Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art presents Canan Tolon: Sidesteps an exhibition of works by Turkish-born artist Canan Tolon, on view 15 January–16 March 2014.
Apart from a short spell early in her artistic career when Tolon made works that were both personal and figurative, much of her creativity is process based and deals with space, time, gravity, and chance interactions between disparate materials. Her early interest in the marks left by the processes of growth and transformation over time led her, for example, to making works which in her own words are landscapes stripped to their elemental state. Her work on some of these early assemblages of man-made materials initiated some unusual techniques, such as applying coffee grounds or letting grass grow on a canvas, and processes with unpredictable outcomes; for instance, by allowing rust to occur naturally and mix with pigment in her paintings.
Space is the main subject of Canan Tolon’s work, especially in the way it is visualised, politicised, imagined and remembered. Always astute and elaborate, her technique for creating space may at first sight seem random, but is clearly the result of painstaking investigation, premeditation and control. A number of Tolon’s oil paintings are executed in black-and-white or mute colours with brighter touches. Whether large or small in scale, their form often suggests architectural imagery. Formally precise, rhythmic and structured, they are also simultaneously elusive, transient, accidental, and surprise viewers into reassessing what they see.
Tolon’s paintings are also informed by her own photographic experience and skill, though she uses no collage or printing techniques in their making. Rather, she works hands-on with tools, such as straight edges and knives, to produce an effect of ‘instant reality.’ This is particularly true of her works on Mylar, which at first glance look like photographic prints of something familiar, yet on closer examination the ‘photographic reality’ falls away and their illusionistic nature is revealed. Tolon’s aim is to make paintings that are apparently recognisable, yet elude description.
Born in Istanbul, Canan Tolon now lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area, California and in Istanbul.
This exhibition is curated by Ziba Ardalan, Founder/Director of Parasol unit.
Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art
14 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW
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Sunday noon–5pm. Free admission.
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