In their upcoming art exhibits, Oakville Galleries presents two exceptional artists, Tarik Kiswanson and Sung Tieu.
Both artists bring unique perspectives and diverse mediums to their work, offering visitors a thought-provoking and immersive experience.
Tarik Kiswanson: A cosmology of conceptual families
Tarik Kiswanson, the winner of the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2023, is renowned for his multidisciplinary approach. His works encompass sculpture, writing, performance, drawing, sound, and video.
Kiswanson's oeuvre delves into the realms of memory, heritage, birth, loss, and belonging. He explores concepts such as refraction, multiplication, disintegration, levitation, hybridity, and polyphony through various abstract works.
Rootlessness, regeneration, and renewal are central themes in Kiswanson's art. His works reflect his legacy of displacement and transformation. Born in Sweden in 1986 to a Palestinian family that traversed Jerusalem, North Africa, and Jordan before settling in Sweden, Kiswanson draws upon these experiences to create deeply personal and universal narratives. His art resonates with social and collective histories of rupture, loss, and regeneration.
Kiswanson's impressive exhibition record includes prestigious venues such as Centre Pompidou in Paris, Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, and Gothenburg Biennial. His work has been showcased internationally, captivating audiences with its emotional depth and conceptual exploration. As Kiswanson's artistic inquiry remains tethered to the intimate and personal, it simultaneously addresses universal concerns underlying the human condition.
Kiswanson's Prelude art exhibit will be installed in the Oakville Galleries Gairloch Garden's space.
Sung Tieu: Dissecting systems of control
Drawing upon extensive research, Sung Tieu's works of sculpture, drawing, text, and sound interrogate mechanisms of state control and governance.
Her exploration delves into the silent violence perpetuated by bureaucratic systems and their psychological and emotional impact on individuals. Tieu's exhibits often reconstruct sites of bureaucratic control and surveillance, drawing from her personal encounters with administrative apparatuses.
Her latest exhibition, Civic Floor, features a new body of sculpture, wall-based works, sound, and video. The steel sculptures pay homage to prison architecture, spanning from the 19th-century radial prisons to contemporary designs.
Each sculpture provides an intimate view of the spatial organization and surveillance methods intricately woven into prison structures. Additionally, the sculptures contain earth symbolizing the location of each prison.
Tieu's wall-works are based on documents related to immigration, asylum, and deportation appeals. By dissecting politically motivated systems of control, she offers a critical analysis that highlights their inherent violence and oppressive nature.
Tieu's ability to scrutinize these systems with a cool gaze provides viewers with a deeper understanding of their complexities.
Collaborating with Luxembourg - Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, MIT List Visual Arts Center, and Southern Alberta Art Gallery Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin (SAAG), Civic Floor promises to be an intellectually engaging and visually striking exhibition.
Sung Tieu's Civic Floor art exhibit will be installed at the Centennial Gallery adjacent to the Oakville Public Library's Central Branch in Downtown Oakville.
Save the Dates
Don't miss out on the upcoming art exhibits at Oakville Galleries. Starting from Feb. 3 and running until June 1, you'll have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the captivating worlds of Tarik Kiswanson and Sung Tieu.
Their distinct artistic approaches and thought-provoking themes are sure to engage and inspire visitors. Mark your calendars and prepare to be moved by the power of art.
The winter exhibition opening reception is Saturday, Feb. 3, from 2 to 5 p.m.