Crossing Boundaries Exhibit 2021

I think we can all agree, everyone misses being able to travel! Although border restrictions remain tense amidst the pandemic, Crossing Boundaries, may remedy everyone’s desire for exploration and travel. During March 2021, Twist Gallery will feature 8 talented and local artists, who’s works perfectly reflect the beauty of all the various places in the world.

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Caroline Piette

Caroline Piette, Vaybe, is a visual artist largely inspired by the 90’s culture which surrounded her as she grew up. Early internet era, video games, and anime are all elements from her childhood which frequently pop up in her works. 

Initially, she began painting to express her desire to escape the conventions of the real world. However, she now aims to consolidate expression, colour and simplicity through her canvases. 

Through her art, Vaybe evokes feelings of nostalgia which she hopes resonates with her viewers as well. 

Farzaneh Ali Hosseini

Farzaneh is an oil painter who uses her talents to explore the realm of fundamental interactions between forces which govern life. Through her expressive representations of landscapes, Farzaneh wishes to tell the story of life. 

Nature and it’s perpetual metamorphosis as a factor of human development and expansion are only one among the many great inspirations Farzaneh has top of mind. All in all, Farzaneh wishes to inspire viewers to look at their surroundings differently.

Hayoung Jung

Hayoung Jung is a well established artist with works featured on book covers, a variety of awards and recognition, and multiple art exhibitions and fairs attended within his artistic career.

Hayoung’s work draws back from his personal experiences as he expresses his desire to escape to a place of his own. The various worlds he paints are meant to show the beauty of silence and peace, and evoke an endless sense of serene for his audience.

Katherine Muir Miller

Katherine Muir Miller is an impressionistic realism artist, born in Montreal, Quebec with a gallery in Perth, Ontario and a home studio in Ottawa.

Katherine's use of vibrant colours in her Canadian landscapes greatly accentuates her canvases, adding an element of boldness and playfulness.Ideally, she wishes her viewers to feel movement, mood and simplicity through her work. Katherine's inspirations include; life adventures of friends, family and clients. Being able to connect her work to their treasured memories is her greatest pleasure.

"It's all about the story behind the painting, that's what inspires me."

Madeline Greenwald

Madeline Greenwald, is a travel enthusiast, whose works are largely inspired by the sensations of her excursions. Through her paintings, she explores her personal perspectives of her journeys and hopes to accurately depict her feelings for both herself and her viewers.

Aside from depicting travel, movement, shapes, and light are elements which Madeline is intrigued by and heavily considers when creating.

Sarah Pais

Sarah is a visual artist based in Toronto, Canada. Her work largely consists of renderings of her favourite cities’ urban structures.

During the international lockdown, Sarah began her series, “Grounded” which utilizes new and old photographs from travels across the world of her friends, other artists, and her own. The concept behind the project was to invoke a sense of short-lived nostalgia through her paintings. 

Shelly Amor

Shelly Amor is a fauvist artist who incorporates various colour combinations into her pieces. Shelly’s work is inspired by her experiences throughout her creative career, including landscape architecture, teaching art, and wearable tech design. 

Much of Shelly’s work exhibiting in Crossing Boundaries was referenced by her own personal travels to Australia and New Zealand throughout February and March 2020. Initially, she had planned to travel all year long however, due to Covid, her trip was cut short. Even so, this presented Shelly with the opportunity to focus on her talents which essentially helped keep her spirits up throughout her quarantine experience.

Tahereh Tina Nazarali

Tina is a self taught modern-realism artist from Iran, who was inspired by her father to paint in elementary. After completing highschool and getting accepted into a university for electrical engineering, she ceased her creative endeavours. However, upon coming to Toronto in Oct of the late 90’s, she reinvigorated her creative passions and began to paint once more. Her favourite sources of inspiration today are both nature & cityscapes. 

Though, our gallery doors remain closed, due to quarantine procedure, all artists’ works will be showcased on our site here.

A brief history of abstract expressionism

Before we dive into the history of abstract expressionism, we must examine the foundation that was placed before it in originating abstract art. Abstract art has its origins in the 19th century and can be described as “art that is not a representation of something from the visible world.” The shift from art being imitation to an expression of the imagination began to take place slightly before WWI with artists like Robert Delaunay, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, and Vladimir Tatlin starting to create art with no recognizable objects. Between WWI and WWII, abstract art had seen very little growth due to totalitarian politics along with a resurgence in realism and surrealism. It was the chaos caused by WW2 that helped birth the movement known as abstract expressionism.

“9” by Toronto artist Daniel Mercier featured in Twist Gallery’s “Abstracting the Extract” January/February 2020 Exhibit

During the late 1930s, as WW2 was impending, many European artists that practiced surrealism had migrated to the United States. During this time, the surrealists’ drive to create art that examined an undermining reality-based human consciousness, in addition to the anxiety and trauma experienced through the world wars, had caused artists to value art as an expression of the self and chaos within the subconscious. After the war, when the United States found itself in a time of economic despair and cultural identity crisis, abstract expressionism became America’s first real contribution to the international modern art world and lead to the eventual dominance that came along with it.  

Three Approaches to Abstract Expressionism

Action Painting

Action painting is characterized by random, loose, rapid and sometimes forceful handling of paint by brushstroke or techniques partially controlled by chance such as dripping or spilling paint onto the canvas. This style was most commonly used by painters Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and Willem de Cooning.

Abstract Impressionism

Abstract impressionism is seen as a middle ground between imitation and expressionism. This style can be described as more structured than action art but still very abstract in terms of shapes and techniques used. This style was popularized by artists Philip Guston, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, and Adolph Gottlieb.

“Sunlight” by Toronto artist Anna Medvedeva featured in Twist Gallery’s “Abstracting the Extract” January/February 2020 Exhibit

Colour-field Technique/Meditation

 The final approach to abstract expressionism doesn’t really have a name, but for the purpose of calling it something, we will refer to it as the “colour-field technique”. This approach describes an artist that uses large fields of colour and specific abstract images to invoke a meditative experience in the viewer. Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhart and especially Mark Rothko specialized in this approach to abstract expressionism.