Lot
24
Bung
Oil on canvas on panel, 2008
89 x 127 cm
Estimate
$4 000
This painting encapsulates Beth Stuart’s approach to painterly concerns: a folding and unfolding of the figure and the ground, an uncertain relationship to real and imagined spaces and an exploration of the frame, or edge, of the painted surface. As with other works, this painting challenges the viewer to find the balance between elegance and awkwardness: a compromise between the realities of the physical body, and the search for true abstraction.
Biographical note
Beth Stuart makes paintings, sculptures, and texts. Her works probe into a very physical abstraction, something body-like that feels simultaneously intimate and alien, particular and uncertain. Her visual vocabulary has developed over time through research into early feminist art, textiles, early modernist painting, and surrealist philosophy.
Stuart lives and works in Toronto, and exhibits both nationally and internationally. She holds a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, and an MFA from the University of Guelph. Recent solo exhibitions include what bonds are these? at La Centrale, two sticks in a shed at Battat Contemporary, both in Montreal, and The Cliques at Erin Stump Projects in Toronto. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including a recent Honourable Mention in the RBC Canadian Painting Competition. Her work has been collected by the Royal Bank of Canada, and is held in numerous private collections across the country. Stuart is currently an instructor at OCAD University.