Barker FAIRLEY / E.B. COX   
Greetings!   

On Saturday, February 25th our 2012 exhibition season begins with the opening of Barker Fairley and E.B. Cox.  This exhibition is one of the most anticipated in our nearly 25 year history.  The enthusiasm of you, our art lovers and collectors, has encouraged us to put together a first-class survey of these two remarkable Canadian artists.

Please enjoy the images and information below for what to expect when you visit the gallery this February and March.  A reminder to click through on the images and underlined links of interest, as there is more in store for you on our website.

Join us at the gallery between 2pm - 4pm for our opening celebration on Saturday, February 25thBarker Fairley and E.B. Cox runs until March 17th.
onthewalls

 

BARKER FAIRLEY and E.B. COX

February 25 - March 17 . 2012

 

Opening reception: Saturday, February 25th - 2 to 4pm 

 

Sculpture by E.B. COX alongside minimalist landscapes, portraits & 1960s family vignettes by Barker FAIRLEY makes for the quintessential Canadian exhibition. 

 

Barker FAIRLEY  

BARKER FAIRLEY (1887-1986)

Fairley approached painting with the full vocabulary of an art historian.  Yet, his method, like his approach to people, was almost irreverent in its honesty; determined to expose the core essence of his subjects. Minimalist in his aesthetic, Fairley stripped his subjects of pretense, moving from landscape to portraiture as a matter of impulse. Built entirely of flat areas, line and a deliberately limited colour palette, his works were intellectual distortions, almost mocking in their superficial naivet�.  Sitters were often put off by his portraits- uncomfortable by their own unmasking and the plain fact of their character as portrayed by Fairley.

Though the names of his sitters read like a chapter of 20th Century Canadiana, a rare but notable subset of Fairley's portraits are those that situate the sitter in a scene. The inclusion of props and the implication of narrative in these pieces acknowledges context in a way that is uncommon in his better known works. Playing cards, reading- Fairley's interactional pieces seem a departure from the landscapes and stoic studies for which he is better known. Few in number, these pieces speak to the humanism Fairley not only philosophized but practiced in life. "If I had followed my convictions I'd have done more social paintings" Fairley explained in retrospect.

For the advocate and later critic of the Group of Seven's persistent reign, Fairley's body of active portraits may speak more of the "Canadian fact" than any landscape.

Please click to read the full Barker Fairley essay.

 

 

E.B. COX 

 

E.B. COX (1914 - 2003)

 

Studying languages at the University of Toronto from 1934 to 1938, Mr. Cox was befriended by German professor and painter Barker Fairley, who introduced him to A.Y. Jackson, Fred Varley and Arthur Lismer of the Group of Seven. 

E.B. COX

 

'It is safe to say that anyone who has lived or visited the Toronto area has experienced the pleasure of viewing E. B. Cox's sculpture.  The pieces are everywhere and many people have enjoyed them for a lifetime without realizing who created these wonderful works.'    

 

- Wendy Ingram    

E.B. Cox: A Life in Sculpture,  

Boston Mills Press, 1999, pg. 42  

 

 

We invite you to join us at the gallery to explore all that Cox achieved -- be it introducing the air compressed chisel to Canadian sculptors, the life lessons he was so fond of sharing, his many publicly displayed works -- and most importantly -- the quality of his lines.  Rendering in stone and wood, the exhibition includes works in limestone, marble, dolomite and alabaster.  In addition, we have recently released a new series of bronze castings.  

 

E.B. Cox's claim to fame need not be that he sculpted the Group of Seven's tombstones (The McMichael grounds, Kleinberg, Ontario) when the body of work left to the public and private collectors is of such a grand calibre.  

 

'I make beautiful things for other people.' ~ E.B. Cox 

 

Please click to read more about the life of E.B. Cox.

 


newandnoteworthy

Andrew BELL  
New Works by Yann Leroux (Montr�al) & Andrew Bell (Ottawa)   
 
Yann LEROUX


Rolled up in a tube or packed down in a van, new works travel across Canada to arrive at the gallery each month.  The most recent new works into the gallery travelled in from Montreal and Ottawa.  From Yann Leroux's Montreal-based studio we have received three new compelling figurative works on paper.  From Max Planck to existential theory, Leroux packs a punch with hidden symbols and his interest in the human condition.

Andrew Bell delivered in person from his studio in Ottawa the first new works in since we exhibited produkcja at Art Toronto 2011. Continuing in the series that caught many art loving eyes over the course of the fair.


up_next

 
SCOTT OWLES
A Cast of Castings
April 14 - May 1 . 2012 
 


Scott Owles

A weekend in mid-February saw us in the Muskoka region of Ontario visiting in studio with Scott Owles.  Owles is currently at work preparing for his first formal solo exhibition with Ingram Gallery.  Out in early April, our spring issue of Ingram Art News! will feature Owles and all that he has been up to preparing for A Cast of Castings.




   

We would like to thank A.J. Lloyd for her new essay on Barker Fairley.  We would also like to thank the Royal Ontario Museum for the top notch installation of the Kingston Portrait Prize shortlist, which takes me to a story too awesome not to share!  While we were viewing the Kingston Prize exhibition earlier in the year with Sean Yelland -- we were very taken by the text the curator had selected for the main gallery wall.  Reading through the wise words written on the wall - I was struck by their familiarity -- a quote by 'scholar, critic and artist Barker Fairley' on the relevance of figurative painting in Canada!

 


Come out to the gallery for our celebration on Saturday, February 25th so that we may all enjoy, discuss and delight in the brilliant talent of Barker Fairley & E.B. Cox.

See you at the gallery!

With best wishes,
Tarah

 

Tarah Aylward, Director

 

Ingram Gallery 416/929-2220