The Limits of Seeing Katie Brennan Katherine Pickering An exhibition at the Lake Country Art Gallery October 12 to November 9, 2012
Curatorial  Statement
A
rtists  have  always  responded  to  their  environment,  recording  it,  studying  it  and  using  it  as  an  imaginative  springboard  into  the  unknown.  Art  in  any  epoch  or  culture  has  meshed  with  the  rest  of  life,  in  social,  spiritual,  political  and  economic  ways.  It  has  also  used  available  technology  to  its  advantage.  Ever  since  paleolithic  cave  dwellers  experimented  with  charcoal,  ochre  and  animal  fat,  artists  throughout  history  have  been  trying  out  new  tools.  The  age  of  information  and  technology  we  now  live  in  provides  a  seemingly  endless  array  of  helpful  tools  for  contemporary  artists.  Thus  we  have  Katie  Brennan  pointing  a  camera  up  at  clouds,  or  pulling  her  car  off  the  busy  highway  to  aim  her  cell  phone  at  the  light  patterns  on  the  Bow  River.  And  Katherine  Pickering  SURZOLQJ DURXQG LQ GDUN SODFHV ZLWK D FDPHUD DQG D Ă€DVKOLJKW RU PLQHUÂśV ODPS UHVHDUFKLQJ WKH limits  of  seeing  by  its  light.  Contemporary  painters  use  google,  facebook,  photoshop,  cameras,  data  projectors  and  other  technological  innovations  as  easily  as  pencils  and  paint  brushes.  ,Q .DWLH %UHQQDQÂśV ZRUN ERWK HQGV RI WKH VSHFWUXP DUH LQ SOD\ WKH WUDGLWLRQDO DQG WKH WHFKQL- cal.  A  painting  practice  that  began  with  non-Âobjective  linear  abstractions  that  came  straight  from  her  imagination  shifted  into  a  series  of  works  based  on  corporate  car  logos  while  she  was  pursuing  her  MFA  at  the  University  of  Guelph  in  Ontario.  The  realization  that  she  could  paint  and  draw  from  existing  forms,  with  the  aid  of  technological  tools  like  data  projectors,  opened  QHZ DYHQXHV IRU KHU :KHQ VKH UHWXUQHG WR WKH 2NDQDJDQ WKHUH ZDV D QHZIRXQG FRQÂżGHQFH ZKLFK VRRQ KDG KHU SKRWRJUDSKLQJ FORXGV DQG H[SHULPHQWLQJ ZLWK SRROV RI Ă€XLG SDLQW On  her  way  to  a  self-Âguided  art  residency  at  the  Banff  Centre  in  Alberta  in  the  summer  of  2011,  where  she  intended  to  continue  with  the  cloud  paintings  that  she  had  been  making,  the  stunning  glacial  blue  of  the  Bow  River  caught  her  eye.  The  more  she  watched  and  photo- graphed  the  movement  of  water  and  the  light  dancing  across  its  surface,  the  more  she  was  entranced  by  it.  Her  senses  became  newly  attuned  to  natural  forms,   and  by  the  time  she  got  to  Banff  she  was  also  captivated  by  the  rhythm  of  tectonic  lines  in  the  mountains  around  her.  In  a  recent  discussion  of  landscape  painting  Brennan  stated  that  while  she  loved  being  in  the  ODQGVFDSH VKH DOVR KDG D GHHS DIÂżQLW\ IRU DEVWUDFWLRQ DQG LW LV WKLV DIÂżQLW\ WKDW JHQHUDOO\ guides  her  work.  Her  current  series  of  water  paintings  show  us  her  connection  to  both  kinds  of  art.  One  can  stand  before  these  images  and  look  deep  into  a  watery  pool,  and  then  shift  perception  and  veer  off  from  one  twisting  abstract  blue  form  to  another,  pulled  along  by  the  waters  and  pools  of  paint. .DWKHULQH 3LFNHULQJÂśV EULHI KLVWRU\ RI SDLQWLQJ WKH ODQGVFDSHV DURXQG KHU IDPLO\ KRPH VRRQ QDUURZHG WR D IRFXV RQ OHVV HDVLO\ LGHQWLÂżDEOH IRUPV +HU ZRUN LQ KHU %)$ H[KLELWLRQ DW WKH 8QL- YHUVLW\ RI %ULWLVK &ROXPELDÂśV 2NDQDJDQ FDPSXV FRPSOHWHG LQ IRXQG D ZRUNDEOH EDODQFH 2
