Friday, 22 February 2013

The Elaine Fleck Gallery Presents New Work by Tania Guzmán and Laura Heaney

The Elaine Fleck Gallery is excited to introduce two new young artists to our repertoire, Tania Guzmán and Laura Heaney. These two artists came to us through by submitting to our bi-annual catalogue and were very well received. The abstract art of Tania Guzmán and the modern classical illustrations of Laura Heaney are both wonderful examples of what the Toronto Art Scene has to offer.

Tania Guzmán
It begins with the interplay of raw emotion and the free flow of colour. As she mixes the colours, she cultivates an open-hearted, open-minded state so that lines, forms, images and narrative can emerge naturally.

She builds the paintings in fine, almost transparent layers so that the image evolves but the initial interplay remains. Some elements or features become veiled while others emerge.

This process results in layers of emotion, memory, and sensory experience, with a range of energy, from elegant sensuality to aggressive tension.


Laura Heaney
Social Media is an ever-present topic of conflicted discussion. Since the introduction of the World Wide Web, societal norms have been changing at an ever-increasing rate. People are suddenly connected on a global scale and information happens in “instant” time. 

With the world in such a state of flux, people are scrambling to define what is happening. Is a “Social Renaissance” of expansion, exploration and deeper connectivity currently evolving for humanity through software phenomenon such as Facebook, Google and Twitter, or is this the beginnings of an anti-social future, one characterized by the loneliness of the isolated person in the connected crowd?

Laura Heaney brings focus to these speculations by fusing traditional techniques like chiaroscuro (a dramatic light source commonly found in Renaissance portraiture), with the modern day subject matter of social media devices – smart phones, computers, tablets, etc. Using these digital gadgets as the solitary light source for her “plugged in” subjects, Heaney is able to establish the potential for a “Social Renaissance,” while simultaneously creating a void-like and possibly isolating environment. 

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