{"id":38924,"date":"2017-08-19T12:55:49","date_gmt":"2017-08-19T16:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=38924"},"modified":"2017-08-19T13:12:56","modified_gmt":"2017-08-19T17:12:56","slug":"soon-comes-night-birch-contemporary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=38924","title":{"rendered":"Soon Comes Night \/ Birch Contemporary"},"content":{"rendered":"

The materiality of images, objects and forms has been a locus for artistic contemplation for centuries, which can be traced back to when the Mannerists of yore contorted the human anatomy to produce an illusive sense of pictorial elegance. Since then, Robert Morris has injected a slowly enveloping sense of process into the minimalist sculpture canon, while performance artists such as Chris Burden took extreme measures to emphasize the corporeality of the human body through the consequences of affliction. While not as severe as Burden\u2019s conceptual engagements, Birch Contemporary\u2019s latest exhibition,\u00a0Soon Comes<\/em> Night, sees Steven Beckly, Martin Bennett and Sarah Sands Phillips conceptually re-imagining the potential of their media.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Installation view of\u00a0Soon Comes Night<\/em>\u00a0at Birch Contemporary, 2017.\u00a0Courtesy of Birch Contemporary<\/p>\n

Martin Bennett\u2019s painterly works, uniquely placed in niches along the walls of the gallery, directly address curator Rebecca Travis\u2019s particular concerns through this group show. The monochromatic images are quaint in showmanship and do not dominate a viewer\u2019s consciousness individually; rather, when viewed in succession or as a collective, each painting acts as a distinct piece within an abstracted whole. Bennett\u2019s images, which undergo rigorous treatments, locate themselves around the fringes of perception, teetering on a purely liminal viewing experience that moves further away from quotidian referent.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Martin Bennett,Timed Expanse Painting (7)<\/span>,\u00a02014<\/span>,\u00a048″ \u00d7 36″<\/span>,\u00a0oil and acrylic on canvas (left) and\u00a0Timed Expanse Painting (8)<\/span><\/span>,\u00a02014<\/span>,\u00a048″ \u00d7 36″<\/span>,\u00a0oil and acrylic on canvas (right). Courtesy of\u00a0the artist and Birch Contemporary<\/span><\/p>\n

Sarah Sands Phillips\u2019 oeuvre is represented through a more multi-media approach, as her creations on paper and video help diversify the formal preoccupations within the space. Akin to Bennett\u2019s works, Sands Phillips presents her efforts monochromatically, albeit in a more pensive manner. Her images rely less on empirical associations and a construction of concrete images, but instead, lend themselves to a practice in manipulation and plasticity; what is left are slightly unhinged compositions of geometries presented with a deconstructionist\u2019s touch. There is an inherent tactility within the artist\u2019s work, as if her hands and mind have equally labored over the formal possibilities of her chosen medium. Furthermore, the video companion piece within the exhibition invokes a Brakhagian transmutation of film reels, but at a more meditative pace.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sarah Sands Phillips, Untitled No. 12 (Photographs of Canada)<\/span>,\u00a02015<\/span>,\u00a015″ \u00d7 12″<\/span>,\u00a0manipulated found photographic print on paper. Courtesy of the artist, Birch Contemporary and General Hardware Contemporary<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sarah Sands Phillips, Under Sun, 2015, 8mm film transferred to digital, dimensions variable.\u00a0Courtesy of the artist, Birch Contemporary and General Hardware Contemporary<\/p>\n

Removed from the unicolor contributions of his peers, Steven Beckly\u2019s brightly hued images fiddle with perception. \u201cTree of Hearts\u201d (2017) dominates its designated space of viewing with a haziness that never quite congeals into a succinct photograph. It remains removed from time and place, which allows its formal trickery to dominate a viewer\u2019s senses, as if Beckly was replicating a sunbathed eye straining for clarity. On the other hand, \u201cCurling Horizon\u201d (2016) utilizes the power of installation to render an oceanic view indecipherable, literally folding the image onto itself as if to disguise its wholeness. There is an inherent irony in Beckly\u2019s use of colour transparencies as a vessel to showcase photographs that are depraved of clarity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Steven Beckly, Curling Horizon, 2016, 28″ \u00d7 19″ \u00d7 13″, colour transparency (left) and Tree of Hearts, 2017, 56″ \u00d7 40″, colour transparency (right). Courtesy of\u00a0Courtesy of\u00a0the artist and Birch Contemporary<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Installation view of\u00a0Soon Comes Night<\/em>\u00a0at Birch Contemporary, 2017. Courtesy of Birch Contemporary<\/p>\n

David Saric<\/p>\n

*Exhibition information:\u00a0Soon Comes Night:<\/em>\u00a0Steven Beckly, Martin Bennett, Sarah Sands Phillips, July 27 – August 26, 2017,\u00a0Birch Contemporary,\u00a0129 Tecumseth Street, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed\u2013Fri\u00a010 am \u2013 6 pm, Sat\u00a011 am \u2013 5 pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by David Saric<\/strong><\/p>\n

Birch Contemporary\u2019s latest exhibition sees Steven Beckly<\/em>, Martin Bennett<\/em> and Sarah Sands Phillips<\/em> conceptually re-imagining the potential of their media.<\/p>\n

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