Voyce + Davidson

Julie Voyce at General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto 2011:

Michael Davidson at General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto 2011:

Kaythi vs Davidson

Kaythi from the group exhibition Hard Twist 12 currently at Gladstone Hotel, Toronto:

Michael Davidson at General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto 2017:

GHC summer

The summer group exhibition currently at Toronto's General Hardware Contemporary is a showcase of the gallery's strong roster.  Here's a selection of some works on view ...

Sarah Munro:

Stanzie Tooth:

Matt Crookshank:

Michael Davidson:

Nicole Collins:

Alex Bierk:

Joe Fleming:

Davidson + Collins

I nearly missed the show Pillow Talk currently at General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto.  Where partners exchange thoughts and emotions ...

Nicole Collins and Michael Davidson are among the three artist-couples on view:

Davidson:

Collins:

It's the last day of the show today.  Don't miss it if you're in Toronto!

Shining Rain

From the group exhibition Propellers To Palms, Michael Davidson currently at General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto:

Invictus*

Where opposites wax and wane alternately, constantly...

Michael Davidson's solo exhibition The Key In The Lock at General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto 2014:

Best capturing the spirit of Davidson's paintings is Invictus, a poem by William Ernest Henley:

Out of the Night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

* Invictus is the title of one of Davidson's paintings on view.  Thank you, M, for your sharing.

Suspense. Solvitur Ambulando*.

Although there were only three cleverly composed pieces on view at his solo exhibition Suspended, Jacques Oulé's photo-based works at 26 possess a powerfully intriguing pull that have left viewers with ethereal suspense.  Really nice chatting with you, J.  Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

All images courtesy of Jacques Oulé


Michael Davidson wrote a response to each of the pieces on view.  Here's an excerpt beautifully written for Once Again For The First Time:

If We

Between here and there, the fog and the truth ...

From inside, stare out at the great silence.

Out there the void of stillness.

Memory has two distances.

Over oceans, lifted away aloft and alone

Untangled, this is the resting place.

The light scent of memory, floating pages

In a notebook from yesterday

Between the fingers, braiding dark sweet strands

Watering old eyes

In this paper room.

A face lingers, crystallized on the surface

With only remembrance

Of night and day,

And left again for tomorrow.

* Title of one of the works on view, Solvitur Ambulando in Latin = solved by walking in English

Wrong But Close

Playing with numbers, Mike Badour's solo exhibition Wrong But Close inaugural at Nicole Collins and Michael Davidson's 26, Toronto 2013:

Thank you for your hospitality, N and M.  It's been an inspiring afternoon.  Great work, M!  I look forward to your future shows.

Davidson's zencrushing strokes

I went to see Michael Davidson's show Zencrusher at Toronto's General Hardware Contemporary yesterday.  Davidson's powerful brush strokes create interesting positive and negative spaces that allow viewers a lot of freedom to roam and ponder.  This fantastic show nicely echoes the Abstract Expressionist New York exhibition currently on view at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario).

I remember Pierre Soulages' breathtaking large scale black paintings ...