage’s music and the space created by Richter’s paintings.

-from the Tate Modern site