Hi folks,

 

Happy (almost) Fall! I hope you've been entertaining yourself heartily since we last connected. I certainly have! Some would call it dillydallying – that someone being me. But what better time to do that than the summertime? 

 

Really, though, I've been up to quite a few soul-replenishing things including trips to Chicago and New York (but more on that later). I popped in to see the deliciously winsome and extremely energizing ceramics of Joon Hee Kim at Craft Ontario. And something rather anomalous occurred: I visited the studios of both painter Kim Dorland (s/o to ArtBeat's Katie Marks for arranging!) and ceramic artist Julie Moon, who each currently have a solo show on at Patel Brown. I've never had the experience of visiting and then seeing the exhibitions of two artists showing in the same space simultaneously, and it made for an extra interesting visit to the gallery.

 

Dorland's show, Nothing is good anymore, is drenched in cinematic stillness and tonal tension. Its mostly black paintings throb with grief, expressing the artist's navigation of the emotions connected to his wife's Parkinson's disease diagnosis six years ago. Moon's show, Flourish, zips with the vigour of kaleidoscopic colour use and whimsical forms. The reason I popped by her studio was for the purpose of writing a story about it for the September issue of Globe Style Advisor; she didn't have a title, nor a specific theme for the exhibition at that point. But she showed me a few pieces with the most decadent textural details, and this is something both her and Kim Dorland's show have in common – ample tactility.

 

Speaking of which, this week's dispatch brings you a conversation with Emma Nishimura and Linda Sormin about their duo exhibition Gestures of Remembering at United Contemporary; it's also arresting in its abundance of materiality and form. I've also cooked up a list of must-see exhibitions in Toronto right now. Gallery Weekend is in full swing, with spaces extending hours and offering special programming, and it's a perfect reason to check out these suggestions!

 

Before we get to that, though, I'd like to ask for a favour. Word has it that Instagram is suppressing posts and reels that include links, which is a nightmare for someone like myself trying to promote a website and subscription-based platform. If you believe in my work, I'd appreciate it if you could encourage even just one person to subscribe to Opaloma, and to spend some time on opaloma.ca.

 

And now, on with the shows!

Emma Nishimura, Shikata ga nai: Nothing can be done about it, 2024. Photo etching on gampi with thread, framed in natural wood (19 inches  x 33.75 inches). Varied edition of 2.

Followers of my Instagram know that I've come to spend a great deal of time and effort gardening on my balcony, and something recently struck me about this interest after my conversation with the multi-media artists Emma Nishimura and Linda Sormin. 

 

Their amazing show Gestures of Remembering – on until September 28th at United Contemporary – focuses on their respective artistic journeys in navigating ancestral bonds, both intentional and unplanned. During our chat, we spoke about what ties us to our familial pasts, particularly when someone in our family is eventually no longer around. Contemplating this, I realized that my fondness for foliage was passed on from my papo (my maternal grandfather), who had a vegetable garden in my childhood home's backyard. I would spy him from my bedroom window often, walking through his stalks of cucumber, tomatoes and peppers to inspect them a number of times a day. I do the same with my coleus, begonias, petunias and passion flower plant – though he never expressly told me this doting scrutiny was the key to successful gardening. After having this epiphany, I try to think about him as I'm perusing my plants to check for bugs, or while I'm meditatively deadheading the bounty of a planter. 

 

Visitors to Gestures of Remembering will be struck by the intriguing connectivity throughout the exhibition, but also the compellingly varied ways in which Nishimura and Sormin visually delineate their explorations of topics both intimate and universal. 

Linda Sormin, Baan Rao (my house), 2023 – 2024. Glazed ceramic, handcut paper, metallic pigment powder, epoxy, resin, gold leaf. 15 x 22.5 x 14 inches.

I'm not done talking about NYC quite yet! Did you know that solo diners are offered a complimentary glass of Champagne at the legendary Balthazar in SoHo? I certainly didn't….

 

Other NYC discoveries of note this trip: 

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