ERIKA DeFREITAS
Almost, always, at once:
a suite of new embroidered works
Angell Gallery
1444 Dupont St., Building B, Unit 15
Painted in 1882, Yellow Roses in a Vase is a still life by Gustave Caillebotte that depicts a lush impression of a vase of roses in full bloom, set on a marbled tabletop against a dark background. Held in the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, it was included in the 2014 exhibition Bouquets: French Still-Life Painting from Chardin to Matisse. Toronto-based Erika DeFreitas, (Artist prize finalist in 2016) who happened to be in Dallas showing in a group exhibition at the time, says that the exhibition left a lasting impression on her, but not just because the paintings were beautiful. What struck DeFreitas was how many of the paintings, including the Caillebotte, pictured petals that had dropped from the flowers. “They were constant reminders that flowers, like us, live and die,” she says. “Everything is subject to a life cycle and the passage of time.”
Runs November 10 – December 1, 2018
__________________________________________________________________
Online book publisher Art Canada Institute: The Canadian Online Art Book Project (Project Support recipient 2015) has released two new online books:
Homer Watson: Life & Work is a fascinating study of a painter who defined what his art and identity meant, forty years before the Group of Seven. Author Brian Foss traces the artist from the romanticism and naturalism of Watson’s first canvases to the increasingly expressionistic imagery of his later years.
Molly Lamb Bobak: Life & Work traces the career of this pioneering Canadian and the diverse range of her artistic output, from her still lifes and interiors to her crowd scenes and self-portraits. Illuminating the unique way in which she challenged the constraints of gender bias through her work, the book explores Bobak’s legacy as an artist and educator. Author Michelle Gewurtz writes “Molly Lamb Bobak’s career as a professional artist began as Canada’s first official woman war artist. She remains best known for the paintings she produced once the hostilities ended in Europe and for the humorous, satirical drawings she included in her wartime diary—often with subtle critiques of gender.”
