EXHIBITION HOURS

Thurs March 6 – Sun March 30, 2014

12-5pm daily

1214 Queen St. W

Toronto

416.531.4635

IWCT is produced by the Gladstone Hotel

@gladstonehotel

OPENING RECEPTION:

Thurs March 6, 2014

7-10pm

Special thanks to

and thanks to Alëna Skarina for featured illustrative design as seen on hotel exterior.

The Gladstone Hotel and curator Leila Courey are pleased

to present If Walls Could Talk, a juried exhibition of

experiential illustration that features work by emerging

and established artists. The show will be on public display

at the Gladstone Hotel from March 6–30, 2014. Selected

projects use illustration—or other art forms related to it—

to occupy or alter the hotel’s 2nd floor gallery and public

spaces, in dramatic, conceptual, and experimental ways.

In May, the Gladstone’s website hosted the exhibition’s

national call for submissions, with promotional support

provided by media sponsor Applied Arts Magazine.

In August, Leila and the exhibition’s jurists, reviewed,

discussed, and selected proposals.

Leila has collaborated with each participant to designate

specific rooms and public spaces, and has lent support to

each artist through the development of their projects.

IF WALLS COULD TALK

2014 Jury

Ari Elkouby

creative director

Zulu Alpha Kilo

-

Diti Katona

partner, creative director

Concrete Design

-

Gary Taxali

fine artist, illustrator

-

Jason Logan

creative director

Rogers Publishing

-

Mikey Richardson

partner, creative director

Jacknife Design

-

Paul Dallas

chair of Illustration

OCAD University

-

Virginia Johnson

illustrator, textile designer + founder

Virginia Johnson Lifestyle

Curator Statement

Illustration brings remarkable meaning to nearly any part of our existence. From Mother Goose to Dr. Seuss, Stan Lee to DC, galleries to street art, and beyond, the drawn line decorates the mind with vivid wonders. The discipline is in permanent flux, its dominant forms currently shifting from handmade to computer generated, but the spirit of drawing remains pure and cherished. The greatest illustrators, artists, and designers are con-ceptual thinkers. They have an intuitive connection with their cultures, and speak distinct visual languages. Their voices resonate through varied mediums. If Walls Could Talk welcomes illustration into the exhibition space, creat-ing a destination for public engagement and participation. Viewers are invited to experience two and three-dimen-sional works, sometimes at the same instance. In an effort to shift expectations, ideas have been drawn, folded, painted, constructed, cut, sculpted, built, illuminated, projected and transformed. By challenging artists and creators to explore their craft beyond the framed image, it is my hope that this exhibition will precipitate a new and spontaneous reaction to this traditional art form, while further developing each participant’s growth of artistic expression.

If we do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our

imagination on the altar of crude reality.

—Yann Martel

The Gladstone Hotel is Toronto’s oldest continually operating

hotel. In fact, this year, we’ll be turning 125 years young!

Identifying as an art hotel since 2005, when local artists

came together to transform our original 19th century hotel

rooms into 37 unique rooms/functional art installations,

we know that being an art hotel means more than hanging

a few paintings. Inspired by the building’s history, exposed

brick walls, high ceilings, huge Victorian windows and

longstanding neighbourhood connections to Toronto’s arts

and culture scene, we were able to create an internationally

recognized art hotel that defies traditional expectations and

fosters design and creativity.

More like a gallery that never sleeps, we provide access

to locally-made works 365 days per year. Our exhibitions

and cultural programs host hundreds of artists, designers,

craftspeople, musicians, performances, literary projects and

social change events which illustrate Jane Jacobs’ assertion

that ‘Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New

ideas must use old buildings.’ Every year, we partner with

community organizations and arts curators to produce a long

list of exhibitions and programs relevant to communities

across the city, including: That’s So Gay, a celebration of Pride;

Grow-Op, a provocative exploration of landscape and place;

Come Up To My Room, alternative design event; Hard Twist,

a juried textile exhibition; Fly By Night which coincides with

Nuit Blanche and many more.

