Nicholas Metivier Gallery is pleased to announce University and Spadina, an exhibition of new paintings by Joanne Tod. The exhibition will open on October 11 and will be on view through November 3 with a reception for the artist on Thursday, October 11 from 6– 8 PM. This will be Tod’s second exhibition at the gallery.
Joanne Tod is renowned as one of Canada’s most accomplished realist painters. Her interest in this genre evolved from an early interest in Pop art and documentary photography. Working from her photographs of compelling interiors, people and objects, Tod finds a way to insert an element of social commentary and wit into every impeccably crafted painting.
The title of Tod’s new exhibition, University and Spadina, invokes the names of two well-known Toronto streets. The implication of a fictitious intersection sets up a paradoxical comparison of two closely situated, but otherwise disparate landmarks in this city - 1 Spadina Crescent, the current home of the University of Toronto’s Visual Studies Department and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. The variance in their architectural style as well as function is highlighted in Tod’s ability to convey the particular moods that permeate these historic and still-evolving buildings.
Encouraging the viewer to compare the beauty, nuances and idiosyncrasies of the Gardiner Museum and 1 Spadina Crescent, Tod intentionally links several formal aspects of the paintings:
The pictorial geometry is consistent throughout; some of the paintings depict deep, “empty” space, and others, the interruption of that space by an object viewed at close range. Recurring motifs such as wood grain, decorative glazed patterns and repeating architectural embellishments appear in all of the paintings.
Tod is ultimately the connection between the two institutions; she works as an instructor at 1 Spadina Crescent, and has spent a great deal of time at the Gardiner in preparation for her current ceramic exhibition there. The paintings in this exhibition communicate a respect and understanding for their histories that has been part of Tod's research over many years.
Joanne Tod’s work is held in many collections including, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Vancouver Art Gallery and Musée d'art contemporain, Montréal.