between  traditional  landscape  forms  and  abstract  expressionist  painting,  and  her  present  work  maintains  this  balance  in  new  ways.  Her  growing  interest  in  visual  perception,  on  which  she  based  her  MFA  thesis  work  at  Concordia  University  in  Montreal,  incorporated  a  wide  range  of  experiences  including  caving  in  New  Zealand,  camping  in  a  desert  in  India  and  photograph- ing  forms  seen  at  night  at  the  edges  of  pools  of  light.  A  recent  experience  of  sitting  at  night  in  a  completely  dark  part  of  her  home  with  her  eyes  wide  open,  with  no  perception  of  depth;Íž  the  darkness,  a  palpable  thing  so  very  close  to  her,  taught  her  much  about  how  we  see.  The  understanding  Katherine  gained  from  such  experiences  informed  her  paintings  as  much  as  the  colours,  textures  and  shapes  seen  at  night  or  underground.  3LFNHULQJÂśV ORYH RI WKH PDWHULDOLW\ RI SDLQW OHG KHU SDVW EUXVKLQJ RQ VKDSHV WR SRXULQJ DQG GULS- ping  them  across  her  canvases;Íž  her  methods  of  painting  continue  to  grow,  as  can  be  seen  in  WKHVH UHFHQW ZRUNV 7KH FDYH RSHQLQJV GHVFULEHG E\ 3LFNHULQJ DV ÂľKHDG OLNH VKDSHVÂś KDYH EH- come  even  more  human  like  in  some  of  the  work  exhibited  here.  Yet  her  interests  lie  more  in  abstraction  than  in  making  portraits  or  underground  landscape  paintings.  As  she  once  said  in  a  lecture, Â â€œâ€Śwhat  I  was  exploring  about  darkness  was  about  limited  vision,  and  also  about  a  heightened  sense  of  imagination‌â€?   Her  heightened  imagination  is  as  evident  as  ever  in  these  recent  works.  3LFNHULQJ JUHZ XS ZLWK DQ LQWHUHVW LQ VFLHQFH ÂżFWLRQ YLD /XFDVÂś 6WDU :DUV DQG *HQH 5RGGHQ- EHUU\ÂśV 6WDU 7UHN ZKLFK OHG WR D GLVFRYHU\ RI HDUOLHU VFL Âż ZULWHUV VXFK DV + * :HOOV ZKR RIWHQ wrote  about  underground  realms.  The  discovery  of  these  stories  tied  in  nicely  with  her  interests  in  caves  and  also  made  for  her  a  link  with  her  childhood  fascination  with  space.  She  became  in- terested  in  creating  images  that  simultaneously  spoke  of  subterranean  worlds  and  outer  space,  WZR LQĂ€XHQFHV WKDW FRQWLQXH WR DIIHFW WKH SUHVHQW SDLQWLQJV +HU JHQWO\ LQFOLQHG KHDGV GR LQGHHG seem  to  be  dreaming  of  deep  caverns  and  endless  space.   'HVSLWH WKH FRQWUDVWV EHWZHHQ .DWLH %UHQQDQÂśV ZDWHU\ VXUIDFHV DQG .DWKHULQH 3LFNHULQJÂśV RWK- erworldly  realms,  an  easy  compatibility  exists  between  the  two  bodies  of  work.  Perhaps  this  is  due  to  their  common  interests  in  our  perceptions  of  nature  as  well  as  their  shared  techniques,  and  in  their  abilities  to  use  new  technologies  hand-Âin-Âhand  with  traditional  painting  processes.  7KH F\EHUQHWLF DJH LV XSRQ XV DQG IRU %UHQQDQÂśV DQG 3LFNHULQJÂśV JHQHUDWLRQ LW LV WKHLU QDWXUDO environment.  Thus  the  very  nature  of  their  work,  while  it  owes  much  to  the  earlier  painters,  stands  apart.     Jim  Kalnin  *XHVW &XUDWRU /DNH &RXQWU\ $UW *DOOHU\
