Wallace\u2019s works on canvas “<\/span>Dragnalus I” (2015) and “<\/span>Dragnalus II” (2014) are collages of left over materials and cut offs. The strips of paint and fabric in shades of grey, brown and red are set side by side producing a pattern of hardwood floor, plywood board, aerial views of farm land, or painterly abstractions of birch trees. But unlike pallets of leftover paint accumulating layers of colour that would never become works, the recycled strips of polyester and vinyl covered in rubber, oil, acrylic, wax and various metals are again validated artworks.\u00a0 It leaves one to wonder from what process Wallace produces these cut-offs if the only evidence of his work is constructed purely from leftovers. A possible creative answer is inspired by his “<\/span>Untitled” sculpture (2016) a pair of shoes covered in red gunk.<\/span><\/p>\n Hung on the wall of the upstairs space, the soles of the shoes face out displaying scrap bits of metal and fabric like the pieces in his larger works insinuating a performative process. If we imagine these shoes were worn by Wallace at work in his studio, we can also imagine that his artistic practice is one of secret active performance in which the work constitutes the act of producing crusty artistic dredges, and the works displayed might be considered documentation of his performance. Regardless of the method by which Wallace procures the cast off materials, the exhibition Dragnalus<\/em> provides much for the eye to explore. New-York based Ryan Wallace\u2019s first Canadian solo exhibition provides a glimpse into the work and process of an accomplished recycler of industrial, utilitarian materials.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CC_Ryan_Wallace_Dragnalus_9.jpg\" "\\"CC_Ryan_Wallace_Dragnalus_9\\"")
<\/a>Ryan Wallace, Pitch, 2016, detail. Image courtesy of Cooper Cole Gallery<\/p>\n<\/a>Installation view with Ryan Wallace, Dragnalus I, 2015, enamel, acrylic, fabric, vinyl, steel aluminum, rubber, linen on canvas (on the wall) and Pitch, 2016, Plexiglas, oil, enamel, acrylic, vinyl, rubber, aluminum, tape, Masonite, polyester, canvas (on the floor).\u00a0Image courtesy of Cooper Cole Gallery<\/p>\n