Bell vs Armstrong/Collins

From the group exhibition Forecast currently at General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto ...

Mark Crofton Bell:

John Armstrong & Paul Collins:

Armstrong Collins Corner 2

John Armstrong & Paul Collins's Corner series at Harbourfront Centre, Toronto 2014:

Armstrong Collins Corner

John Armstrong & Paul Collins's current show Corner at General Hardware Contemporary consists mostly of their painted photographs.  The superimposed spaces created through photography and layers of paint are pleasantly intriguing.

Armstrong and Collins at General Hardware, Toronto 2012:

Also showing are Armstrong and Collins's videos, one of which, Academy Tianjin, features a walking camera shot through a vacant art academy littered with abandoned student belongings and furniture.  Like their painted photographs, the video is superimposed by static slash lines painted on the wall.

Stills from Academy Tianjin:

Thank you, N, for another great show.

Armstrong and Collins's painted photographs

I must admit that I'm not exactly into photography.  It just doesn't do anything to me.  No, perhaps there are exceptions, like those that are architecturally inclined, or those painted photographs by John Armstrong & Paul Collins.  Armstrong and Collins, living in Toronto and Paris respectively, have been practising their collaborative creativity for more than a decade.  Distance doesn't seem to invade the space between them.  In fact, their painted photographs, with juxtaposed gemoetric patterns, seem to create space by introducing additional dimensions.

Armstrong and Collins at General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto 2012: