Encaustic, or molten beeswax mixed with pigment, is Steeves’ medium of choice. The physicality of the encaustic medium is reinforced in the form of large renderings of fingerprints layered over the canvas surface. The prints are often Steeves’ own — he had himself ‘processed’ by the Vancouver Police Department in preparation for this work — and they serve to remind us not only of the existence of the painter, [...]
Elissa Cristall Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by Victoria-based artist Jeroen Witvliet. "Unintentionally disrupting your thoughts" is a new series of oil paintings touching on the surreal, referencing many things hidden underneath the skin of the paint. Exhibition DatesNovember 20 - December 18, 2021 *extended to January 22, 2022 Hours Please note that we are currently open by appointment Tuesday – Friday. We welcome [...]
Our interview with Toronto-based painter Mara Korkola took place by telephone and email over the course of two months. Mara Korkola's captivating works compress worlds of information into small intimate oil paintings. The sunset paintings featured here are based on photographs taken from hiking trips along the west coast of British Columbia. Late evening is Korkola's signature time of day. This is when she prefers to paint as [...]
Randall Steeves' paintings celebrate the complexity of the natural world. The paintings are made from encaustic, a beeswax based paint that is heated and brushed onto the canvas where it hardens immediately. The process results in a complex surface that can be read as a chronology of the painting’s construction and a record the painter’s physical presence and actions. Viewing this work, one is reminded of John Cage’s famous dictum that [...]
BIOGRAPHY Late evening is Mara Korkola’s signature time of day. This is when she prefers to paint as it allows for uninterrupted sessions and working wet on wet, a technique that gives her paintings their lush and fluid surfaces. It is also her favourite time to photograph cities, when streets are devoid of human traffic and the lights emanating from buildings, headlights and street lamps appear jewel-like against the [...]
. Randall Steeves’ thickly painted, textured paintings invite the viewer to reconsider the gesture of painting itself. The canvases explore the relationship between the photographic index and the painterly trace with a wry nod towards conceptual art practice. The subject of his canvases is the fingerprint. Steeves had himself “processed” by the Vancouver Police Department in preparation for this work and the pieces are made up entirely of his own [...]
