Gareth Bate

For Immediate Release

Floating World Series: Tsunami 1, acrylic on wood, 4 x 4 feet, 2011

Floating World Series: Tsunami 2, acrylic on wood, 4 x 4 feet, 2011

Gareth Bate Solo Exhibition "Floating World" opens at Loop Gallery, Toronto.

View Body of Work

Dates: June 25 – July 17, 2011

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 25, 2011, 2 -5 pm

Address: 1273 Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON, M6J 1X8   (three doors west of Dovercourt)

Days: Wednesday - Saturday 12 p.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. or by appointment

Loop Gallery Website

Facebook Invite

Artist Statement

Loop Gallery presents Gareth Bate's "Floating World". These paintings are a kind of Vanitas. Scenes of great beauty suddenly engulfed by devastation. Imagine standing in wonder at the view before you, just as a Tsunami washes it all away.

Gareth's recent work explores our ultimate scale and purpose in the universe. The landscapes and cosmos scenes are a metaphor for the beauty we experience. In the work the universe represents a sense of endless possibilities, and yet an existential terror of our final insignificance.

The tsunami represents total sublime horror. It is complete and utter devastation, indiscriminate and inescapable. The aerial video footage of the Japanese Tsunami was the most horrifying thing. It spread through entire cities and farmlands, demolishing and consuming everything in its path. All you have, including your life, can be swept away in an instant. Natural disasters are for Gareth, one of the things that make a belief in God impossible.

The title "Floating World" is obviously a reference to Japan, but it also represents the Earth itself. We are fragile and barely staying afloat. Although these paintings could be seen as bleak, it is impossible for an artwork to be nihilistic. Making art is inherently about creating meaning out of life.

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Current

Upcoming June 25

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Upcoming Dec. 9

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Juried Exhibition

Pearson International Airport, Terminal 1, Toronto

Upcoming Jan. 26, 12

Recent

"Where They Are Now: OCADU Alumni Exhibition"

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"Moments" Solo Painting Exhibition

Gareth Bate Art Projects, Toronto

For The Infinite, Book Cover.

Ryerson Poetry Chapbook, Toronto

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Art practice, exhibitions, etc.

"Common Thread International Exhibition" at World of Threads Festival

B42 Gallery, Oakville.

"The Winter LamentPaintings," Solo Exhibition

Canadian Heritage Office Gallery, Toronto

"BeeCause," Fundraising Auction for the Canadian Bee Research Fund

The Arts Project London,London.

"Between Reality & Fantasy"

Katherine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects, Toronto

"Corps Intérieur"
Set Design Installation

David Pressault Danse at the Monument National Theatre, Montreal.

Ontario Arts Council Emerging Artist Grant

For Corps Intérieur Set Design Installation

"Hard Twist: 3rd Annual Juried Textile Art Exhibition"

The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto.

"Bigger, Bigger and More Desperate"

Deleon White Gallery, Toronto

"Art 401: A group exhibition of 401 Richmond Artists"

The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto.

"Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition": Lament Paintings

Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto

"Lament": 401 Richmond Career Launcher Prize Solo Exhibition

Studio 260, 401 Richmond St. West, Toronto

"Penance Performance"

Queen Street West, Toronto

"Plastic Paintings" Solo Exhibition.

Public Health Canada Office, Toronto

"Residual Landscapes" Photography Exhibition

Arcadia Gallery, Toronto

"Nuit Blanche: Ann Hamilton's Listening Choir," Performance

Varius Locations, Toronto

Read More

"Central Tech Alumni Show"

The Library Gallery, Central Technical School, Toronto

"Nuit Blanche: In Memory of Brian Kipping"

Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto

Gareth Bate wins 2007
401 Richmond Career-Launcher Prize

Ontario College of Art & Design & Margaret Zeidler.