What is the shape of art? Shape, a concept that involves delineation, creation, definition and imagination, gives dimension, substance and materiality. In this special editorial, we will discover how TOAF60 artists use form and shapes in their artwork to look at various themes and convey messages using their specialized mediums.
The Art that Shapes ‘Noise’
Kat Hernden, “Make Noise!,” Acrylic and Embroidery Thread on Canvas, 2021, 24 x 24 x 1.5 inch
Kat considers shape and thread as materials to challenge the conventional definitions of fine art, digital art and craft. Inspired by patterns found in nature, in architecture and on bathroom floors, the self-taught, Kitchener-based artist creates geometric works of art using acrylics and embroidery thread on canvas. Kat uses long stitches to create perfectly straight lines that coalesce and diverge throughout the composition. “Make Noise!” particularly calls attention to her creative style and conceptual approach. Threads, a domestic, humanistic, feminine material is interpreted afresh by Kat. How should art take shape? Kat shows us there is something more outside the circumscription of ‘art.’
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Materializing Authorship
Dorion Scott, “Halo 6 Red (source Edvard Munch 20th century),” Silk Embroidery Thread / Sheer Organza /Wood Support, 2020, 24 x 24 x 2 inch
Dorion brings attention to the authorship of ideas and beliefs by the hands of artists. “The halo is representative of the divine in art, yet there is no reference of its existence in Bible texts. This pure abstract form was created and interpreted by artists to illuminate the consecrated for centuries.” Dorian’s series of works represent halos sourced from the art of the Madonna, spanning many centuries. Constructing a floating disk out of silk thread and sheer organza, the physical shape manifests the creation of reality and truth through human hands. “Halo 6 Red” is referencing the red ring on the head of the Madonna depicted by Edvard Munch. While the shape remains, the materiality and meanings of halos are being reshaped through this work.
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Intuitive Dialogue with Forms
Véronique Besançon, “Embouteillage d'états d'âme,” Acrylic and Pastels on Canvas, 2019, 182 x 122 x 4 cm
Véronique is on a personal journey exploring human complexity and transferring it into a pictorial universe. She has been exploring the blending of pigments in a free gesture of pictorial abstraction. Rather than dynamic movements, Véronique‘s colours permeate the canvas. The loose and gestural colour patches speak to the black marks running freely without reins. Yet the marks are choreographed to complement the colours, alluding to imagined shapes and forms, such as words, human figures or towers.
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The Shape of Process
John Esposito, “Rainbow Kimberlite Ring In Yellow Gold,” 3D Work, 2021, 0.45 x 0.32 x 0.32 cm
In jewellery, we often cut and mould the natural beauty into a shape we like. John and his brand, Malleable Jewellers, release some of those human definitions back to the material’s natural properties. In pieces such as the “Rainbow Kimberlite Ring in Yellow Gold,” each sapphire is inserted differently in the cast production process for different rings. The creases on the gold make the stones appear in a unique manner, marking the interaction between the jeweller and the material. It then cools and forms a lasting shape. It is wearable art that denotes the uniqueness of making.
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These works are available at #TOAF60!
Get to know our 400+ participating artists, enjoy virtual events from July 2-11, and browse our curated collections! TOAF is proud to celebrate the legacy of Canada's longest-running contemporary art fair in a digital format on our 60th anniversary.
