THE GOOD GLAZIER
Presented at Angell Gallery, Toronto, ON, January 2017
Installation shots by Spencer Robertson
The work in The Good Glazier maintains the dynamic swirling rhythms and vibrant colour for which Loree is known, but is further worked by adding and removing paint, resulting in an atmospheric pictorial space with a palpable sense of depth. Beginning with thin veils of acrylic, oils are applied, scraped away, then re-applied, using a variety of tools such as squeegees, rags, and brushes. The surfaces are continuously disrupted, leaving traces and stains of previous marks. Areas of high gloss interrupt velvety matte sections. Thick impasto breaks up sensuous fluid strokes. Luminous acrylic transparencies contrast with chunky slabs of opaque oils.
In these paintings, colour is free to exist as marks and paint as material. Forms are somewhat defined, but remain mysterious, rendering it nearly impossible to know where one ends and another begins. The richly layered surfaces evoke windows into psychic spaces and by balancing the bold and spontaneous gesture with the delicate carefully considered mark, Loree creates an experience for the viewer that is at once immediate and intimate.
The show’s title, an inversion of Baudelaire’s poem, The Bad Glazier, reminds us that we, like the bad glazier, have the ability and thus the responsibility to predetermine the lenses through which we view the world – or a work of art. By drawing upon figures of speech such as ‘rose coloured glasses’ and ‘glasses of Paradise’ Baudelaire helps us to see the substance of glass as a metaphor for the lens that ‘colours’ our experience. That filter – so often mistaken for absolute truth – is merely a relative reality rooted in the mind, and can be swapped anytime "to make life look beautiful." The viewer is invited to become The Good Glazier and to participate in the creation of the works’ ever-shifting meaning by peering through the unique lens of their own personal experience – or the lens of their choice.
