Jill Glessing

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  picks May 25, 2020

  Ho Tam

  Western imperialism requires an ideological substrate, a web of signifiers that establishes illusions of ethnic and cultural superiority. A Canadian immigrant from Hong Kong, Ho Tam has been attuned for decades to the accompanying stereotypes permeating North American mass media, his observations on which culminated in four projects made between 1993 and 2020 that are currently on view at Paul Petro Contemporary Art.

  Tam’s artist’s books, magazine, video, and set of prints are formal variations on a single theme and structure: All include twenty-six components corresponding to the English letters

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  picks December 12, 2019

  Claire Greenshaw

  Claire Greenshaw’s drawings and sculptures are riddled with holes. Along with other circular motifs—eyes, planets, bodily orifices—they open up questions about perception and representation.

  At the exhibition’s entrance, two life-size bronze fingers assertively jut out from the wall in an eye-poking gesture, alerting visitors to the visual and conceptual stimulation ahead (Perception Management, all works cited 2019). Inside the gallery, a large slice of freestanding wall covered with soft swipes, streaks, and smudges of graphite stands as an ode to unmediated mark-making (Observer Effect).

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  picks November 12, 2019

  Blue Republic

  Previous exhibitions by Blue Republic, a collective based in Toronto and Krakow, have involved ephemeral drawings, sculptures, and video works that speak to transience and fragility. This more focused presentation of thirteen discrete works, incorporating photography, sculpture, and installation, enriches and expands these themes through references to the family histories of the collective’s artists (Anna Passakas and Radoslaw Kudlinski) and allusions to oppressive conditions around the globe. This weighty content is counterbalanced by the aesthetic playfulness of the artists’ use of found