Love Art Fair 2014 - Toronto and New Studio Space

Updates: I just moved into NEST Studios at 442 Dufferin. I'm so excited about this new beginning. The building is home to many welcoming artists and woodworkers. We are looking forward to getting set up and getting down to creative business!

I'm also looking forward to seeing you all at the Love Art Fair from May 8th-11th (with a private preview on May 7th) at the Direct Energy Center in Toronto! I'll have work in Canadian Fine Arts Gallery's booth. :)

http://www.loveartfair.com/toronto/

Light Body #1

Oil/Spray on canvas

48" x 60"

2014

Detail

Above: Michael Rachlis' Untitled (Rosacea)

Thanks to everyone who came out to the OCADU Alumni Exhibition last night at the Gladstone! It was such an honor to be a part of an exhibition that included work from 6 decades of graduates. :)

Check out Drew Rowsome's blog about the show here:

http://drewrowsome.blogspot.ca/2014/04/the-power-of-canvas-ii-ocadu-alumni.html?m=1

Upcoming Exhibitions!

OCAD Alumni Association Exhibition 

April 3-6 at the Gladstone Hotel

Opening Reception April 3rd, 7-10pm

http://ocadualumni.ca/2014-ocad-university-alumni-association-exhibition/

***

The Love Art Fair

May 7-11, at the Direct Energy Center, Toronto

Private view May 7th

http://www.loveartfair.com/toronto/

Check out the Love Art Blog where you can see my interview with Shahrzad Ghorban :)

http://www.loveartfair.com/toronto/2014/03/24/erin-loree/

STUDIO SHOTS and PROGRESS

Artist's Statement

I thought I'd give some insight into my current work by sharing a short artist's statement. :)

Erin Loree's recent paintings reflect her fascination with the transience of nature and its ability to remind us of the constant transformation within ourselves. Through the traditional process of applying oil paint on canvas, she investigates layers of human existence while exploring themes of personal transformation and self-identity. 

Working expressively by combining diffused gradients with thick and visceral marks, she creates human or ghost-like forms and ones that resemble anthropomorphized natural phenomena such as mountains, caves, volcanoes and waterfalls. Notions of impermanence are also expressed through her handling of paint as it appears to undergo a process of metamorphosis, melting and folding into itself. Although the paint is used to create a static image, she applies it in such a way as to suggest forms that are fluid and ever-changing. 

By investigating Jung's idea that the self or observer shapes and perceives the world in his own image - seeing no boundary between the self and the external reality - Loree has gained a deeper understanding of how the external world can mirror the inner processes of the individual. In her work, she attributes human form, characteristics or emotions to non-man made objects, such as the forces of nature, as a means of seeing them as myth, allowing resolution outside the self to reflect what is happening within.

CFA Gallery is introducing so many wonderful artists! Make sure you can check out the work in the exhibition From Yesterday to Tomorrow. The exhibition will continue until March 30th!

http://www.canadianfinearts.com/

Above: Sang-Jin Lee, and my two pieces, Snakes and Rethink it over

Here's one of my favourite artists in the show, Sang-Jin Lee:

Bowhouse

Acrylic on canvas
24" x 24"

Portals

Oil on canvas

50" x 40"

2014

Mirror

Oil on canvas

36" x 30"

2014

The north side of trees

Oil and spray paint on canvas

30" x 36"

2014

Keeping things fresh.... testing out some new materials! :D

Ember Mind

Oil on canvas

40" x 30"

2014

Waddingstons Canadian Contemporary Art Auction

Hey everyone, there are only four more days until you can bid on my painting, In the thick of it, at the Waddingtons Canadian Contemporary Art Auction.

Click here to view the online auction:

http://concretecontemporaryart.waddingtons.ca/auction/61/lot-48

In the thick of it

Oil on canvas

24" x 24"

2013

Unwavering

Oil on canvas

40" x 36"

2014

STUDIO and new landscapes

 @Creatures Creating 

The light from where you stand

Oil on canvas

36" x 24"

2014

State Shift #2

Oil on canvas

30" x 24"

2014

Open letter from the members of Creatures Creating

Hello everyone,

On February 13th, somewhere between 2am and 7am, the Creatures Creating Studio and Gallery was broken into and my painting, along with 3 others, were stolen. Please read this open letter and please share the information in any way that you can. Thank you for your love and support!

OPEN LETTER: http://www.creaturescreating.com/here/?p=619

Balancing act

Oil on canvas

30" x 40"

2014

*

Up to the peaks and down into valleys

we go seeking and searching

for the illusion of the highest point

the pinnacle. 

Spiralling down and through we go

start from the ground to taste the sky

the journey of letting go

cycles of emptying and filling

endless pathways, spontaneous wandering. 

