Heather Horton: Love Story

Heather Horton Love Story Sep. 11th - Oct. 3rd

ABBOZZOGALLERY.COM 416-260-2220 401 RICHMOND STREET WEST UNIT 128, Toronto, ON M5V3A8

Table of Content Ann Almonte Alyssa Ann In The Black Dress Bedroom Little Yellow House Bruges Belfry Childhood Bedroom Redux Elephant Heart Plum First Weekend Heliotrope I Heliotrope II Humboldt Park I Dreamt Music Kensington Kensington Backyard Kensington Palette LĂ­ Ban Paths To Wisdom Portrait of My Parents Porthole On The John.P. Tully Princess,Sunlit Saga Self Portrait Forged Self Portrait, London Studio Sky over Bruges Tanya The Outlier The Paladin The Phoenix The Storm Petrel The Virago What The Water Gave Me Within these Walls

Artist Statement “Love Story� is an exhibition of paintings which have all been directly or indirectly touched by meeting the love of my life. So many of my paintings over the years have been about capturing absence, the what was, remnants, hauntings..it is exciting to finally paint what is present, what is known, what is now. These paintings are a celebration of what it is to have found true love both for myself and with the greatest joy, for my other.

- Heather Horton

A Love Letter to Heather Horton Canadian oil painter Heather Horton’s signature contemporary realist style returns to Abbozzo Gallery for her 7th Solo-Exhibition this September. This new series of work, Love Story, although no less poignant, sees a slight thematic departure from Horton’s often personal, contemplative, meditative work on loss, memory, and remnants of what was; the shift is to one of things found, of things loved, brightness, the immediate moment, and new futures. Still present is the high realism constructed through delicate large brushstrokes and the softness that has made her work so irresistible to the eye. Horton’s Love Story is largely drawn from her time spent with the “love of her life” in the Kensington neighbourhood of London, England over the past year. Such joy is viscerally apparent in this exhibition.

Our relationship with Heather Horton started around 17 years ago after she had just finished the esteemed Sheridan College Illustration program in Oakville. In her final year she had decided to make the full time switch to painting from the more general illustration, and thankfully so. At the time, Gallery staff Ineke, Margaret, and Ken had been looking through a pile of submissions when Heather Horton’s work appeared, and like a gift revealing itself, it was a resounding and unanimous “Yes” from all of them and a meeting was arranged to get the ball rolling. And did it ever roll. 7 Solo Exhibitions and countless group shows with us later, the Burlington, ON born artist now has work in notable private and public collections across the globe. The work, almost two decades later, still carries the delicate sentimentality, uniquely her own, that made us fall in love with her in the first place. I cannot stress enough how much of a pleasure and an immense privilege it is to represent and watch her grow as an artist. We cannot wait to see what the future holds for her both personally and professionally because as always, she’s been destined for great things.

-The Abbozzo Gallery Team

Forewo I work in Hollywood, so let’s proceed directly to the name-dropping.

I have sat by the orchestra at Conway Studios while Randy Newman conducted his wonderful score for Toy Story. I’ve watched Carlos Acosta dance from the on-stage wings of the Royal Opera House. And I’ve watched Heather Horton at her easel for more than a year now. I’ve watched her patient passion bring to bloom a host of visions and moments. Mesmerised by her serene precision, I’ve reverentially interrupted her like four hundred times, to tell her something funny, or ask where something is. Finally, I’m not just a witness; I’m a part of the process.

I make it go worse!

In fact, I have a larger share in the process than that. To call this show a collaboration would be beyond insulting. Horton is a sorcerer - I’m a mouse in hat making too many brooms. But love stories do usually require two or more players, and on that canvas I do get to add my miniscule magiscule. Not because I directed the course of Heather’s painterly evolution, but because I got caught in its current, and the whole stream of her palette was tinged with the color of us.

What first drew me to Heather Horton’s work were her gentle impressions of pain. Of grief, of what’s missing… of silence, serene or agonized. (We share a fascination with the wealth of expression found in studying the backs of people’s heads.) To me, her work made life still – stopped everything to say: Hush. This is now. We are inside this “now”. We’re exploring not the event but the moment it happens in, or the moment long after, when the room has grown eerie with rue. The self-portrait that hung in my living room for more than a year before we met was all about a passage of pain - one that, when finally annotated by the artist in its presence, mirrored mine more than I’d remotely suspected. (I see it now, of course, with new eyes.

I see a sort of prescience, as if all along it was already saying “Yes honey that’s very clever but I’m trying to paint.”)

