Canadian Artist to Watch: Vicki Smith Dazzles with Her Swimmer Series

Vicki Smith is a Toronto-based artist who takes swimming in her painting to a whole new level. She skillfully plunges the viewer into a watery abyss as her hypnotic series of works elevate her female swimmers to a whole new realm. They defy the viewer's gaze and linger in their own hedonism. Their tale is mystical at best and we rarely see their faces. We can hardly ever tell who they are.

As the water waves through and the light illuminates the work we see memories of childhood. Never far from our thoughts, Ms. Smith, makes us contemplate our own fixation with the water. What does it hold for us? What meaning pervades through the swim? These are all questions we seek the answer to. Buoyed by the dark waters, the swimmers exalt in their freedom. They are one with nature and our collective memory. Always relaxed, they signal a desire for reflection.

We can recall times of celebration and heartfelt activity and we see the support that water gives them. But these seascapes are thoughtful renderings of something else too. They an essential part of Ms. Smith's surroundings and family and friends. Their images are forever fixed in the calm waters as they traverse the heavenly body. They are both serene and mesmerizing to look at. See for yourself and you'll know why Ms. Smith is a gifted artist who you'll no doubt hear more of in the future. 

Vista

How did you know you wanted to be an artist? 

Creating and making art was a completely natural part of my life. In school art class was where I excelled and felt most comfortable. I attended the Ontario College of Art (now OCADU) in the ‘70s/80s where I was able to practice what I loved for 4 years, but when I graduated I still didn’t understand that being an artist could be a career choice. Back then art schools offered no training on the practical business of art like, how to set up a studio, how to write a proposal or how to find gallery representation. Women in particular were given very little encouragement to carry on and become a full-time artist. I understood that I could continue to practice my art to feed my soul but that I needed to get a “real job” to feed my family. It wasn’t until my early 40’s that, with the support and encouragement of my husband, I quit the “real job” and started painting full time. I believe that Universities turn out more well-informed graduates today.

Osmosis

Tell us about your childhood and early influences?

Most of my childhood was spent lost in my own little world of making things. I would scrounge supplies from everywhere, and always kept a sketch pad of some kind. At Christmas I was usually gifted a craft kit which I loved. When I was about 12 I was given a picture book about Degas and a set of oil paints. I’d say that was my first major influence and insight into art history. To this day when I smell linseed oil I’m transported back to the joy and wonder of copying Degas’ Women Ironing.

Gaze

You paint swimmers but don't swim, that comes as a surprise, why did you choose this subject matter?

I have spent the last 40 years drawing and painting the female figure. In the past my figures were simply suspended in dark space with no reference to borders or boundaries. One day I watched my daughter swimming in a lake and realized that water was a recognizable place for my figures to exist. The feeling of being weightless and peaceful has always been my goal, and apparently (I am told) swimmers relate to that experience.

Pool

The figures in your paintings are often turned away from the viewer, tell us why?

My figures are not portraits they are portals. I want the viewer to be able to step in and become the figure and to create their own narrative.

Vast

Which artists have influenced you the most?

So many historic and contemporary painters, both figurative and abstract, have been an influence at some point in my journey, I’m just as inspired by a Rothko as a Rembrandt, a Joan Mitchell as a Jenny Saville, an Agnes Martin as a Lucian Freud.

Fauna

Do you have a certain creative process that you follow in creating your work?

I gather photo references, taken with my iPhone or a cheap underwater camera, of friends and family. I print 4x6” photos of the images I find most interesting and these photos are then haphazardly strewn around the studio floor where they get walked over and shuffled around and lived with until one catches my eye. I use the photo for my initial drawing and then put it aside and start to paint. It’s a conscious push and pull at first until I can finally get out of my own head and just let it happen. It’s not unusual for me to scrape everything off about halfway through the day and have a little meltdown, which then allows me to proceed on a higher level because the canvas has been activated and mentally I have nothing to lose. It’s important for the success of a painting that the preciousness and the egoic-ideal are gone. I can’t force a painting to life just because I have a mental image, I need to work from an inkling not a fixed idea of the outcome. I usually work on several paintings at once because one painting informs the next and oils take a while to dry.

