Not-So-Hidden Charms

Leah Sandals, National Post - Published: Saturday, June 14, 2008

Tucked into an eddy of small roads just off the rapids of Dundas West, Morrow Avenue's factory-turned-galleries complex is a hidden gem in Toronto's fine art firmament. But once you find it --aided by starry-headed John McEwen sculptures that splay gargoyle-like from its rooftops -- repeat visits rapidly become a must. And it's hard to keep a good thing under wraps; Morrow's annual mid-July party, once a sparse if friendly affair, now draws crowds of a thousand-plus. Whether you like elbow-to-kneecap schmoozery or not, it's worth checking out these current exhibition picks.

1. PEAK GALLERY

23 Morrow Ave.

Zack Pospieszynski, proprietor of Peak Gallery, has one of the top stables in Toronto for youthful-yet-canny, energetic-yet-thoughtful art. That's true whether the artist is twentysomething, such as Gareth Lichty, or fiftysomething, such as Lyn Carter, whose work was recently nabbed by the Albright-Knox. Currently spotlighted is work from Quebec painter Dan Brault (thirtysomething, if you must know). Brault's fun, multifaceted work -- imitating everything from van Eyck to King Kong--offers a unique spin on diptychs that creeps from painting into installation art. Some of Brault's pairings fit like tidy aesthetic molecules, while others differ dramatically in size, style and shape. Hard-edged abstracts are married to painterly landscapes, commercial airbrushing yoked to high-falutin oilstick. Linking it all is a very contemporary approach to artmaking; Brault revels in (and uses) every part of its history, from gloopy expressionism to maudlin sci-fi.

2. OLGA KORPER GALLERY

17 Morrow Ave.

Veteran gallerist Olga Korper has one of the biggest, most beautifully lit spaces in the Morrow Avenue complex, and this month she puts it to good use with an ethereal show from YorkUprofessor emeritus Tim Whit-en. For decades, Whiten has worked compellingly with an overlooked material: glass. Here, he uses it to meticulously reproduce everything from his mother's rolling pin to an open umbrella to an old-fashioned tele-cum-kaleidoscope. There's just one problem: The delicacy (visual, not material) of Whiten's pale-fire work makes it doubtful that these pieces could pack the same emotional and conceptual punch once separated. Without special curatorial treatment, Whiten's rectangular, see-through magic-numbers etching could pass for a corporate-exec desk accessory, the 'scope for a high-end garden frill. Of course, context affects the power of any artwork, but I hope future owners of these take very particular care.

3. CHRISTOPHER CUTTS GALLERY

21 Morrow Ave.

Over at Christopher Cutts, the well-known Montreal sibling duo Carlos & Jason Sanchez continue on their decidedly unmerry way along the path of all that is dark and disturbing. Four staged photographs evidence individual brands of impending doom: a known child molester gazing into a mirror; soldiers grappling with a bloody crisis; an isolated drifter hemmed in by train tracks and chain-link; and a man in a crime-scene balaclava posing in a dingy bedroom. Creepy as these are, they're no match for the adjoining-- and very affecting--installation that resembles a man buried by grey rubble in a large glass tank. His hands still seem to twitch; his mouth, to breathe. It's enough to make you want to dig him out right then and there. As saddening (and sometimes maddening) as the Sanchezs' neverending project of revealing "all that lies beneath" might be, it yields this at least -- a spark of empathetic outrage.

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