Thank you to Self Publish, Be Happy for featuring Still Life in the SPBH Library.

Derek Liddington, backdrop for shadows at closing (detail), 2017. Commissioned by AGYU. (Photo by Yuula Benivolski)

Daniel Faria Gallery at Art Toronto 2017
Booth C46
October 27 – 30, 2017

Booth curated by Derek Liddington featuring works by:

Steven Beckly
Nadia Belerique
Shannon Bool
Douglas Coupland
Chris Curreri
Iris Häussler
Mark Lewis
Derek Liddington
Kristine Moran
Jennifer Rose Sciarrino
Elizabeth Zvonar

Often the most poetic things are found in the everyday. Shadows and silhouettes offer moments of pause and reflection. Bodies and lines can be seen shifting, repeating. Light penetrates the window, bathing the white of the wall in a warm yellow glow, providing a surface for lightness and darkness to play hide-and-seek. It is easy to get lost in the dancing reflections; the shadow tracking the length of the day on the floor, the familiar silhouette of a lover at dusk, a vase’s shadow strewn over the table mistaken for a figure.

Shadow. The shadow reveals volume in space. The shadow conceals volume in space. The shadow provides a shift in perception, a moment when the reality we know becomes repeated, stretched and contorted. This arrangement of works offers a glimpse into the subject in shadow, which opens up a space for new readings. We see grids that are informed by gender and hierarchies of power, enlarged glass pollen forms that are so exaggerated in size they appear unfamiliar, and shadows stilled by paint that dance for us on delicate silks. In all of these works, our perception is altered through the manipulation of material and space, challenging and confusing the everyday.

Silhouette. The silhouette is seductive; it is a body in shadow. As with many forms of seduction, the silhouette can trigger one’s desire. Our desire for what is unknown, or known but not had; this gives way to anticipation. Our mind tells us the nude in the dark is our lover. The ambiguity caused by the shadow casts the familiar anew. Or at least, it can feel new in that moment. And that moment, however brief, can propose new possibilities. Like when a silhouette questions how gender can determine a body’s form, or a curtain, when finally pulled back, reveals a figure.

We open our eyes wide to capture light as it refracts. Lines of colour emerge. A teardrop streams down a cheek, a figure is masked by vegetation, a foot is seen peeking out from the corner of a room. We squint and adjust our eyes so that we can decode what is obscured by darkness: fabric encased in wax, a plaster bust of a child, a cloaked figure on a glass staircase, and swimmers synchronized.

Like Peter Pan chasing his shadow or the sundial that reveals the time of day, the silhouette in these works simultaneously point to that which changes and that which remains the same. They reveal our contemporary condition; that of a cyclical subject in a shifting context. A walking woman stuck on a looped path.

—Derek Liddington

https://arttoronto.ca/galleries/participating-galleries-2017/main/faria-gallery-daniel
http://danielfariagallery.com/fairs/art-toronto-toronto-october-27-30-2017

I’ll have new issues of Still Life and many other things at the 2/edition: Art Book Fair, held in conjunction with Art Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from October 27 to October 30, 2017.

2/edition: Art Book Fair
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
255 Front St West
Toronto ON M5V 2W6
Free Admission

Thu Oct 26: 6:30 – 10 pm*
Fri Oct 27: 12 – 8 pm
Sat Oct 28: 12 – 8 pm
Sun Oct 29: 12 – 6 pm
Mon Oct 30: 12 – 6 pm

*FREE public opening reception on Thursday October 26th from 6:30 – 10 pm.

http://editiontoronto.com

Steven Beckly: Beacon
September 21 – October 21, 2017

Philadelphia Photo Arts Center
1400 N. American Street #103
Philadelphia, PA 19122

Open studio tour and reception: Thursday, October 12 from 5 – 6 pm

PPAC’s latest Artist-in-Residence Steven Beckly kicks off his month-long residency with Beacon. Hanging from the exterior of the Crane Arts building, Beckly’s vibrant and abstract images speak to the relationships between light and shadow, figure and ground, surface and space. Using light as a metaphor for hope, Beacon places warmth and intimacy against today’s rapidly changing and politically fraught world. For Beckly, the public installation is also symbolic of his presence at PPAC and his desire to connect with the community in Philadelphia.