Spring Green

What do you like about the Toronto art scene?

Over the past 40 years I’ve been lucky to see Toronto grow and into a world class city. The public and commercial gallery scene has expanded and become much more diverse and interesting. Art Toronto, Canada’s Art Fair, has been very important in putting Toronto on the international art map. Interactive and social medias have added more ways for people to explore the local art scene. I am delighted to say I have been represented by the awesome and influential Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto for almost 20 years. They have recently opened an expansive new gallery space at 1384 Dufferin Street with over 17,000 sq feet of exhibition space making them dedicated and important supporters of Toronto’s expanding art scene.

The Fullness of Summer

What would you like to still do as an artist, tell us what the next 10, 20 years will look like for you?

It’s an ongoing journey with no end.

Passage

What are your favourite books?

Art books! But my bookshelf has an equal number of health, wellness, philosophy, poetry and cookbooks. I am mostly a non-fiction reader. I am currently reading Agnes Martin Making Space for the Sacred by Joanna Weber, Decreation Poetry Essays Opera by Anne Carson, and The Elements of Baking by Katarina Cermelj. I always have a few books going. I rarely finish anything. I often start in the middle or the back. All of my books have dogears and post-it notes.

We'll take you there

Which painting would you most like to have in your home?

An Agnes Martin grid painting please. Or a Betty Goodwin swimmer. Or an Ad Reinhardt black painting. Or……

Sunset Swim

If you weren't an artist, who would you be?

A seeker. I know that sounds glib, but I am constantly searching, and I’d like to continue.

All of the above

Describe your day when you're not creating art?

It’s happily quite boring and domestic. I walk the dog, I tend to chores, I cook, I care for my family and friends. I meditate everyday regardless if I’m working or not.

 Effervescence

All images courtesy of Bau-Xi Gallery and Artsy.

Interview with Canadian artist Darlene Cole: From Memory to Nature Her Art Shines with Brilliance

Darlene Cole is a phenomenal Canadian artist whose work can now be seen at Bau-Xi Gallery in Toronto. She is already an established artist and I am pleased to display her work and interview on my blog.  As Ms. Cole says it best herself, she paints from the heart and it shows throughout her work. When you take a closer look you can see that her artwork evokes images of childhood, relationships, and nature all at once. She instills her work with an innocence that is mystical and pure. Memory is also at the center of her work and Ms. Cole always reminds us that time has an elusive quality. 

Her paintings capture the essence of the natural world together with animal and human aspects. Whether she's painting a leopard, a deer or a swan she renders them in dreamlike setting with a playful water colour effect. Her painterly style transitions to her other works as she aims to capture an ethereal balance between what we see and what we want to remember. Her images of childhood makes us wonder of a time long gone and her vivid portrayals of florals show us that beauty is forever entwined with a quiet sensualness. 

Ms. Cole doesn't shy away from using colour and light to give us a therapeutic impact. Her paintings are easy on the eyes and their sometimes blurry rendering gives us something to relive and wonder. She paints the Canadian landscape with ingenuity and we see references to Canadiana throughout. She pays homage to her home and we honour her work and support her as the great Canadian artist who she is. 

Female artists are becoming better recognized and she no exception. It will come as no surprise that her paintings sell remarkably well and she has much to look forward to. Her current exhibition entitled Paradise is currently on display until December 23rd at Bau-Xi Gallery in Toronto. I have included a few artworks here from Artsy to show both the breadth of her work as well as her international reach. Please enjoy these together with the interview. 

Paradise (resilience) 2024

1. Tell us about your upbringing and education in Canada?

I went to a very small elementary school in a farming town, then for high school we were bussed to a more populated area. I went to Queen’s University for my Bachelor of Fine Art and from there I was one of the first four students to complete a Masters of Fine Art at the University of Waterloo.