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“He  makes  every  morning  a  study  of  what  he  sees.� )UHQFK FULWLF 7KHRSKLOH 7KRUH GHVFULELQJ WKH PDULQH SDLQWLQJV RI *XVWDYH &RXUEHW LQ 1
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KH QRWLRQ RI WKH DUWLVW DV UHVHDUFKHU RI WKH YLVLEOH ZRUOG LV DW OHDVW DV ROG DV /HRQDUGR 'D- Vinci.  Before  the  mass  accumulation  of  knowledge  in  the  Modern  era  necessitated  intensive  GLVFLSOLQDU\ VSHFLDOL]DWLRQ WKHVH DUWLVWLF LQYHVWLJDWLRQV ZHUH FRQGXFWHG DV ÂłVFLHQFH´ OLNH Ă€DQHX- ULH DQG DOFKHP\ 7KLV WUDGLWLRQ RI DUW PDNLQJ DV UHVHDUFK KDV IRXQG LWÂśV QDWXUDO KRPH ZLWKLQ WKH contemporary  university.  Although  the  process  and  results  of  these  artistic  investigations  are  generally   (and  necessarily)  more  idiosyncratic  than  the  ones  conducted  in  the  natural  science  wings,  they  are  just  as  rigorously  and  passionately  pursued.  They  also  tend  to  incorporate  a  less  imperial  understanding  of  “truthâ€?,  favoring  instead  an  experiential  subjectivity  because  the  truth  that  an  artist  seeks,  more  often  than  not,  is  the  hidden  beauty  buried  in  such  experiences.  In  this  quest  for  the  beautiful,  artists  have  made  use  of  every  available  technological  means.  In  the  DSSOLFDWLRQ RI WKHVH DSSDUDWXVHV WKH OLPLWV RI WKHLU YLVLRQ DUH RQO\ FRQÂżQHG E\ WKH OLPLWV RI WKHLU imagination.  The  paintings  of  Katie  Brennan  and  Katherine  Pickering  both  follow  this  tradition  of  researching  the  nature  of  the  beautiful.  They  do  so  by  uncovering  beauty  in  the  natural.  For  both  of  these  artists,  the  central  aesthetic  act  is  one  of  revealing  ephemeral  visual  phenomena  that  DUH MXVW RXWVLGH RXU QRUPDO H[SHULHQFH RI WKH ZRUOG TXLHW WLSWRHV EH\RQG WKH OLPLWV RI VHHLQJ The  paintings  of  Katherine  Pickering  are  idiosyncratic  investigations  into  our  perception  of  dark- QHVV %DVHG XSRQ SKRWRJUDSKLF LPDJHV RI WKH LOOXPLQDQW UDGLXV RI D Ă€DVKOLJKW VKH WUDQVIRUPV these  light  forms  into  eccentric,  abstract  motifs.  These  initial  photographs,  however,  are  used  less  as  a  traditional,  representational  “source  imageâ€?,  and  more  as  a  springboard  towards  a  sprawling,  painterly  exfoliation.  These  works  draw  upon  all  of  the  metaphoric  potentialities  that  H[LVW LQ WKLV QRFWXUQDO LPDJLQDWLYH VSDFH RI GUHDPV DQG QLJKWPDUHV IDQWDVLHV DQG IDLU\ WDOHV In  her  most  recent  series  of  paintings,  Pickering  has  drawn  out  the  anthropomorphic  quality  of  WKHVH OLJKW IRUPDWLRQV FUHDWLQJ SRUWUDLW OLNH DEVWUDFWLRQV OLJKW IRUPV EHFRPH OLIH IRUPV /LNH 5RUVFKDFK 7HVWV RU VKDSHV LQ FORXGV 3LFNHULQJÂśV VKURXG OLNH YHLOV RI ZDVK\ VPHDU\ KXHV VXP- mon  our  human  desire  to  make  pictures  of  things,  creating  complex  spaces  of  malleable  deter- minacy.  Twentieth  century  abstraction  brought  with  it  a  giant  array  of  painters  who  explored  our  perception  of  light  and  colour.  Artists  such  as  Bridget  Riley  and  Guido  Molinari  investigated  the  SK\VLRORJLFDO DSSDUDWXV RI KRZ ZH VHH 3LFNHULQJÂśV ZRUNV DUH PRUH FRQFHUQHG ZLWK WKH SV\FKR- ORJLFDO SRWHQWLDO WKDW H[LVWV LQ WKLV WUDQVIHU WKH LPDJLQDWLYH EODQNV WKDW RXU PLQGV ÂżOO LQ DV ZH fumble  through  darkness,  fantastic  projections  beyond  the  threshold  of  our  vision.