To see the change that defines this show, look specifically at Heather’s use of Heather. Look at “the Phoenix”, a self-portrait of peaceful, confident joy, set against a skyline much smaller than she. It’s not a statement she set out to make: the photo she extrapolated that piece from wasn’t part of a session, it was taken because someone was in love with her, and the light seemed to feel the same way. And she let herself agree, and decided to tell you all.

ord Look at the latest in her shower paintings, and see her looking right back at you.

I’ve watched Heather create for months on end, and though she’s shared her process, her intents, the disappointments and flashes of giddy pride every daub of paint might set off, it’s still exactly like watching someone conduct an orchestra or dance a ballet. I have no idea how it’s done. How she captures, with unerring precision, the light, the water, the floors & blankets, the humans in their human skin. Her brush never flatters, but always ennobles. Not just by having “immortalized” her subjects, but by communicating them. By seeing the grace in their imperfections, and in how imperfect they feel.

Heather paints pictures that people mistake for photos, until they see how much more than a photo they speak. There’s a level of skill and ease that is akin to performance (and now sometimes is, thanks to TWITCH – another thing I don’t entirely understand). I don’t even have an idea, if she has files of references, which ones will stop her eye. And I love not knowing. Everything she paints, she paints because she has something to say. If I knew what it was before she said it, what would we talk about?

I live with a master painter, and though most of her works grow up and leave home forever, I get to watch them become. And sometimes at night, when she’s gone up to bed, I pull up a chair and stare at what’s on her easel. Just sit, and stare, and love. And love is what stares back, whether it’s a portrait or a row of houses. Heather has taught me, in every way, that to love is to see clearly. Welcome to what I have seen.

I will drop a name on occasion. But not Heather Horton’s. That one I carry like a newborn, and show anyone who will look.

-Joss Whedon

Ann, 2019 Oil on Canvas 2 x 2 in

Almonte, 2020 Oil on Panel 20x16 in

Alyssa, 2020 Oil on Panel 12 x 24 in

Ann In The Black Dress, 2020 Oil on Panel 48 x 24 in

Bedroom Little Yellow House, 2019 Oil on Canvas 12 x 24 in

Bruges Belfry, 2019 Oil on Canvas 24 x 18 in

Childhood Bedroom Redux, 2018 Oil on panel 30 x 30 in

Elephant Heart Plum, 2020 Oil on Panel 5 x 7 in

First Weekend, 2019 Oil on Panel 8 x10 in

Heliotrope I, 2020 Oil on Panel 12 x16 in

Heliotrope II, 2020 Oil on Panel 12 x 24 in

Humboldt Park, 2020 Oil on Panel 16 x16 in

I Dreamt Music, 2020 Oil on Panel 12 x16 in

Kensington, 2019 Oil on Panel 24 x18 in

Kensington Backyard, 2020 Oil on Panel 24 x18 in

Kensington Palette, 2020 Oil on Panel 16 x12 in

Lí Ban, 2020 Oil on Panel 8 x10 in

Paths To Wisdom, 2020 Oil on Panel 4 x 4 in

Porthole On The John.P. Tully, 2020 Oil on Canvas 12 x12 in

Portrait of My Parents, 2018 oil on canvas 36 x 48 in

Princess,Sunlit, 2020 Oil on Panel 32 x 43 in

Saga, 2020 Oil on Panel 14 x 8 in

Self Portrait Forged, 2020 Oil on Panel 6 x 6 in

Self Portrait, London Studio, 2020 Oil on Panel 6 x12 in

Sky over Bruges, 2018 Oil on Panel 24 x 24 in

Tanya, 2020 Oil on Panel 12 x 24 in

The Outlier, 2019 Oil on Panel 54 x 72 in

The Paladin, 2020 Oil on Panel 18 x 24 in

The Phoenix, 2020 Oil on Panel 12 x 24 in

The Storm Petrel, 2020 Oil on Panel 20 x 16 in

TheVirago, 2020 Oil on Panel 60 x 39 in

What The Water Gave Me, 2020 Oil on Panel 60 x 48 in

Within these Walls, 2020 Oil on Panel 36 x 48 in

All images Š 2020 by Heather Horton Text Š 2020 by Heather Horton, Joss Whedon, Blake Zigrossi.

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published By Abbozzo Gallery 401 Richmond Street West, Suite 128 Toronto, Ontario M5V 3A8 Credits Photography of all paintings by Heather Horton Catalouge by Yodit Adonai

Abbozzo Gallery Member of the Art Dealers Association of Canada 401 Richmond Street West Unit128, Toronto ON, M5V 3A8 Tel: 416-260-2220 Toll Free: 1-866-844-4481 abbozzogallery.com