Reverie, (HM Queen Elizabeth II, September 19, 2022) 2022

2. How did your environment impact your work?

My parents had a passion for restoring historic homes. They sold a cottage and a new build house to purchase and restore a Victorian home in Brooklin, Ontario where I have the most childhood memories with my sister and brother. There’s nothing like the way thought-out architecture makes me feel. It’s a language, just like painting is. Living in Kingston, I also lived in historic houses and loved how the downtown wrapped around Lake Ontario. Everything was close by so I could walk and I realized how much one takes in visually during a walk…this really influenced the immersive aspect of my work with the figure enveloped in nature.

Prelude (rowboat)

3. You paint dream-like scenes in your art tell us how they come about?

I’m influenced by music and the motion of the two lakes that I live between. I have two studios, one is just a few steps from the lake. The drive between the two studios is mostly farmland with dreamy skies and meandering pathways. The lake is cinematic to me…I can sit or canoe and ideas continuously roll for paintings.

Paradise (polka dot chiffon under the magnolias), 2024

4. How does colour figure in your art?

I paint under natural light only. The weather, the music I’m listening to and what’s going on in my life and the world all contribute to my colour palette.

Paradise (peonies of the sea)

5. Please tell us which artists have influenced your work the most?

John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Degas, Tony Scherman, Betty Goodwin, Tracey Emin, Juan Munoz

Paradise (moving lake under the birch), 2024

6. How has your style of painting evolved over the years?

I don’t believe in style when it comes to painting. Overtime I feel that human experience and the physical presence of touch through the brushstrokes evolves and my hope is that the drawing element of my work shows through as a foundation.

Lake (wild), 2019

7. What do you wish for your audience to know about your work?

It comes from the heart. Ultimately, it’s the honesty and conversations that I hope to spark with my work — between the paintings themselves and with the viewer through the mystery of the figure and the layers of nature.

Prelude (love-struck), 2023

8. What is your work process like, tell us your day to day?

I paint in spurts of time. I used to work for 8 hours straight and I found that in the last hour I would paint over the last 7 hours. It took me years to figure out that painting for me is very intense emotional blocks of time with spaces in between. I always want to try new things, so I don’t really see it as the same process every time I’m painting.

Prelude (Algonquin mist), 2024

9. What inspires you the most as an artist?

Wow…so many thoughts…the human body, relationships, gardens that have a wildness about them, wild animals, original recordings of music, live music, colour combinations that I would never have thought of, patterns and textures in textiles, the grain in old oak furniture, heirloom peonies, how the light changes in our four seasons.

Reverie (tracing your footsteps), 2024

10. What’s next for you as an artist?

I would like to do a large installation sculpture.

Prelude (wild swan)

11.Who are some of your favourite film directors? 

Luca Guadagnino…I’m drawn in by the sensualness of his films.

Reverie (gold polka dot taffeta), 2022

12. What do you like to do on your day off? 

Visit museums, forest walks, visit the lake, go for a chai latte.

Paradise (cherry blossoms). 2024

13. How has the Canadian art scene changed over the years?

The biggest and most wonderful change is that there are more women artists being recognized and there’s more diversity of Art in Canada.

Prelude (teen cats), 2024

All Images Courtesy of Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto and Galerie de Bellefeuille.

Looking Through the Window, An Endless Odyssey: The Art of Michael Pszczonak

What emerged from an innocent question from his toddler "what colour is the window?" has evolved into an intensely exceptional painterly voyage. Michael Psczonak who was born in Windsor, Ontario and now calls London, Ontario home is an artist to watch. Represented by the well-respected Michael Gibson Gallery in London, Ontario, Michael continues to show his talent to to an ever growing audience. Recently he was one of two finalists selected by the CIBC C2 Create and Curate Art Program (C2 Art). The program awards $25,000 to help emerging artists to both curate and show their work in the CIBC headquarters in downtown Toronto. The grant is a great recognition of his talent and promising future. 

His artwork is rich in meaning as he considers the spatial conditions emanating from the view of a window. Nothing is left to chance. Michael uses the window as a special conduit for his artwork. It is a lens through which he chooses to photograph using a phone camera. The moment captured is one of immense detail and poses many questions about the function of the mirror. It is clear but through it we see and reflect reality and different dimensions of light and subject matter. Michael, through his reflections in the window, dispels our notions of reality. What results is an ephemeral quality in his work. I had a chance to interview Michael and he provided me with great answers to my questions. Please have a look and enjoy.

