Milly Ristvedt

The grid is deconstructed and on the move in this large-scale Milly Ristvedt painting. Squares in purple and yellow advance and recede through varying levels of scale and saturation.

Canada

Ontario 

Oeno Gallery

Painting

Logic

Dmitry Yuzefovich

Deploying a highly realized trompe l'oeil technique, Dmitry Yuzefovich creates a conceptual tension between what is real and what is memory. All his paintings come from memory and harken notions of a childhood full of mystery, excitement, and dilapidation. The nostalgia is nuanced here: there is both a fondness and complexity.

Door No. 50

Alice Teichert

Omnipresenent immerses you in fields of soft blue and mango orange. These fields are divided and joined by a tonal grey undulating mass that carries you through the painting like sound through water. 

Working with a new medium and a new palette, Teichert is communicating with us more subtly than ever before: her line, while viscerally present, offers itself as an absence - a fissure between forms; a crack where the light breaks though. Soft rays of white pigment filter out from the pulsing line and lead our eyes into fields of colour that are so fresh and so deep that you may have gotten lost in them were it not for the circular and oblong 'pauses' of solid colour points that bop through the paintings strategically like a metronome with its own agenda, leading your eye from place to place, drawing you in and out.

Omnipresent

Bright white and radiating heat, and somehow contentedness, Helio shines like the sun on a blissfully hot summer afternoon. Teichert's painterly line, like the smooth, continuous, oscillations of the sine wave, propagates throughout this series connecting each painting to a harmonious whole. Sometimes it undulates through the horizon line of the painting and at other times the sine is a glowing circular orb - the universe at a distance as though through a telescope.

Helio

David Bolduc

An explosion of streamer-like colour on an all-over style abstract background excites your eye and draws you into an immersive experience with this large-scale Bolduc painting.

Siligury

Heidi Conrod

Against an azure blue background, pastel-coloured shapes are highlighted by a single bright white neon light. This is one of a series of engaging abstract paintings by Ottawa artist, Heidi Conrod. ‘The Charged Line’ investigates the dynamic relationship between light and space. 

“Adding an electrical element to painting introduces notions of positive/negative chemical reactions (tensions which create the electric charge itself which powers the light).” heidiconrod.com 

Born in Montreal in 1970, Conrod attained her BSc in Biology in 1994 at the University of Ottawa. She studied painting and printmaking at the Ottawa School of Art and at the University of Ottawa. Heidi Conrod’s work is held in many Canadian galleries.

Brilliant orange shapes are highlighted and defined by a streak of neon tubing that divides this colourful painting by Heidi Conrod. This is one of a series of compelling abstract pieces, Conrod calls, ‘The Charged Line’ in which she adds a hand-molded electric neon tube to explore the dynamic relationship between light and space. 

“Harmony and tension play equal roles; the lights appear at once graceful, balanced additions, whilst simultaneously acting to divide the physical space and alter perceptions of colour and form.” heidiconrod.com 

Born in Montreal in 1970, Conrod attained her BSc in Biology in 1994 at the University of Ottawa. She studied painting and printmaking at the Ottawa School of Art and at the University of Ottawa. Heidi Conrod’s work is held in many Canadian galleries.

Orange Bind

Pretty pastel-coloured shapes are defined by a striking line of neon light in this abstract work by Heidi Conrod. The Ottawa artist recently created a series of evocative paintings that use a hand-molded line of electric neon tubing to highlight and change the viewer’s perception of the canvas. “The Charged Line” is an exploration of the dynamic relationship between light and space. 

“Incorporated with Conrod’s palette, the bright yet soft lights feel at once romantic and somewhat eerie, often as if reproductions of a radiant midday sun or a warm sunset glow.” heidiconrod.com 

Born in Montreal in 1970, Conrod attained her BSc in Biology in 1994 at the University of Ottawa. She studied painting and printmaking at the Ottawa School of Art and at the University of Ottawa. Heidi Conrod’s work is held in many Canadian galleries.

Stray

Bruno Cote

Bold colours -- lime green, pink and mauve -- in painterly swaths reveal the modernist roots of this Quebec mountain scene by Bruno Cote (1940-2010). Cote uses a classic zig-zag composition to the eye from the snowy foreground to the mount and bright blue sky.

