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new painting by Trish Shwart
February 21 to April 4
artist's reception, Thursday March 13, 4 to 6pm
artist's talk, Friday April 14, 12 to 1 pm, location TBD
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The View Gallery is pleased to be hosting this exciting exhibition of new painting by Victoria artist Trish Shwart. The real, the imagined, and/or the remembered landscape is the subject and inspiration for the collection of electrifying works the artist has selected to share with us. With acrylic, spray paint, collage, stencil and the occasional Stabilo pencil crayon, Shwart weaves a mesmerizing spell that is part fairytale, part holiday snapshot, and part disaster movie. Large mixed-media paintings on panel and paper, small and intimate gouache paintings, along with a choice selection of oil pastels on paper, make up the works on display in this must-see exhibition.
I R L (in real life) is a fresh look at the landscape through the lense of our contemporary moment. Living much of our lives through the mediating forces of screen technologies has forever changed our experience of the natural world. It is now more difficult than ever to have an authentic experience of our environment without first looking through the filters of nature documentaries, postcard images and/or Instagram posts. This alienation from the ecosystem on which we depend is a starting point of Shwart’s new work.
Raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Treaty One Territory) Trish Shwart is currently living and working in Victoria, British Columbia (Lkwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ Territories). She graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor in Interior Design (Gold Medal) and has a Diploma in Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design (Helen Pitt Graduate Award). From 2019-21 she participated in a two-year Turps Banana Correspondence Program (London UK), an online artist mentorship program focused solely on the discourse within contemporary painting. Her work has been in solo and group exhibitions nationally.