1 untitled, (Fredericton Music Shop), 2023

You were born in Windsor and grew up in Southwestern Ontario, what was it like growing up here? Tell us about your roots.

I grew up in Windsor and lived there until I was about 21 years old before moving away to University. I would say my childhood was pretty average. Grew up as the artsy kid that tried to be cool and athletic but kind of failed miserably at that. My parents had me very young and split early on in my life. It was a working-class upbringing, my dad worked in retail and my mom put herself through university as a single mother and then became an Actuary (I don’t think anybody really knows what that is, but it has something to do with Math). My dad’s a musician so I think that’s where I get my artsy side from. Sometimes I think that working class upbringing affected my own working habits. Windsor is blue-collar, so I like to refer to it as ‘The Windsor Work-Ethic’.

2 untitled, (Goderich Music Shop), 2023

How do you begin painting, that is how do you choose what to photograph and then paint? Tell us about your creative process.

I think my subject usually comes to me organically based on my interests at any given time. Some work I’ve done has worked out well, and others not so well. For instance, I really like art history and so I’ve made paintings of contemporary still-life objects based on art historical motifs and themes in the past – sort of historical revisionist paintings. I enjoyed doing them but sometimes I think they were pretty illustrational.

Sometimes I ask, “how would I paint that?” – like, once I tried to look directly at different light sources and try to paint that retinal experience exactly as I see it. Other times I ask myself simple questions like “what would that look like as a painting?” – and that’s where my current series of window paintings comes from. When my son was very young I was habitually taking pictures out of my front window really early every morning when he would wake up. I amassed this huge collection of window photographs looking out while it was still dark with reflections of the interior lights on the glass. And I just kind of simply asked ‘What would some of these look like as paintings?” It helped that my child was asking all sorts of questions at that age, and one time he asked me “dada, what colour is the window?” So, it was like we were both asking how to describe these transparent surfaces using colour.

While I was making that series of paintings, I would notice my Instagram friends would post pictures of windows when they would be out shopping etc., So lately, I haven’t been taking any photographs at all. I was just screen-capping theirs and painting them.

3 untitled, (Cactus), 2023

How does space and colour figure in your artwork?

When I’m going about my daily life I tend to, sometimes more subconsciously than not, look at the world in terms of colour. Sometimes I’ll find myself squinting while in a store, or restaurant, or walking down the street and looking at the way light bounces off objects and the colours it creates (people probably think I’m crazy when they see me squinting). And so, I feel like when I’m looking, I’m always thinking about the colour of objects. So, when I’m painting the same thing happens. When I’m looking at a source image or an object, I’m always looking at the way light forms the object and the colours it casts. I tend to push colour a little bit too. I wouldn’t say I push colour to the extent of the post-impressionists or the fauves or anything, but usually if I see even a subtle hint of violet, or blue then I’ll make obvious use of violets and blues. I find if I try to stay too true to colour it ends up looking more artificial than if I try and make the colour look somewhat counter-intuitive. But I’m always paying attention to subtle shifts.

Because the subject in the images I’m referencing in my current paintings are flat – I’m trying to think of fun ways to push the space using mark-making and different consistencies of paint. For instance, actual reflections sitting on the pane of a windows are immaterial, but there will be actual physical objects on the other side of a window. And so, I’ll play with the materiality of paint in either obvious or unintuitive ways – like, the physical objects will be rendered with thick impasto, and the reflections will have stains and drips. Or vice versa where the fleeting reflections will be solidified in material and the objects will be thinly and quickly rendered. But in short, in terms of colour and space, I’m always trying to make a painting first – I usually try and push the material as far as it can go while still maintaining some semblance to a recognizable “photographic” image. I think of someone like Velasquez and Rembrandt – those two could make something look real, but then as you get closer it just completely falls apart into paint.

4 untitled, (fake London fashion) 2023

How did your studies shape your development as an artist?