St Urbain

A mountainous landscape is awash with golden light in this Impressionistic landscape by Bruno Côté. Côté is recognized as a leading interpreter of the Quebec landscape and known for his bold palette and spontaneous brushstrokes. 

St Agnes

Sandra Meigs

Oval shapes in peach, red, yellow and blue dance on a light blue ground in this compelling abstract painting by Sandra Meigs. 

This enigmatic work is from a group of 30 paintings that were exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario in "Room for Mystics", 2017. 

"I anticipate … an explosion of colour, at first the colours will look ungainly, like blobby forms coughed onto the wall: minty green, cerulean blue, milk chocolate brown … within the ground there are hidden figures and things: a toe, a dog head, a breast, etc. The viewer's exploration of these comes to fruition when close to the canvas. When stepping away to a distance, they are lost." - Sandra Meigs

Room For Mystics 1

Through the use of vivid color and words, Sandra Meigs explores the tension between reading and seeing a work of art. Words in playful cursive script on round shapes in blue and indigo are paired with enigmatic faces in this large, compelling image. This painting was exhibited in 2017 in "Room for Mystics" at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Room For Mystics 13

Viktor Mitic

Utilizing a pop-inspired aesthetic with bold colour blocks and a simplified portraiture design, Mitic riffs on the ubiquitous selfie culture, comical filters, and more deeply, surveillance culture. The character's eyes are comically enlarged and glance dramatically upward to another set of eyes that extend from his head and appear to be watching from above. Strategically executed bullet holes pierce the canvas creating a tension between creation and destruction and ask the viewer to confront ideas surrounding the normalization and glorification of violence in contemporary culture.

Self Portrait (Selfie)

Viktor Mitic’s ‘Blazing Blue’ is part of a series of pop art paintings that illustrates life at the beach. The predominantly royal blue beach scene shows people clad in shorts walking on the golden-coloured sand, turquoise waters in the background. In this piece, the Serbian-born artist is playing with light, shadow and negative spaces. Figures and objects appear in silhouette, a deliberate play on the viewer’s perception. “This painting is about people and movement and contrasts but they are not the focus. Your perception is.” Viktor Mitic He earned a BFA from the University of Toronto in 1995 with studies in art history at Sheridan College. He has exhibited his post-Pop inspired paintings, prints and colourful abstract sculptures at the Muramatsu Gallery in Tokyo, The Armory Show in NYC, Art Chicago and in Toronto. His work is held in corporate, private, and public collections.

Blazing Blue

Otto Rogers

A leaf shape is poised within structured passages of red, moss green and blue in this masterful acrylic by Otto Rogers. One of his last paintings, this vibrant yet contemplative composition is an exploration of the theme of motion in stillness through modernist forms.

Single Leaf

A rich black ground undulates at the horizon where it meets geometric passages of crimson, ochre, grey, white, peach below a moss green and teal sky in this acrylic painting on canvas. A calligraphic swoop of brushed white, a passing cloud, completes this powerful composition. 

Rogers work, rooted in a cubist-constructivist tradition, was recognized by art critic Clement Greenberg in 1963 as having a "fullness of inspiration". Rogers taught at the University of Saskatchewan (1959-1988) after receiving his MA in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin. His paintings, mixed media and sculptures are included in more than 30 public collections across Canada, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the McMichael Canadian Collection, the National Gallery of Canada. His work is also in the Museu d'art contemporain de Barcelona and the National Gallery of Iceland as well as numerous private and corporate collections. 

Rogers helped sustain the Emma Lake Workshops which provides a meeting place for many of North America's most respected visual artists and critics including Clement Greenberg, Barnett Newman, Jules Olitiski, Kenneth Noland, Jack Shadbolt, Helen Frankenthaler. In 2007, a published book of his work Otto Donald Rogers, included a foreword by British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro. "There are few artists, very few, whose work has about it a kind of magic; they sing their own song. Otto Rogers is one of these special few. I love what he does." ~ Sir Anthony Caro

Passing Cloud

The dynamic beauty of the natural world inspired Canadian artist Otto Rogers. This striking painting’s waves of colour in earthy tones of blue, gold, brown, black and white is enhanced by its circular form. 

