Gina Beavers & Devin Troy Strother – “It’s Your World Boo”
1161 Dundas Street West
Toronto On, M6J 1X3
Canada
June 7 – June 29
COOPER COLE will be showing a two person exhibition featuring the work of American artists Devin Troy Strother and Gina Beavers.
Strother and Beavers exhibit a collection of works that relate to each other through lighthearted interpretation of the real. Using representational imagery, each artist’s work challenges the typical structure of painting and uses humour as a vehicle to access a response in the viewer. Devin Troy Strother’s paintings reference old master works and touch on social taboos and his experiences growing up in United States as an African American. Using collage, paint and a variety of other mixed media, Strother’s paintings provide a mischievous, colourful approach to what are potentially sensitive topics among most. Gina Beavers’ paintings are built from thick layers of acrylics in such a way that the paintings become 3-dimensional reliefs. Her subject matter is often sourced from internet based imagery. In this exhibition she will be showing what she calls her “Strong Paintings”, copied from images searches of an artist’s charcoal drawing, a stock-photo, a vintage photo, and a tourist photo. These images represent the heaviness, density and abstract nature of muscles and also directly relate to the weight of her paintings. Both Beavers and Strother’s work transforms what is typically a 2-dimensional work into something incongruently sculptural. In the end their works both possess a three dimensional element, contradicting the materials used.