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7KHUH LV D SV\FKRORJLFDO FRPSRQHQW WR .DWLH %UHQQDQÂśV SDLQWLQJV DV ZHOO DQG WKH\ DUH OLNHZLVH concerned  with  a  personalized  research  into  a  naturally  occurring,  ephemeral  opticality  -  the  VKLPPHULQJ UHĂ€HFWLRQ DQG DEVRUSWLRQ RI OLJKW XSRQ DQG LQWR PRYLQJ ZDWHU %DVHG XSRQ GLJLWDO photographs  taken  by  the  artist  with  her  cell  phone,  these  paintings  evoke  a  deep  history  of Â
SDLQWLQJV RI ZDWHU 7KLV LV D KLVWRU\ ZLWK D VWURQJ DIÂżOLDWLRQ WR KLVWRULFDO SKRWRJUDSK\ DV ZHOO as  one  of  the  early  technical  holy  grails  in  that  emergent  medium  was  the  ability  to  document  PRYLQJ ZDWHU WR FDSWXUH DQ LQVWDQW RI LWV PRYHPHQW ZLWK SRHWU\ DQG ÂżGHOLW\ *XVWDYH &RXUEHW SDLQWHU DQG DYLG SKRWRJUDSKHU ZDV RQH RI WKH ÂżUVW SDLQWHUV WR GUDZ XSRQ SKRWRJUDSKLF VRXUFHV to  impressive  effect  in  his  marine  paintings,  such  as  “Waveâ€?  of  1870  (a  title  which  clearly  mir- rors  another  famous  art  historical  depiction  of  moving  water.)  But  unlike  the  romantic  tumult  of  &RXUEHWÂśV VXEOLPH VHDV %UHQQDQÂśV SDLQWLQJV HOLFLW WKH FDOPLQJ VHGDWLRQ RI PRYLQJ ZDWHUV UK\WK- PLF K\SQRVLV %XW LW LV LQ KHU KDQGOLQJ RI ZDWHUV RSXOHQW WUDQVSDUHQF\ WKDW %UHQQDQÂśV SDLQWLQJV really  steer  away  from  historical  landscape  painting,  where  water  is  treated,  more  or  less,  as  an  RSDTXH ÂżHOG RI LQWHUORFNLQJ FRORXU ,Q %UHQQDQÂśV SDLQWLQJV ZDWHU LV D YHLO WKURXJK ZKLFK ZH VHH glimpses  of  an  expansive  landscape  beneath  its  multicoloured  skin.  It  is  important  that  these  paintings  are  rendered  in  gouache  as  well,  a  medium  that  is  water-Âbased.  Gouache  can  be  ap- SOLHG WR DSSHDU WKLFN DQG RSDTXH RU WKLQQHG WR DSSHDU OLNH ZDWHUFRORXU ZLWK WKH DGGHG EHQHÂżW WKDW WKH FRORXU LV QRW UHDFWLYDWHG RQFH GU\ 7KLV DOORZ IRU %UHQQDQÂśV GHHS OD\HULQJ RI WUDQVOXFHQ- FLHV ZKLOH DYRLGLQJ WKH JRRS\ ORRNLQJ SODVWLFLW\ WKDWÂśV W\SLFDOO\ IRXQG LQ DFU\OLF SDLQW 7KH UHVXO- tant  works  are  freeze  frames  into  a  speculative  world  of  perpetual  motion  rendered  in  dazzling  hue  -  lying  just  beneath  the  threshold  of  our  immediate  visibility.  Churchill,  Manitoba  is  a  town  of  923  people  2  LQ WKH WXQGUD RI +XGVRQÂśV %D\ÂśV ZHVWHUQ VKRUH ,W is  affectionately  known  as  the  “Polar  Bear  Capital  of  the  Worldâ€?  3 ,Q D LQWHUYLHZ $PHULFDQ painter  Barnett  Newman  famously  claimed  that  he  “would  prefer  going  to  Churchill,  Canada  to  walk  the  tundra  than  go  to  Paris.â€?  4  Newman  sought  through  his  work  to  create  vast  optical  ¿HOGV WKDW HYRNHG WKH H[SDQVLYH VXEOLPLW\ RI WKH QDWXUDO ZRUOG $OWKRXJK KH QHYHU DFWXDOO\ ZHQW to  Churchill,  Manitoba,  he  did  spend  the  summer  of  1959  leading  a  famous  workshop  in  Emma  /DNH 6DVNDWFKHZDQ 1HZPDQ ZDV D GHÂżQLWLYH DEVWUDFW SDLQWHU \HW KLV SUDLULH SLOJULPDJH ZDV primary  research  into  the  natural  phenomena  that  inspired  his  work.  The  overwhelming  gran- deur  of  the  Canadian  north  was  something  for  Newman  to  take  in,  something  to  be  immersed  in,  WR H[SHULHQFH WR OLYH MXVW OLNH KH ZDQWHG KLV SDLQWLQJV WR GR WR WKH YLHZHU $ ORW RI SDUDOOHOV FRXOG EH GUDZQ EHWZHHQ 1HZPDQÂśV PRGHO RI UHVHDUFK DQG WKH RQHV XVHG E\ .DWKHULQH 3LFNHULQJ DQG .DWLH %UHQQDQ /LNH 1HZPDQ WKHLU SDLQWLQJV DUH ÂżFWLRQV EDVHG RQ D WUXH VWRU\ ,Q WKHLU ZRUN the  occurrence  of  natural  phenomena  is  evoked  without  being  represented,  conjured  without  being  mimicked,  allowing  for  gaps,  slippage  and  intuitive  understandings  to  emerge.  