My undergrad at the University of Guelph was amazing. Sometimes I look back at it with embarrassment because I was so stubborn and tried to go against almost everything the faculty were telling me, only to try those things on my own years later and understand what they were trying to teach me. I still don’t necessarily do them, but I think I’m more aware of the reasoning. But we all had a great mix of art theory, criticism, and practice. Studio classes had readings and discussions and so it prepared us to think about art in specific ways other than strictly executing something. I went into university wanting to be a teacher, but we had such an amazing community that all supported one another, and so I felt I wanted to be a part of something bigger than just going to school to get a job.

My MFA was great too as it was a little more research focused. I had a really great cohort and the faculty were great, They were really good about getting me to stop thinking so much about what I’m doing and just make things. Before that I always wanted to make really meaningful, ground-breaking, carry the weight of the world on your shoulders paintings. And it basically turned out that if you just make things you enjoy, the meaning will come. I think that happened most recently with my window paintings. I just did it because I wanted to do it and thought it would be enjoyable, but they feel like the most meaningful work to me.

5 April, 2022

At what moment do you find painting the most challenging if at all?

I’ve always said the first 75% - 80% of every painting is absolute agony…like, the texture, the not knowing, the preliminary layers of paint that look like nothing…just so much uncertainty. But the last 25% when everything comes together is amazing. There’s no feeling like working through that first bit. A criticism I often hear of my work is about my skill level, and I’ve had people say I don’t experiment enough and I’m too masterful. I usually take issue with that because I don’t think I’m doing formulaic generic paintings.

Every painting has a degree of struggle and problem solving. I don’t think there’s ever been a painting I’ve done that has looked exactly as I imagined it would. I actually just destroyed a painting that I thought was good and have grown to hate, and I’m working on redoing it. I would argue that every artist has some tricks up their sleeves that they rely on repeatedly. Also, some ideas of experimentation can be just as mannered as “formulaic” painting. Some experiments just aren’t as openly visible. Nobody is really reinventing the wheel, most of us are all just flailing around in our studios. I flail around a lot. Try again, flail again, flail better.

6 July 2022

How did you feel being chosen for the CIBC C2 Create and Curate Art Program (C2 Art) program?

It was incredible!!! I think, like most artists, I’m my own worst critic with a ton of self-doubt. I feel like over the past two years people have noticed my paintings a little more because I’ve had two pretty successful shows at Michael Gibson Gallery here in London. Those shows felt great and I was thinking ‘Ok, maybe I’m onto something here’. But when you’re a little bit removed from big art centres like Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver you don’t necessarily know how that success might translate to a broader audience. So when CIBC selected me as one of the recipients of the prize I was kind of just shocked. Like, there’s no way I could have been selected for a national prize. I still think it’s a bit hard to believe. But I feel grateful because it seems like the work is resonating with people. And that’s the most important thing about being an artist.

7 untitled, (Hintonberg Sarees), 2023

Which artists have influenced your work the most and which do you want to be associated with?

There are so many it’s hard to even narrow it down. There are so many artists out there that influence me either directly or indirectly. For example, Will Gorlitz is the one who basically influenced me the most to become an artist. He taught me at Guelph and I was his assistant for a while. He was the one that made me realize - ‘hey, this is something that you can actually do.’ Sky Glabush was my thesis advisor and studio mate after my MFA and we had lots of really great chats about art making. He was always supportive and incredible motivational. My pal James Gardner is probably the best painter on the planet right now (I’m clearly biased because he’s a friend of mine, but the rigour of his practice is astonishing, and you see it in the final paintings/objects he makes). David Merritt, John Kissick, Howard Podeswa, Monica Tap, Ted Fullerton…these are all people who I had direct contact with who sort of shaped me and the way I think about and make art. They’re also all amazing artists by the way.

But there’s so many indirect influences that may or may not have anything to do with how I work. I love Ben Reeves’ paintings; I think about them all the time and his colour and materiality…Jen Aitken might be one of my favourite sculptors in the country right now…Vincent Fecteau might be one of my favourite artists in the world right now. I don’t know if I can be associated with any of them because they’re all these massive juggernauts of artists. But I respect all of their work.

8 untitled (Maastricht Bakery), 2023

What do you wish for the viewer to know about your art?

