The Red Toque: Canadiana

Showing posts with label Canadiana. Show all posts

Monday, March 17, 2014

The Studio

Some of the things I'm working on.

Using cheesecloth to create shadows

A series of mixed media hockey cards

Peep Boxes

Painted shoes, I think of them as portraits

Totems, this one is bound to be a big seller.

Altars - Workin' Stiff

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Jules and I had so much fun creating this 3 minute piece, Made With Real Maple Syrup. It started out as a kind of efolio for a submission but in the end wasn't used. The best part of the project was working artistically with my son, who has become quite a creative force in his own right....wonderful to witness. Some of the work isn't funny but how we choose to stage the piece had us giggling like school kids. The piece is actually three parodies, Gerhard Richter Painting, Andy Warhol - Man Ray Video and Banksy (Exit Through the Giftshop). Hope you enjoy it.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Globe and Mail

I'm stoked that I made it into the Globe and Mail. The coverage of the Walrus Gala included a short description of the Weekend Warrior and included an image of me with Adventure Canada Vice President Cedar Bradley-Swan.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/fashion-and-beauty/fashion/party-photos-of-the-week-the-walrus-foundation-gala/article16490354/

“There are two great events: this one and the Gillers - and this one's a little more loose,” said Ira Gluskin, co-chair of the Walrus Foundation gala. The sixth annual soirée went down Wednesday night at the Fermenting Cellar and brought out the city's literary elite, from Linden MacIntyre and Vincent Lam to notable supporters like Pamela Wallin. After Antonella Cavallaro sang O Canada, the packed house enjoyed a three-course meal after bidding on a selection of almost 40 silent auction goodies, which included an eye-catching acrylic painting of a lumberjack shirt by celebrated Canadian artist Jeff Molloy. For an evening dedicated to the art of storytelling, top honours go to filmmaker Andrew Gregg for being the ultimate dinner table friend. parties@globeandmail.com

Photo by Tom Sandler

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Neil Young and Honour the Treaties

Whether the driver is Neil Young or the passenger is nobody knows for sure. It matters not. Pocahontas rolls across the prairies bringing Neil's truth train to Calgary. Neil posted my comments as "A letter from a friend" on his facebook page.

I'm wishing Neil Young and his crew all the best as they shine a light on what Canada has become. Consumed with profit at any cost. Are we willing to sell our integrity for money?

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A SIMPLE LIFE - WINCHESTER GALLERY, Victoria, BC - DEC 3 - 18 - Opening DEC 5th 6 - 8 PM

...looks like the farmhands went for lunch...

List of Works

1) Pink Cowboy – Mixed Media Assemblage – 44 x 72 inches

2) Crazy Horse– Mixed Media Assemblage – 44 x 72 inches

3) Don't Fence Me In– Mixed Media Assemblage – 66 x 48 inches

4) The Homesteaders– Mixed Media Assemblage – 40 x 58 inches

5) Red Ensign - Encaustic/Mixed Media on Blanket/Panel - 33 x 82 inches

6) My Coat I – Acrylic on Blanket/Panel - 24 x 48 inches

7) My Coat II – Acrylic on Blanket/Panel - 24 x 48 inches

8) My Coat III – Acrylic on Blanket/Panel - 24 x 48 inches

9) The Homsteader - Mixed Media Assemblage – 20 x 58 inches

10) Jacks Toque – Mixed Media Assemblage – 20 x 12 inches

11) Voyager Toque - Mixed Media Assemblage – 20 x 12 inches

12) The Voyager - Mixed Media Assemblage – 10 x 64 inches

13) Treaty Medals 1-7 – Mixed Media Assemblage – 22 x 14 x 6 inches

14)Treaty Medal 8 – Mixed Media Assemblage – 8 x 18 x 5 inches

15) Treaty Medal 9 – Mixed Media Assemblage – 9 x 13 x 5 inches

16) The Good Book– Mixed Media Assemblage – 72 x 26 x 8 inches

17) Golden Stack– Mixed Media on Blanket/Panel - 48 x 40 inches

18) Making Hay– Mixed Media on Blanket/Panel - 48 x 40 inches

19) The Hay Wagon– Mixed Media on Blanket/Panel - 48 x 40 inches

20) Two Stacks– Mixed Media on Blanket/Panel - 48 x 40 inches

21) Wagon Wheel– Mixed Media on Blanket/Panel - 48 x 40 inches

22) The Future– Mixed Media Assemblage – 6 x 14 x 5 inches

23) Take No Prisoners – Mixed Media Assemblage – 6 x 14 x 5 inches

24) We Are The Magic– Mixed Media Assemblage – 6 x 14 x 5 inches

25) Chocolate Moose– Mixed Media Assemblage – 6 x 14 x 6 inches

PINK COWBOY

CRAZY HORSE

DON'T FENCE ME IN

THE HOMESTEADERS

THE RED ENSIGN

MY COAT - I

MY COAT - II

MY COAT - III

THE HOMESTEADER

JACK'S TOQUE

THE VOYAGER TOQUE

THE VOYAGER

TREATY MEDALS 1-7

TREATY MEDAL - 8

TREATY MEDAL - 9

THE GOOD BOOK

GOLDEN STACK

THE HAY WAGON

MAKING HAY

TWO STACKS

WAGON WHEEL

THE FUTURE

TAKE NO PRISONERS

WE ARE THE MAGIC

CHOCOLATE MOOSE

Friday, November 8, 2013

The Voyager

I'll have a number of mixed media assemblage in the Dec show. "The Voyager" seen below is one of them.