The  paint- ings  of  Katherine  Pickering  and  Katie  Brennan  are  primary  research  into  the  edge  of  experience  –  generous  extrapolations  beyond  what  we  can  imperially  observe  toward  spaces  we  can  never  too  abundantly  imagine.  1.  ,W LV TXRWHG KHUH IURP SDJH RI 'RPLQLTXH GH )RQW 5pDXO[ÂśV SDSHU Âł3DUDOOHO /LQHV *XVWDYH &RXUEHWÂśV Âł3D\VDJHV GHV 0HUV DQG *XVWDYH /H *UD\ÂśV 6HDVFDSHV Âą ´ SUHVHQWHG DW WKH 6\PSRVLXP Âł/RRNLQJ DW /DQGVFDSH &RXUEHW DQG 0RGHUQLVP´ WKH - 3DXO *HWW\ 0XVHXP 0DUFK , ZDVQÂśW WKHUH RU DQ\WKLQJ EXW , IRXQG LW RQ WKH LQWHUQHW DW KWWS ZZZ JHWW\ HGX PXVHXP V\PSRVLD SGIVBFRXUEHW FRXUEHWBIRQWBUHDXO[ SGI  $FFRUGLQJ WR WKH &DQDGD &HQVXV 3.  According  to  Wikipedia‌. )URP Âł)URQWLHUV RI 6SDFH´ LQWHUYLHZ E\ 'RURWK\ *HHV 6SHFNOHU $UW LQ $PHULFD 6XPPHU ,W LV TXRWHG KHUH IURP Âł%DUQHWW 1HZPDQ 6HOHFWHG :ULWLQJV DQG ,QWHUYLHZV´ -RKQ 3DXO 2ÂśQHLO HGLWRU 8QLYHUVLW\ RI &DOLIRUQLD 3UHVV %HUNOH\ SDJH
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Katie  Brennan,  Off  in  Deep  Pools  of  Ether,  She  Crumbles JRXDFKH RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
Katie  Brennan,  In  the  Wake  of  Your  Footprints  (you  see  it  too) JRDXFKH RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
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Katie  Brennan,  In  an  Icy  Cavern JRDXFKH RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
Katie  Brennan,  A  spotted  cat  kind  of  day,  Jaguar JRDXFKH RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
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Katie Brennan, The Love Affair That Never Was, gouache on canvas, 54”x72”, 2012
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Katie  Brennan,  The  Ripples  Can  Only  Go  On  So  Long JRXDFKH RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
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Katie  Brennan,  Dusty  Roses  &  Russian  Tea JRXDFKH RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
Katherine Pickering, The Ice Sphinx, oil on canvas, 30”x32”, 2009
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Katherine  Pickering,  Untitled  (Head-ÂLike  Shape  #1),  RLO RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
Katherine  Pickering,  Untitled  (Head-ÂLike  Shape  #2),  RLO RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
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Katherine  Pickering,  Untitled  (Head-ÂLike  Shape  #3),  DFU\OLF RLO RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
Katherine  Pickering,  Untitled  (Head-ÂLike  Shape  #4),  acrylic  &  RLO RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
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Katherine  Pickering,  Untitled  (Head-ÂLike  Shape  #5),  DFU\OLF RLO RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
Katherine  Pickering,  Untitled  (An  Opening  in  the  Clouds  #1), RLO RQ FDQYDV ´[ ´
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7KH 0LVVLRQ RI WKH /DNH &RXQWU\ $UW *DOOHU\ LV  To  celebrate  art  as  an  essential  part  of  the  human   experience,  enhancing  our  community  through  art   and  art  experiences.
7KH /DNH &RXQWU\ $UW *DOOHU\ JUDWHIXOO\ DFNQRZOHGJHV WKH ¿QDQFLDO DVVLVWDQFH RI WKH 'LVWULFW RI /DNH &RXQWU\ WKH &HQWUDO 2NDQDJDQ Foundation,  BC  Arts  Council,  and  the  United  Way.
‹ /DNH &RXQWU\ $UW *DOOHU\  $ %RWWRP :RRG /DNH 5G  /DNH &RXQWU\ %& 9 9 7 www.lakecountryartgallery.ca 20
 Designed  by  Shauna  Oddleifson Printed  by  UBR  Services  Photos  courtesy  of  the  artists