John Kissick’s Unveils His Solo Exhibition, ‘too near the bone’

In spite of lockdown measures, artists like John Kissick have been creating work and finding new and exciting ways to exhibit.

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, August 7, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — Canadian artist John Kissick’s exhibition, too near the bone, was on display at Gallery House In Toronto from July 10th – 25th, but works will continue to be exhibited until August 13th, 2020 by appointment only. In addition to being on display at Gallery House, interested audiences can also view the full show virtually. In this new series of work, John Kissick continues to wrestle with the question of authenticity; however, in contrast with his previous work, this series is airier, revealing an exploration of space and painterly gestures that are inspired by the artist’s fascination with J.M.W. Turner.

As a creator, John Kissick is inspired by everything. His paintings are packed abstractions that combine visual sources as disparate as dots from colour-blindness tests with patterns on shower curtains. Juxtaposing elements of both high and low culture, John Kissick deliberately avoids becoming too precious with his works; there is the sense that if left to convention, painting, like language, will only slip back into its own rhetoric and self-serving rationale. To create possibility, one must confound existing systems and rules. Kissick’s work delivers unpredictability in place of tidy conclusions.

Using a combination of painting and printing to re-make existing prints, John Kissick’s new body of work manipulates found objects. Too near the bone marks a major transition in the artist’s career. His last exhibition, Burning of the Houses of Cool Man, Yeah (2016) reached the limits of skepticism, but this new series approaches painting with great earnestness. Maintaining a devotion to the ‘cut-and-paste’ aesthetic of his earlier works and collages, John Kissick’s new works are quieter, but bear a deep concern for painting as a form of language. Kissick leaves the picture in varying degrees of completeness, inviting viewers to scrutinize the legibility of his marks, as well as the manner in which they obscure rather than elucidate the composition.

For more information and to book a viewing for John Kissick’s too near the bone, please visit: https://galleryhouse.ca/about-the-gallery-2/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibition/

ABOUT JOHN KISSICK

John Kissick was trained as a painter and writer, but has also held numerous academic posts, including Chair of Critical Studies at Penn State University’s School of Visual Arts, Sean of the Faculty of Art at the Ontario College of Art and Design, and for the last nine years, has been the Director of the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph. Kissick is currently represented by Katzman Kamen Gallery in Toronto, Wilde Gallery in Berlin, Bigue Art Contemporain in Montreal, and Michael Gibson Gallery in London. John Kissick has an extensive exhibition record, with over 30 solo exhibitions in Canada, the US, and Germany.

Belinda Chun
“…”
+1 416-587-0057
email us here