There’s a quote by the Photographer Stephen Shore where he says something like “My aim is to find the universal in the specific.” Obviously, the idea of universals are problematic but what an amazing thing to strive for. I think I’d like to reach that goal through mundane, commonplace, everyday imagery. Maybe something where everyone can say “oh yeah, I’ve experienced something very similar to that.”

9 untitled, (Milan Bike Shop), 2023

If you could pick three paintings to own, what would they be?

Oh Geez, I don’t know – there’s too many. How about Rembrandt’s ‘Self-Portrait as Zeuxis Laughing’, Manet’s ‘Dead Toreador’, and Paterson Ewen’s ‘Bandaged Man’. Seems like a weird little combination.

10 September, 2022

What direction would you like your work to take place in the future? 

This is hard because a lot of people ask me what’s next and I always tell them I’m continuing with the window theme. A part of me feels this pressure to change and do something new, but I have this huge inventory of images of windows and so many of them could make really intriguing paintings dependant on how they’re painted, and I want to see how they’ll turn out. So I think I’m just going to keep working on that until I lose interest or something else pulls my interest somewhere else. But I would love for my work to get looser and less reliant on the photograph.

11 untitled, (Salzburg Mannerism), 2023

How did you enjoy being shown at Art Toronto?

It’s been great! When I was a student, I helped Howard Podeswa transport and install this massive painting at Art Toronto back in 2008. I remember being at the fair and seeing so much work that I had seen in magazines like Border Crossings and Canadian Art and kind of just feeling this sense of amazement. Almost like being star-struck when seeing a celebrity. I never really thought that my work could be there. It kind of felt like the crème de la crème of artists were brought there. I don’t know if that was me being young and naïve or anything, but I remember it felt like this unattainable dream to be included in something like that. So, it feels great to have had my work there.

I think Art Fairs get quite a bit of criticism, but when you really boil it down – I want my work to be seen. Where else will you see so much contemporary art in one space? It may not be the most ideal space or context for showing work, but it’s great to have people see a snippet of the work and maybe take notice and then get interested enough to go see your solo or group show. Michael Gibson Gallery has been incredibly supportive and has really gone to bat for me and tried to get my work seen by as broad of an audience as they possibly can over the past couple of years. The fair has been pretty instrumental in achieving that exposure and I’m super grateful for that.

12 untitled, (Ottawa), 2023

Did you always know you wanted to paint?

Oh yeah. I was always primarily a painter. I think somebody once said MFA’s are where painters go to die. So when I did my MFA I experimented with some sculpture…really really terrible sculpture. And I thought it was so cool at the time. But eventually I went back to painting. It’s just who I am.

13 untitled, (Sorry We're Closed), 2023

Who are your favourite writers?

Ugh….I wish I could say I was an avid reader of exciting fiction books and that I’m in touch with the literary world. But in truth, I mostly read art stuff, i.e., articles and interviews in art magazines, essays in an artists monograph, or art theory books. But if I were to think of my favourite writers it would probably be some of those old theorists: Rosalind Krauss is probably my all-time favourite. Jonathan Crary’s great and probably more relevant to my practice. It’s all really dry and boring stuff…and maybe even outdated in the contemporary art world. But I find it super interesting. I’m listening to Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act in the studio. That’s a really good self-help type of art book.

14 Michael Pszczonak, (Cottage), 2023, Canadian

Tell us what you enjoy doing when you're not creating?

When I’m not making art I enjoy spending time with my son. He’s five right now and he’s just this amazing little guy. He loves The Beatles and plays the drums. He can carry a beat and knows all of the drum fills and sings along to the songs while playing too. I think he’s this little virtuoso. So we’ll jam Beatles tunes together. I just love hanging out with him. Bring him to the record store, go out to restaurants. We just hang out. This past summer we took a couple of trips to Toronto and I realized he’s this amazing little traveler, so I want to do more of that stuff with him too. That kid is everything to me. I make art because of him. When he’s asleep or at his mom's house I’ll wind down by binge-watching a good TV show. I’m a pretty simple man.

Canna Wyoming, by Carol Finkbeiner Thomas at Westland Gallery