From the thoughtfully created dishes served in our Café

restaurant on the first floor to the top of the iconic Tower

suite’s private rooftop patio, we hope you enjoy the art —

wherever you find it!

www.gladstonehotel.com

GLADSTONE HOTEL

M A RC H 6 - 1 6 , 2 01 4

A. Beata Kruszynski B. Betty Zhang C. Jen Spinner & Hazel Eckert D. Jennifer Ilett E. Kat Gomboc & Rebecca Ladds F. Kerry Zenter G. Mike Ellis H. Min Gyo (Daniel) Chung I. Nat Janin J. P.K. (Adam Hilborn) K. Rachael AsheL. Sawhorse Design Co. M. Selena Wong

EXHIBITIONMAP

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BEATAKRUSZYNSKI

The Face Hole is an interactive

experience for the peeping tom in you,

and, for those who have ever wondered

what the life of a cat lady, consists of. We

often make up stories about cat ladies.

Often they are based on newspaper

articles, internet stories, friends'

confessions about their cat lady habits,

and observations of real life cat ladies.

The Face Hole experience gives viewers

a chance to view the life of a cat lady and

her cats.

Face Hole

www.beekski.blogspot.ca

Beata Kruszynski engages the esoteric explorer. She creates ideas about society and their environ-ment, delving into the real and the make believe, and discusses human connections to their environments.

BETTY ZHANG

If walls could talk, they would say

“Follow us.” In the modern society,

we are surrounded by technology and

social media as a new way of interaction.

“Follow us” is a phrase often heard

amongst many other new vocabularies

as a result of this new social behaviour.

In this interactive and immersive

project, viewers are invited to have a

conversation with the walls and follow

them.

Follow Us

www.bettyzhangart.com

After living in 3 continents, Betty’s work has evolved over the years, as she is influenced by many cul-tures. She now combines her fine art experiences with her design background. Her artwork draws a relation between emotion, culture, and experience. The texture in her artwork is a way to conserve the process; a process of making art, and a process of thought.

JEN SPINNER& HAZEL ECKERT

Three-Star Quality Inn is inspired by

an economy motel where travellers

might stay on a Canadian road trip. The

paper installation is constructed in the

tradition of theatrical set staging. When

viewers walk amongst the large paper

objects, they are invited to reflect on the

nature of their relationship to travel,

transition and nostalgia.

Three-Star Quality Inn

www.jenspinner.comwww.hazeleckert.ca

Jen Spinner is an artist, graphic designer and illustrator whose personal work explores the possibilities of delicate paper sculpture through installation and illustration.

Hazel Eckert is an artist and letterpress printer. By combining found objects, photographs, and drawings of her surroundings, she creates collages that verge on installation. Her work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions across Canada, and she is the 2013–2014 recipient of the Nick Novak Fellowship at Open Studio.

JENNIFERILETT

“As Seen From Space” is an immersive

approach to Jennifer’s illustrative work,

with a combination of illustration,

sculptural elements, and viewer

interaction. The installation presents

an exploration of Earth and humankind

from the viewpoint of an extra-

terrestrial being. Entering the space will

transport the viewer to an otherworldly

hoarder’s private collection of Earthly

observations. The works will present a

unique interpretation of every day life,

emotions, and interactions.

As Seen From Space

www.jenniferilett.com

Jennifer Ilett is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Toronto, ON. Her work has been featured in American Illustration, Communication Arts, CMYK Magazine, and on various art and design websites. She currently works as a freelance illustrator, designer, and fine artist. She has exhibited in Canada and the USA.Jennifer’s work draws upon elements of the every day, infused with her own observations and the fantastical. Her latest works interpret subjects and ideas with which she has little personal experience, creating feelings which teeter between bold assumption and shy discomfort, while at the same exuding an overall familiarity.

Kat Gomboc finds inspiration in the shared human experience, which has manifested itself in an interest in mythology where she explores its impact on contemporary culture and the rift between fact and fiction. She applies this subject matter to conceptually appropriate mediums such as oil painting, intaglio, and book-making.

KAT GOMBOC & REBECCA LADDS

While living and working in Florance,

Italy, Kat Gomboc and Rebecca Ladds

became engulfed in a sea of inspiration

surrounded by the Renaissance’s

ornamentation, architecture, and

the rich history that accompanies it.

Upon returning to Canada, they were

confronted with a new perspective on

the very contemporary city of Toronto,

and its own historical identity. Common

ground between Florentine artwork and

contemporary illustration manifests

itself in this installation through the

use of black ink on white walls. Kat and

Rebecca create bold graphic images with

intricately detailed line-work as an ode

to the interior aesthetic of Renaissance

building while hinting at influences like

intaglio, tattoo, and cartoons. Subtly

they place Toronto signifiers among this

imagery, inviting the viewer to uncover

them. The installation parallels this

juxtaposition, and harmonizes a classic

aesthetic with their own contemporary

practices.

