Donato Mancini: BYTHELIGHTOFTHE

18 December 2014 through 18 January 2015

Opening reception Thursday 18 December 2014, 6-9pm 

Curated by Steven Tong

Deirdre McAdams: OPEN BOOK

13 November 2014 through 14 December 2014
Opening reception Thursday 13 November 2014, 6-9pm

Guest curated by Elizabeth Zvonar

It’s not everyday I get really excited about painting. Exciting painting pops and pulsates and confuses me a little. Deirdre McAdams' canvases are painted and sprayed symbols of abstracted and approximate forms and ideas. Sometimes there’s a disagreement between forms existing on different planes or heavy lines delineating shadow beyond the scope of logic that collide with her astute nod to the ‘graffic’ aesthetic. This dissent on the surface of the picture makes for weird, mesmerizing and exciting works that are big enough to hold a wall and yet they demand your attention to come closer to view.

Her technique is sharp and speckled, formulaic and free form. The works trigger a moment of familiarity that dupes you into thinking you understand what you’re seeing, only to shift gears into that terrain of life territory that is simultaneously mutable and arbitrary. Not unlike a story of days, the works form, take a direction and roll out. Something happens along the way and it's best to pay attention as the journey holds the heart. With titles that point out that direction; Illustration, Stone Tablet (with detail), Puzzle Painting and Monologue, McAdams deftly tells a compellingly rich and strange story through histories of geometric abstraction and minimal painting.

-EZ, 2014

Deirdre McAdams is a visual artist living and working in Vancouver, BC. She is a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art and Design (2008), and the Victoria College of Art (2003), where she studied painting.

Deirdre McAdams' website

Georgia Straight exhibition review by Robin Laurence

Malcolm Levy: THE RIZE

9 October 2014 through 9 November 2014
Opening reception Thursday 9 October 2014, 6-9pm

Curated by Steven Tong

The Rize is a mixed media installation recounting the conversation at City Council around the topic of arson at the Kingsway and Main Street location (an investigation which is currently unsolved). The video is an abstract rendering of the burnt out site, intercut with effected audio of the dialogue, evoking realities within the current state of affairs. A map of the area follows with further exploration.

Malcolm Levy is an artist and curator based in Vancouver, Canada. He is the Director of the New Forms Festival 2001 – present. His artistic practice focuses on abstract photography and video. Currently he is finishing an MA in Media Studies at the New School, and teaches digital art and installation at the Centre for Digital Media.

Julian Hou: WINDOW BENDED HARMONY

4 September 2014 through 05 October 2014
Opening reception Thursday 4 September 2014, 6-9pm

Curated by Steven Tong

Julian Hou is an artist from Vancouver, BC. He holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University and an M. Arch from the University of British Columbia. He is currently a curatorial resident at 221A and has been published recently in The Capilano Review, and the artist writing compilation Fantasy Art Now (2014). Ongoing musical collaborations include the art music project The Stick. 

Robert Linsley: ISLAND GENERATION

26 June 2014 through 13 September 2014
Opening reception Thursday 26th June 2014, 6-9pm

Curated by Christopher Brayshaw and Steven Tong

Robert Linsley's website (contains link to RL's excellent blog)

Eden Veaudry: CONFERENCE ON THE WAVE

13 March 2014 through 13 April 2014
Opening reception Thursday 13 March 2014, 6-9pm

Eden Veaudry's website

Organized by Christopher Brayshaw, Steffanie Ling, & Steven Tong