This is a mixed media assemblage built around a found canoe paddle. This particular paddle was a gift from brother Chris Straw. I hauled it back from Toronto last summer. The Voyager toque is constructed from old sweaters and finished off with a healthy dose of encaustic to give it that honey smell.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Journey to an Exhibition

A lot can happen in ones life during the creation of an exhibition. Much of our daily experiences show up in the studio and in our work. I could never have guessed that a conversation with the descendant of a homesteader family in southern Saskatchewan was the beginning of a thread that would lead me through India, Cambodia and back to my studio on Gabriola... all during the creation of "A SIMPLE LIFE". To see all of this work together in the gallery, with all of its differences and idiosyncrasies will literally be a dream come true. Every piece conjures up associations and memories experienced during the creation of the work. Rummaged from the depths of my mind regurgitated as cheesecloth screens that are so dreamlike and delicate to haystacks that could have been painted a hundred years ago. Add altars, toques, pitch forks and paddles and...well you get the picture. There seems to be no limits to the diversity of the creative mind? Some of the associations between the work and the experience are obvious. But its not as obvious with others.

"Ours is not to reason why. Ours is but to do and die", by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

More of the Adventures of JACK PINE

JACK IS A MAN ON THE MOVE

Piloting a dugout in the treacherous backwaters of Kerala India.

JACK with the traditional Kerala dancers. JACK performed the Log Drivers Waltz to the Red River Reel.

Showing off to the tourists.

Staking a claim.......because that's what we do.

Part of being a Lumberjack is looking cool...even when it's 32 C outside. Please ignore the sandals, photoshop will take care of them later,

After a long day chopping a little R&R is well deserved...just look at that Lumberjack, as cool as blizzard back home.

Still having fun spotting JACK around India. I had no idea that Lumberjacks were such chick magnets?

Monday, February 11, 2013

Cheeky JACK

PINE Living the Life of Riley.

A rough and ready lumberjack is a chick magnet in India....who knew? JACK seems to have a small fan club already. Apparently if JACK were Muslim he could have up to seven wives......

Thursday, January 10, 2013

SASKATOON

Going back to the cradle.

Watch for more details soon!

Saskatoon here I come.....eeeee hawww!

Mixed Media - SOOKE FINE ARTS

Best in Show - Mixed Media

2012, 2011, 2010

2012 - Blanket
Encaustic/mixed media

2011 - A Man of the Cloth
Encaustic/mixed media

2010 - The Good Book

Encaustic/mixed media

Question is......do I enter work again this year?

THE WORK

Molloy's work focuses on culture through the use of its stereotypes, traits and artifacts.

Jeff employs a wide variety of distinctive techniques, tools, and personal processes that result in truly unique, instantly recognizable work. Jeff is curious. His creativity shifts and twists in response to his materials. Beeswax, tar, pigments, remnants of human civilization – all react differently to the tools and techniques he employs. Carving, painting, sculpting, applying heat and blunt force all contribute to objects that may resemble paintings, yet may just as easily be mechanical and functional in nature.

To Molloy, line is a physical thing, something that is cut and gouged. His surfaces are built up and scraped away. Jeff uses homemade tools to draw, paint, carve and burnish his surfaces of wax and tar until they reflect their own history.

“I've always believed that experimentation, not technical skill, is at the core of creativity. Artists should be explorers, and the world of art should remain a place without rules or boundaries.” Jeff Molloy

In 1995 encouraged by a photograph of Jasper Johns’ famous encaustic work, Flag, Molloy began to experiment with encaustic. He comments, “I recognized in Johns’ piece a number of aspects that have become paramount in my own work. The impact, power and inherent meaning of cultural objects and how they can be used to evoke emotion and memory...I wanted my work to mimic the real thing but, as an art piece, be more interesting than the motif itself.” Molloy achieves this by tapping into these emotions and memories and presenting them as highly articulated works of art. The encaustic works tread the line between painting and sculpture. Where paintings tend to provide context for their subjects, Molloy’s pieces intentionally strip away everything but the object itself.

“The context for the work is the environment in which it is shown. It just makes sense to me that the space should play a role in the perception of the work,”