Saskatchewan born Rogers was recognized by the NY art critic, Clement Greenberg as a ‘big attack’ painter early in his career and stated that his artwork showed a ‘fullness of inspiration.’ A devout follower of the Baha’i faith, Rogers did not view art as simply a ‘decorative thing.’ “Art is a means of elevating consciousness and can reflect attributes of the soul.” Otto Rogers 

He acquired his MA in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin and later taught at the University of Saskatchewan for 29 years. He also participated in the Emma Lake Workshops in BC which attracted some of North America’s finest artists. Rogers’ work is held in more than 30 public collections including: the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Wave Landscape

Passages of dense black outlined with a whisper of teal are topped with charcoal grey that ends at exact center of this canvas tondo by Otto Rogers. Above this horizon line, the sky is brushed with brown, dove grey and crowned with a shape of moss green that hangs like a still cloud. The geometry of the tondo, Italian for round, concentrates attention on the center of the image making the painting more self-referential. 

Rogers work, rooted in a cubist-constructivist tradition, was recognized by art critic Clement Greenberg in 1963 as having a "fullness of inspiration". 

Rogers taught at the University of Saskatchewan (1959-1988) after receiving his MA in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin. His paintings, mixed media and sculptures are included in more than 30 public collections across Canada, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the McMichael Canadian Collection, the National Gallery of Canada. His work is also in the Museu d'art contemporain de Barcelona and the National Gallery of Iceland as well as numerous private and corporate collections 

Rogers helped sustain the Emma Lake Workshops which provides a meeting place for many of North America's most respected visual artists and critics including Clement Greenberg, Barnett Newman, Jules Olitiski, Kenneth Noland, Jack Shadbolt, Helen Frankenthaler. In 2007, a published book of his work Otto Donald Rogers, included a foreword by British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro. "There are few artists, very few, whose work has about it a kind of magic; they sing their own song. Otto Rogers is one of these special few. I love what he does." ~ Sir Anthony Caro

Light At Dawn

Fiona Ackerman

Fiona Ackerman’s painting called Silver is a stunning abstract composition of delicate flowers—roots, bulbs and organic shapes in silvery white. This is one of a series of acrylic pieces she created in 2021 inspired by the 17th century botanical illustrations of women naturalists. 

“I realized that my botanical paintings were not really about nature but about my relationship to nature, my curiosity. My experience of nature as an outsider. About my hunger to understand nature. To feel at home in nature. My desire to love it and want to protect it rather than fear it.” Fiona Ackerman 

Originally from Montreal, Fiona Ackerman studied painting at Concordia University and completed a BFA at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2002. She has held more than 20 solo exhibitions internationally. Fiona’s studio practice extends beyond painting to include several large-scale murals, video and other public art projects. In her free time, she writes and records music and videos, often working with other musicians. She currently lives and works in Vancouver BC.

Silver

Three large orange flowers float across the canvas in this dream-like abstract painting by Fiona Ackerman. Set against a mauve-coloured backdrop and highlighted with a gestural line of royal blue and organic shapes in red, this collage was inspired by the 17th botanical illustrations of women naturalists. 

“I realized that my botanical paintings were not really about nature but about my relationship to nature, my curiosity. My experience of nature as an outsider. About my hunger to understand nature. To feel at home in nature. My desire to love it and want to protect it rather than fear it.” Fiona Ackerman 

Originally from Montreal, Fiona Ackerman studied painting at Concordia University and completed a BFA at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2002. She has held more than 20 solo exhibitions internationally. Fiona’s studio practice extends beyond painting to include several large-scale murals, video and other public art projects. In her free time, she writes and records music and videos, often working with other musicians. She currently lives and works in Vancouver BC.

Monarch

Oeno Gallery promotes the art of distinguished Canadian contemporary and historical artists with a selection of prominent international artists.  Featured in our Art Toronto 2021 exhibition are works by 14 leading contemporary artists and five historical artists demonstrating the breadth and talent of Oeno’s representation. Within the contemporary milieu, Oeno is known for its commitment to Canadian abstraction, examples include work by Milly Ristvedt, Alice Teichert, Otto Rogers, Viktor Mitic, Shayne Dark, Fiona Ackerman, Scott Pattinson, and Jeremy Guy.

Oeno Gallery | ArtTO 81