{"id":55127,"date":"2025-02-14T17:59:37","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T22:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=55127"},"modified":"2025-02-14T18:16:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T23:16:47","slug":"kristine-moran-at-daniel-faria-gallery-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=55127","title":{"rendered":"Kristine Moran at Daniel Faria Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After an event we sometimes feel a poignant sense of unfulfillment, and we dwell on what could have been done but wasn’t. Alternatively, we can look at past experiences and see their potential and possibilities by reimagining them as a starting point for different futures. This concept is beautifully captured by Kristine Moran\u2019s solo exhibition, Not as it was but as it might be<\/em>, at Daniel Faria Gallery. It is a great opportunity to experience Moran’s captivating works and rediscover the beauty of reimagined moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moran’s life journey has taken her to various cities, including a long trip across the United States, a stay in Bordeaux, France, and finally to her home in Owen Sound, Canada. Along the way, she sketched landscapes she encountered, capturing in quick lines and shapes national parks, topographies, public gardens, and evolving landscapes. In her studio, Moran reimagined these natural views, translating them into oil on canvas. This process stretched the original scenes away from their initial context, resulting in forms that collide and collapse into new arrangements. For Moran, sketching while moving through space allows her to capture multiple perspectives simultaneously, creating a layered, skewed effect. “It feels like being immersed in the garden and reconstructing it at the same time,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Installation view of Kristine Moran, Not as it was but as it might be <\/em>at Daniel Faria Gallery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Moran\u2019s paintings there are moments when we feel something missing or a desire for more. We sense that something else\u2014something different\u2014is just out of reach. She defines this dissatisfaction as \u2018Divine Dissatisfaction.\u2019 It is not just a negative emotion, but a catalyst for transformation, inspiring us to reach beyond our current limitations and pursue our highest potential. This dissatisfaction is like nostalgia that can inspire new possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her paintings, “The centre holds” and “Towards the Unseen”, invite introspection. “The centre holds” is about how things fall apart. In the centre elements are static. It suggests resilience and a fragile hope that there is still something steady that exists in the middle of chaos. The waterfall is a symbol of transformation. Abstract forms build upon each other, creating a sensitive balance.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Kristine Moran, The centre holds, 2024, oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The archway “Towards the unseen” suggests a journey towards the intangible. A screen\/window at the center reinforces this idea, obscuring more than it reveals. The window serves as both barrier and curiosity spark. The composition interrupts perspective, juxtaposing natural and architectural elements.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Kristine Moran, Towards the unseen, 2024, oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kristine Moran’s abstract paintings invite observers to reimagine the gardens, parks, rugged shorelines, and waterfalls she’s encountered. Each garden holds a history of desire and idealization, striving for harmony between nature and its inhabitants. With a sense of urgency, Moran’s work embodies a utopic aspiration for contemplation and communion with nature. In her artwork, water represents transformation, constantly becoming, and reminding us of time’s passage. Archways symbolize the mysterious, promising magic on the other side. This ephemeral feeling slips away as one passes under the arch. In “Healing waters” and “The space between,” Moran explores the fleeting nature of life. Her paintings encourage us to appreciate the present moment and find solace in the beauty of the natural world.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Kristine Moran, Healing waters, 2024, oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In “Light held twice” the viewer is invited to contemplate the fleeting moments of dawn and dusk. In the painting, the warm, golden light and the darker reflective shades seem to encourage introspection in the observer, raising questions about the horizon’s true nature: is it a sunrise or sunset on the shoreline?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Kristine Moran, Light held twice, 2024, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the painting \u201cHeat shimmer\u201d Moran creates a mirage-like quality, as if the perspective is intentionally disjointed. The space appears to shift and settle, like a memory that refuses to solidify. A tree looks alive, almost animated, as if watching or leaning into the scene. Is it a figure disguised as a tree, or just the way memories infuse nature with human presence?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Kristine Moran, Heat shimmer, 2024, oil on canvas, 72 x 60 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this exhibition, Moran conveys a powerful message: our past can be a source of inspiration, and as reimagined it can shape or reshape our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nusrat Papia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Images are courtesy of Daniel Faria Gallery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Exhibition information: Kristine Moran, Not as it was but as it might be<\/em>, January 9 – February 22, 2025, Daniel Faria Gallery, 188 St Helens Ave, Toronto. Gallery hours: Tue \u2013 Fri 11 am \u2013 6 pm, Sat 10 am \u2013 6 pm.        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Nusrat Papia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moran conveys a powerful message: our past can be a source of inspiration, and as reimagined it can shape or reshape our world.<\/p>\n

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