Materials girl peering into consumerism’s dark heart
Stillwell packs punch while video star Hurlbut takes a slo-mo look at nature of loss
Opening Baleful, with Jennifer Stillwell, Jimmy Limit, Nikki Woolsey, Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky
You can think of Packs, former pieces of furniture undone and re-bundled in tidy rolls, as a form of creative disuse: Jennifer Stillwell’s memorable work, from 2002, still rings with a stinging critique of consumerism as she transformed perfectly useful items into monuments of our shortattention-span materialism.
Here, they form the basis of a response for new work by four artists in a similar vein — of the infectious disease of consumerism and the inevitable ravages of obsolescence. Opening Feb. 4, 6-8 p.m. at Pari Nadimi Gallery, 254 Niagara St. Until April 2. On Paper: Works from the Permanent Collection
This exhibition of delicate paintings and drawings on the fragile, nominal medium begins with an apology. It’s a short run, given the works’ sensitivity to even the most subdued light.
But their fragility is what makes them fascinating: Paper has allowed for portable, informal, spontaneous expression that, in the hands of such icons as Clarence Gagnon and Emily Carr, still seems bracingly fresh. At the McMichael Collection of Canadian Art. Opens Feb. 6, until May 1. 10365 Islington Ave., Kleinburg. Ongoing Airborne, Spring Hurlbut
Hurlbut’s iconic video piece is ghostly-beautiful, which is only appropriate, given its subject matter. For the 2008 work, Hurlbut gained permission from six families to delicately release the ashes of their deceased loved ones, which she filmed in slow-motion, creating a spiritual, yet physical, meditation on the presence of death. As the ashes ascend, Hurlbut retreats to leave only a spectral presence and a profound, earthly vision of the nature of loss. At the Ryerson Image Centre, 33 Gould St., until April 10.