September 2014


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expectations were met at Great Expectations

If you are in Toronto and you get a chance, check out Graham Gillmore‘s Great Expectations at the spectacular Division Gallery.

Once in while, I see works that I get a strong visceral reaction to and  feel an invisible pull towards them. I can’t quite describe it. It’s a sort of feeling I have towards certain style of contemporary dance. Usually there is this sense of abstract movement or a kinetic energy as well as a sense of architecture and other elements that create this strong connection for me. It is expected and obvious in dance but not so much in two dimensional works. Hardly I have seen these two art forms being compared to each other. It is not often that I myself perceive such a connection.

The above show where I discovered the works of internationally acclaimed Graham Gilmore for the first time was one of those. Everything about these text based paintings, from the vivid colour palettes, textures, texts, meaning and their ambiguity translates in a beautiful abstract dance. Obviously, I am not an art critic so I just describe my own feelings and connection to the work and I leave the description to the artist and the critique to the experts.

These two pieces below were my most favourite. The images don’t do justice as I snapped them with my phone so go and see the real thing for yourself and check out the artist or gallery’s website for better images.

Graham GilmoreIMG_3525 IMG_3527