There are north of 15 books on Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis, from coffee table tomes to children’s books teaching counting via the repeated iconography of her paintings. Many focus on her biography, hitting the familiar notes of her late-life marriage and her solitary youth in Yarmouth. There’s even a niche-y, deep-dive into how […]
Painting
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Visual arts review: David Urban, The Precious Book
To November 14 Studio 21, 5431 Doyle Street The colours in David Urban’s paintings are satisfyingly combative. Backgrounds of goldenrod and deep lavender house strange shapes in apricot orange, cornflower blue and turquoise—contrasting tones that Urban corrals into pleasing scenes. These backgrounds, while home to abstract bodies, tend to feel like a horizon line or […]
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Kevin Cormier lives through paint
“I had this one really turbulent Tinder date where they decided ‘Let’s meet at your studio at 12 o’clock in the morning on a Friday.’ We had this big bag of booze and we were just tearing through my work and this boy was like ‘You’re Taylor Swift!’” Kevin Cormier laughs, leaning forward in his […]
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Magical Nomi Chi
Nomi Chi is intently sketching an animal skull on a wall between several of her paintings when I arrive to meet her at Utility Gallery. I’m hesitant to disturb her, waiting several minutes before she finally takes a step back from the drawing. It’s a display of the sort of commitment that’s been necessary to […]