Ornament, Lament

www.katgomboc.comwww.rebeccaladds.com

Rebecca Ladds interest in history informs her current work which is completed in carbon pencil and ink on paper. By combining techniques of heavy baroque figuration with intricate and detailed ornamentation in ink, she explores the dualities that exist between historical warfare artifacts and narratives and their effect on the contemporary body.

KERRY ZENTER

In Zentner’s installation, he shows the

relationship between living entities

and their nonliving environment to

be a calamitous playground for pure

ontological struggle. Zentner creates

a new entropic territory in which

the definitions of matter as living or

nonliving, and the temporal division

between these states, comes under

conceptual prosecution.

Protocosmos

www.kerryzentner.com

Kerry Zentner is an award winning Toronto-born visual artist. His work playfully confronts the existential terror of post-twentieth-century being, examining the ebb and flow between cosmic forces of entropy and the effects of our fundamental collective human will to imagine.

MIKEELLIS

A good room is hard to find. As a twenty-

something in a booming city with rent

soaring to almost unobtainable levels,

the quest for the perfect apartment has

never seemed more impossible.

As luck would have it, a room just

opened up down the street!

Welcome to the Huron House, a classic

example of Toronto’s once abundant

Bay and Gable marvels. On a street once

prided for its whimsical architecture,

its days of grandeur have long been

forgotten. This three dimensional

installation provides viewers a chance to

peer into the lives of it’s tenants.

Room For Rent

www.mikellis.com

Mike Ellis is an illustrator and designer based in Toronto whose illustrations have graced the pages of The New York Times, Boston Globe, The Globe and Mail and many other fine publications.

While never limiting himself to just illustration, Mike wears many hats in a large spectrum of media. From art directing his record label, Legwarmer Records, to multimedia installations and fine art. Mike is constantly pushing his own envelope in an effort to engage his audience in new and exciting ways.

MIN GYO (DANIEL) CHUNG

“Unconquerable Dreams” is a sculptural

installation presenting a comparative

study between the Terracotta Army

sculptures in China and blow up sex

dolls. It examines the idea of mass-

producing inanimate objects with

humanistic features to compromise

one’s unattainable desire. Furthermore,

it questions the repetition of history, the

absurdity of mass production and the

human inclination to manipulate the

ephemerality of life.

Unconquerable Dreams

www.mingyochung.com

Korean born Min Gyo (Daniel) Chung (b.1990) is an emerging illustrator based in Toronto, Canada. His work has been recognized by the American Illustration, 3x3, CMYK and Creative Quarterly. In 2013, he won the Adobe Design Achievement Awards in the Illustration category, including the Grand Prize for Traditional Media. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Design (BDes) in the Illustration program at OCAD University.

NATJANIN

Using smart pigments and materials,

Realm of Hungry Ghosts addresses

impermanence, the Buddhist notion

of existence in our contemporary lives,

through the narrative realms of Samsara;

Life, Death and Rebirth.

“Things and experiences are in constant

flux, and there is no inherent or fixed

nature to any object or experience.

Things are constantly coming into being

and ceasing to be. Everything we can

experience through our senses is made

up of parts, its existence is dependent

on external conditions.” from The Law of

God by Syed Ali Raza.

Realm Of Hungry Ghosts

www.natdraws.com

Nat Janin is a freelance illustrator and designer from Toronto, Canada. She makes work for publications, galleries and private clients and has received recognition by American Illustration and the Adobe Design Achievement Awards. She is keen on adventuring, animating and harmonizing art and science. Her left wrist is reinforced with titanium and her hands are cold even in the summer. She is inspired by wanderlust and the small discoveries attached to everyday life around the world.

P.K(ADAM HILBORN)

In this installation for If Walls Could

Talk, P.K. explores further into optical

illusions and obsessive drawing on a

greater scale.

