Sarah Cale
MedusiacOpening:
Thursday Sept 8th from 6-9pm
Exhibition:
8 September - 15 October, 2022
Medusiac is an exhibition of new paintings by the Brussels-based Canadian artist Sarah Cale (b. 1977, Montreal) at 190 St Helens Avenue.
Since 2017, Sarah Cale's materially diverse approach to painting has focused on the female form as subject, often depicted in moments of physical and psychological transformation. Her 2021 show Human Maths at n0dine (Brussels) presented mutable figures constructed with jute knot-tying techniques combined with oil paint. Her 2020 exhibition Mittelschmerz at CRG presented figures "in the middle of something," caught in a tension between painted bodily narratives and the awkward materiality apparent on the painting's surface.
Since 2017, Sarah Cale's materially diverse approach to painting has focused on the female form as subject, often depicted in moments of physical and psychological transformation. Her 2021 show Human Maths at n0dine (Brussels) presented mutable figures constructed with jute knot-tying techniques combined with oil paint. Her 2020 exhibition Mittelschmerz at CRG presented figures "in the middle of something," caught in a tension between painted bodily narratives and the awkward materiality apparent on the painting's surface.
Medusiac is comprised of portraits and figures in varied psychological states where heads and bodies are often depicted from multiple, contradictory perspectives. The artist aims to project a visual ruse: forms hover back and forth between a meditative stasis while also breaking apart or unravelling into the background. Each figure is grappling with both its physical/material self and its psychological self, depicted with subtly dark or peculiar undertones. Cale has said, "these portraits aim to show a conflict between a projected, idealized state versus the reality of one’s actual feelings and emotions."
You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her. And she’s not deadly. She’s beautiful and she’s laughing. - Hèlene Cixous, The Laugh of the Medusa
Sarah Cale received a BFA from the Nova Scotia Collage of Art and Design and an MFA from the University of Guelph. In 2009 and 2010 she was shortlisted for the Royal Bank of Canada painting award, and has been awarded numerous grants and residencies. Recent solo exhibitions include de Kromhoutal, Amsterdam (2022); n0dine, Brussels (2021); Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto (2020, 2018); The Varley Art Gallery, Markham (2016); Kitchener Waterloo Gallery, Kitchener (2015); Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto (2015); Anna Leonowens, Halifax (2015); and the The Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge (2014). Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Towards Gallery (2019); McIntosh Gallery, London (2019), Galerie McClure, Montréal (2018); The Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver (2017); Galerie UQAM, Montreal (2013); Oakville Galleries, Oakville (2012); Equinox Gallery, Vancouver (2012); the Power Plant, Toronto (2010); and Musée D’Art Contemporain, Montréal (2009).
