The Gallery at Victoria Hall features a duo exhibition of Barbara Asgary’s recent works on paper and canvas…The expressive poetry of Asgary’s mark making is a shared lyric sensibility. The exhibition runs from September 18th to October 10th , 2003. The vernissage takes place Wednesday, September 17th , 2003.
Barbara Asgary presents a series of recent abstractions. On both canvas and paper, her expressive brushwork traverses the surface ground to register the emotional nuances of an inner landscape fed by the artist’s spiritual interaction with the word. “I see pictures when I close my eyes… These paintings are a window into my inner existence; they speak of my spiritual space.” The colour blue dominates the series; for the artist, it carries a particular significance. “Blue speaks of air and water…Thoughts and ideas, feelings and emotions are, by and large, blue. Blue is soft, gentle, supportive, encouraging.” In certain works, the artist’s use of mixed media, acrylic gel, charcoal, and oil stick – creates a buildup of texture and form that brings an added depth and layeredness to the work. In the large format canvases, this works particularly well to anchor the quick, intuitive movement of the brush.
Communiqué, for show at The Gallery of Victoria Hall, Montreal
The old saying “You have to learn the rules in order to break them,” certainly applies to Westmount artist Barbara Asgary. While Asgary was classically trained in figurative art in Paris at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts and the Ecole Montparnasse, she has opted for the New York School minimalist approach to her work.
Asgary, who came to Canada from her native Czech Republic when she was three years old, cites Kandinsky, Rauschenberg and Rothko as having had a major influence on her work. In, 1943, Mark Rothko wrote about Abstract Expressionism saying “We favour the simple expression of the complex thought.” Asgary successfully carries on this tradition in her work by using the least amount of elements to suggest a compound scenario as is clearly evident in her large-scale “Snow” series of paintings. ‘Snowfeel II (The Crowd)’ gives us a bird’s eye view of snow falling from a blue sky onto the ‘suggestion’ of people rushing through the streets. Asgary manages to convey this scene replete with the impression of snow blowing through the air with only pale blue and white canvas. Asgary, who views her work as a “window to my inner existence,” says she has “an excitement for colour” but sticks to predominantly pastel palette which provides a calming atmosphere to her work.
There is a spiritual component - “a nice place to rest your mind,” she says - in her work, which hangs in collections across Canada, as well as in France, Mexico, the U.S. and Australia. This is an exhibition that should not be missed.
Darlene Cousins, The Westmount Examiner, Montreal
education
1991 - 1999
Centre des Arts Visuels
Montréal, Qc.
Cours varies sur des sujets specifiques
Various courses on specific subjects
1991 - 1999
Centre des Arts Visuels
Montréal, Qc.
Cours varies sur des sujets specifiques
Various courses on specific subjects
1991 - 1999
Centre des Arts Visuels
Montréal, Qc.
Cours varies sur des sujets specifiques
Various courses on specific subjects
bourse
1975
Gouvernement du Québec, Ministére de la culture
collections
Gespro CSST Inc., Montreal
A. Gold & Sons Ltd, Montreal
Transamerica Life, Montreal
Hoffmann La Roche Ltd., Toronto
Mahboubian Gallery, N.Y.
Esso Ltd., Toronto
McGill University, Montreal
O.J. Co. Ltd, Sherrington
Ecole St-Leon, Montreal
Borden, Ladener & Gervais, Montreal
Royal Victoria Hospital (Breast Clinic), Montreal
Don Cohen Acoustics Ltd., Montreal
Desnoyer, Mercure, Architects, Montreal
Velan Inc., Montreal
Recochem Inc., Montreal
Dr. Dac Nguyen, Montreal
Grant Carter, Alouettes, Montreal
Royal Bank of Canada, private collection, Montreal
private collections
Across Canada, in the U.S.A., France, Mexico, Australia