Beckly will host an open studio and light reception on Thursday, October 12 from 5 – 6 pm. In addition to discussing Beacon in-depth, Beckly will share the new work he creates during his month-long residency with attendees.

http://www.philaphotoarts.org/event/beacon/

*

PPAC’s Artist Residency program assists talented, self-directed and committed artists in the creation of work by providing necessary financial support, access to high-end facilities and proper technical assistance and education. In addition to furthering their artistic practice, PPAC Artists-in-Residence work collaboratively with the organization to design public events, with the goal of engaging the audiences with the arts. The Artist Residency program fully funded three individuals in 2017, thanks to support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lynne and Harold Honickman Foundation.

http://www.philaphotoarts.org/artist-lab/residency-program/

Skin Deep, Skimming the Pages
September 7, 2017 – September 1, 2018

Elizabeth Zvonar
Steven Beckly
Chris Lux
Nando Alvarez-Perez
Rebecca Ladds

Drake One Fifty
150 York St, Toronto

Casting Drake One Fifty in a metaphorical ‘red light’, Skin Deep, Skimming the Pages explores the techniques with which artists approach the centuries-old subject matter of the human figure in the digital age. The exhibition highlights the dialogue between art history and the here-and-now, reinventing the erotic classicism of the past through the contemporary lens.

http://drakeonefifty.ca/whatson/2017/9/9/skin-deep-skimming-pages-exhibition-opening/

VICE Photo Show 2017

The Costume House, Toronto
165 Geary Ave, 2nd Floor, Unit A

Opening night party: Thursday August 24 from 7 to 10 pm

Join us for the opening reception of our photo exhibit celebrating the work of some of Canada’s most talented photographers.

Featuring photography by: Steven Beckly, Yasin Osman, Tess Roby, Michelle Siu, Haley Stewart and Norman Wong

RSVP required for entry, subject to event capacity. This is a 19+ event.

RSVP here: https://vicephotoshow2017.splashthat.com

~

L’expo photos 2017 de VICE

Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
185, Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Montréal, Québec

Vernissage: Jeudi 17 août de 19h à 22h

Oeuvres par: Steven Beckly, Yasin Osman, Tess Roby, Michelle Siu, Haley Stewart et Norman Wong

Le RSVP est maintenant fermé.

Ouvert au public vendredi, samedi et dimanche.
Vendredi: de 11h à 21h
Samedi, dimanche: de 10h à 18h

RSVP: https://expophotosvice.splashthat.com

Water and Sky:
Steven Beckly & Sarah Bodri

The Ferry Terminal Billboard Project
Supported by the Toronto Arts Council and the City of Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation Division

July 2017 – November 2017

Jack Layton Ferry Terminal, Toronto

Curated by Chris Foster & Daniel Rotsztain (Lake Effect Projects)

The Ferry Terminal Billboard Project is a one-year pilot project and partnership between Lake Effect Projects and the City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division. The project presents quarterly open-air visual art exhibitions in the 10 former advertising billboards in the inner corral of the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal.

FTBP’s inaugural summer exhibition features work by Sarah Bodri and Steven Beckly, whose photography responds to the theme Water and Sky.

http://lakeeffectprojects.ca/FTBP

Soon Comes Night
Steven Beckly, Martin Bennett, Sarah Sands Phillips
July 27 – August 26, 2017
Opening reception: Thursday July 27 from 6 to 8 pm

Birch Contemporary
129 Tucemseth St, Toronto

Curated by Rebecca Travis

Soon Comes Night explores images as an unfixed entity – between light and dark, abstract and representational, constructed and incidental. Painterly and photographic processes of abstraction, erasure and physical manipulation reveal alternative ways for imagery to surface over time, encouraging a prolonged act of looking and contemplation of duration. The title of the exhibition is inspired by a common engraving on sundials – in Latin ‘Mox Nox’ or ‘Soon Night’ – which reflects the work’s sense of time, and its hinging between definitive states.

Soon Comes Night includes previously unseen paintings by Martin Bennett (Saskatoon), new and existing works on paper and video by Sarah Sands Phillips (Toronto) and new works by Steven Beckly (Toronto).

http://birchcontemporary.com/exhibition/soon-comes-night-steven-beckly-martin-bennett-sarah-sands-phillips

7th Annual 10×10 Photography Project
Exhibition & Book Launch
June 15 to August 18, 2017
Opening: Thursday June 22, 7 – 11 pm

Gladstone Hotel, 3rd floor
1214 Queen St W, Toronto

Curated by James Fowler

I’m excited to exhibit portraits of Basil AlZeri, Marvin Luvualu Antonio, Djuna Day, Vanessa Fleet, Samra Habib, Oliver Husain, Audric Montuno, Susana Reisman, Jocelyn Reynolds, and Maximilian Suillerot in this year’s 10×10 Photography Project.

10×10 Photography Project is an annual event and publication that celebrates queer Canadians in the arts. Portraits of 100 LGBTQ Canadians in the arts by 10 queer Canadian photographers are exhibited at the Gladstone Hotel, opening with a reception held during Toronto’s Pride celebrations.

http://10x10photographyproject.com
http://gladstonehotel.com/spaces/10x10photoproject2017/

Toronto Art Book Fair
Artscape Youngplace
Free Admission

Opening night preview party
Thu June 15: 6 – 10 pm

Fair hours
Fri June 16: 12 – 8 pm
Sat June 17: 12 – 8 pm
Sun June 18: 12 – 6 pm

I’ll have a table on the third floor with many new releases, including a double-sided risograph, produced in collaboration with Colour Code.

http://torontoartbookfair.com