feelers: Touching a Nerve, or Three
“feelers” 2009 Installation view Courtesy Susan Hobbs Gallery
Toronto artist Jen Hutton fit in some curating this summer, organizing an exhibition of work that centres on tactility both in process and in product. The show, appropriately entitled “feelers,” includes works by New York’s Arlene Shechet, Victoria’s Sandra Meigs and Toronto’s Sarah Massecar. Shechet’s works will provide the main attraction for many here—this artist rarely shows in Canada, and her in-demand ceramic sculptures are a fine mix of rawness and elegance, elaborating a place where the deeps of both senses and cerebelli meet. Meigs, whose recent large-scale gray paintings have been striking, is represented mainly by a 2004 series of bright, tool-incised gesso surfaces on canvas. The shapes of these are simple, intentionally reminiscent of childish optical illusions, but they also bear the heaviness of a grown-up’s hand. Massecar’s delicate pen-and-gouache works on paper investigate the classic contour drawing technique that urges artists to “feel” their way around an object with their eyes, using the pencil as blind record. In the past, Massecar has taken apart small objects like coffee cups and wallets; here, she does so again, but simply in line rather than in life. In the end, this show promises plenty of feelings to get hooked on. (137 Tecumseth St, Toronto ON)
Arlene Shechet Tough Puff 2008
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