Untitled 6

www.pkartdept.com

Practicing as a multi-disciplinary designer and illustrator, P.K. (Adam Hilborn) has worked for some of Canada’s acclaimed branding and industrial design companies including his own boutique studio and gallery. While designing and illustrating, Adam has also been an instructor at OCADU for the past 8 years teaching drawing and conceptual process. Working under his pen-name “Peekay”, Adam creates fine art in the form of drawing, painting and sculpture for small and large-scale installation.

RACHAEL ASHE

Flight Path/Taking Flight

portfolio.rachaelashe.com

Rachael Ashe’s ceiling mounted

installation, created from hundreds of

paper wings, is inspired by the artist’s

fascination with watching birds in

flight, and the mystery and magic of

their ability to move as one. Rachael

explores the beauty of repetitive forms

found in nature, and creates intricate

and complex works through the simple

process of paper cutting.

Rachael Ashe is a self taught multi-disciplinary artist, working in paper cutting, sculpture, installation, and book arts. A graduate of the Creative Photography program at Humber College, she works from a studio in Vancouver, British Columbia.Rachael has been featured on Creative Mornings in Vancouver speaking on her experiences and learnings as a professional artist, surrounding the theme of Make.Rachael’s work has been shown in Toronto, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, and the United Kingdom. Her work is included in Paper Works 2, and Design Genius and two upcoming books on design and craft to be published in 2014. Rachael’s work is held in private collections across Canada and the U.S.

SAW HORSE DESIGN CO.

“The Getaway” will explore the use

of both two- and three-dimensional

recycled objects to create a frozen

action scene in an interactive space.

These flat and dimensional objects

will be married within the installation

to create a surreal environment. They

have built a cinematic snapshot of a

homemade car crashing into a motel,

the contents of the trunk flying out,

littering the landscape.

Viewers will be immersed in the

installation, from the custom radio

broadcast crackling over the scene

to each view of the wreck. Every

angle will offer a disparate perceptive

experience. At once still and in motion,

this car will set an urgent yet static

tone for the room. It is an invitation to

wonder at the juxtapositions in play:

the dichotomy of dimensions, the

binary of movement and immobility.

The Getaway

www.sawhorsedesign.com

Saw Horse Design co. represents the combined efforts of Toronto-based designers Kellen Hatanaka and Jim Mezei. They have teamed up with their regular collaborators Adrian Forrow and Tyler John. Each artists’ unique illustrative approach, coupled with a shared interest in employing all aspects of art, design, and making things, inform the aesthetic of this collective. Their common admiration for invention, has been the entry point for much of their work. They use a variety of traditional materials and techniques such as assemblage, collage, wood carvings, enamel, aerosol paint, and block printing ink and allow let the project to dictate the medium.

Adrian Forrow

Jim Mezei

Kellen Hatanaka

SELENAWONG

Bunnies are sentient and intelligent

creatures. They instinctively evolve

and interact with the new environment

in which it is introduced. Bunny Nests

is about adaptation and establishing

foundation. These bunnies, naturally

quiet and wary but differing in

temperament, have come to the

Gladstone in search of tranquility,

shelter, rest, as well as excitement.

Through their subtle body language,

you will learn the techniques they

develop in response to the imposed

challenges and conditions of their new

surroundings. Follow the bunnies,

discover their nests, and learn to adapt

by being conscious and alert to the

surroundings and reliable walls.

Bunny Nests

www.selenawong.com

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Selena Wong’s pursuits in fine arts began at the age of five. At age ten, she and her family relocated to Toronto where she continued to make art and eventually earned a design degree from OCADU majoring in illustration. Today, she happily pursues her passion as her career. Working primarily in gouache and graphite, she displays her pleasure of drawing through her process. In her work, humans and animals share the natural world, secret thoughts, and are at times, weaved together in the flesh. With her Netherland dwarf rabbit at her side, Selena lives and realizes her dreams in Toronto.

You don’t have to be that creative to connect the dots, but it doesn’t hurt.

416.531.4635 | @GladstoneHotel

CHARETTES

SPIN THE BOTTLELIFE DRAWING

CUTE STAFF

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JERK CHICKEN SANDWICHESARTIST DESIGNED HOTEL ROOMS

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PARTY SPACE

INSPIRED ART SPACES

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COMEDY

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CATERING

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Host an actually fun creative offsite at the Gladstone Hotel.

If you liked IWCT as much as we didmake sure you come back APRIL 24 - 27, 2014

EXPLORING LANDSCAPE AND PLACE