Into the forest

from darkness to light, from lightness to dark

the journey with a thousand roads 

which one to go

just as they come they go.

The formed and formless

melting, transforming, renewing

in a constant state of becoming

of birthing and dying, expanding, contracting

returning.

Flowing and shifting

impermanent states

the eternal moment unfolding.

Poetic Poverty!

I hope to see you all at the Poetic Poverty exhibition at Creatures Creating, 822 Dundas Street West, Toronto, this Thursday (Feb. 6th) at 8:00pm! :)

www.creaturescreating.com

Here's a detail of a new painting that I will be exhibiting in the show.

Snakes

Oil on canvas

30" x 40"

2014

State shift

Oil on panel

20" x 20"

2014

Cry me a rainbow river

Oil on panel

24" x 18"

2014

Hello everyone! I would like to invite you to the opening reception of a very special group exhibition that I'm taking part in:

Poetic Poverty: Experiments in Living

Opening Reception

Thursday February 6th, 8:00pm

Creatures Creating

822 Dundas Street West

(Exhibition runs from February 6th-19th)

*The Starving Artist; an archetype which those of us in the creative world are quite familiar with. A romantic notion in theory but almost never in practice, the struggle to simultaneously create and sustain is reduced to a well honed balancing act. As creative individuals, we are starved for money, time or both. Wait tables for so many hours; paint. Landscape, and then sculpt. Check in with your temp agency, and then act. 

But a minor artist with no money goes as hungry as a genius. What drove them to do it? I believe that such people were not only choosing art, they were choosing the life of the artist. Art offered them a different way of living, one that they believed more than compensated for the loss of comfort and respectability.

Our collective works become reflections of this lifestyle, of these experiments in living. We strive to move forward, outward from the constraints of both money and time in order to create works which can resonate throughout our communities.

Featuring the works of:

Erin Loree

Stella Cade

Kevin Columbus

Tongson Chen

Mony Zakhour

Rosalind Breen

Jordan McKie

Amanda Boulos

Craig Skinner

Andre Kan

Chris Perez

Susie Julia

Christina Mazzulla

Curated by Erin Kjaer

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/132545256915891/

Fountain

Oil on panel

24" x 18"

2014

Swallowed up

Oil on panel

36" x 36"

2014

Wanderer

Oil on panel

20" x 20"

2014

Openings

Your way begins on the other side.

Become the sky. 

Take an axe to the prison wall. 

Escape. Walk out 

like somebody suddenly born into color.

- Rumi

Opening #1

Oil on panel

20" x 16"

2014

Opening #2

Oil on panel

20" x 16"

2014

Gusher

Oil on panel

18" x 24"

2014

From Yesterday to Tomorrow, Canadian Masters + Emerging Artists

Hello everybody! I wish you all a beautiful new beginning to the new year. May you experience love and wonder, adventure and endless creative endeavors. :)

I'd like to let you know that my work is currently a part of a group exhibition at Canadian Fine Arts in Toronto called FROM YESTERDAY TO TOMORROW, CANADIAN MASTERS + EMERGING ARTISTS. 

The exhibition will be installed until February 2nd, 2014. 

http://www.slateartguide.com/listing.php?lid=150601773265098116

Maze mountain

Oil on canvas

11" x 8"

2013

Outflow

Oil on canvas

48" x 36"

2013

La Selva

These are some of the acrylic paintings that I made while staying at the Sachaqa Centro de Arte in the Peruvian Amazon (about a year overdue!) :)

One

Oil on panel

8" x 6"

2013

1000 for 10 minis

As above, so below

Oil on canvas

16" x 12"

2013

Hey everyone! Two things are happening this weekend: On Friday Dec. 6th from 6-9 is the opening reception of Walnut Contemporary's Little Salon: These Post-Neo-Pop Like Days where I'll be exhibiting my painting, As above, so below. 

To see more information, visit Walnut Contemporary's website: http://www.walnutcontemporary.com/159476/upcoming


And on Saturday Dec. 7th, AKIN Collective is having their AKIN OPEN STUDIO/ HOLIDAY SALE/ COLOURING BOOK LAUNCH from 1-6:30 at the Akin Landsdowne Studio, 87 Wade Avenue, Toronto. Join us for a showcase of three floors of recent work by members of Akin Collective along with the annual holiday sale and the launch of our first publication, the Akin Colouring Book. 

Click here to visit AKIN's website: http://akincollective.blogspot.ca/

Gratitude!

I got a chance to give a short speech, giving thanks on behalf of the students at OCAD University last night during the Donor Thank You event. It was a lovely event and I was truly honored to be able to finally express my gratitude for all the emotional and financial support that I have received from the donors and from OCAD U. :)

Thanks to Jess Cimo for the photo.

Safe under covers

Oil on canvas

29" x 24"

2013