Toronto Craft Alert

2009 Visiting Artists’ Exhibitions
Kai Chan: Seaweeds & Other Floating Things
Endi Poskovic: Marry Folly at Mt. Blanca and Some Other Stories

May 28 – June 20, 2009

Artists’ talks Thurs. May 28, 6-7 pm
Opening Reception: Thurs. May 28, 7-9 pm

Open Studio is pleased to present the second of two 2009 Visiting Artists’ Exhibitions featuring Toronto-based artist Kai Chan and Ann Arbor, MI-based artist Endi Poskovic, May 28 to June 20, 2009. Each year Open Studio selects four professional artists with or without printmaking experience to create traditional and/or experimental works in the print medium of their choice, working collaboratively with a print media artist. These exhibitions by Chan and Poskovic are the result of this intensive work period.

Kai Chan is a textile artist living and working in Toronto. He has exhibited across Canada, the United States, Japan, Australia and Europe. He has received numerous grants from the Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council and awards including the Jean A. Chalmers National Crafts Award (1998), and the Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence in the Fine Crafts (2002). He is represented by David Kaye Gallery in Toronto, Galerie Elena Lee in Montréal and Galerie Ra in Amsterdam. During his residency at Open Studio, Chan worked with the technical collaboration of artist Daryl Vocat to create large-scale screenprints. Chan’s work continues to negotiate borderlands across time, space and materials, manifesting his physical journey from China to Canada and his personal journey as an artist reconfiguring a cross-cultural identity. Chan’s work seeks new insights into his transnational journey that in turn enables him to resolve conflicts in feelings and expectations present with such social change.  A text by Corinna Ghaznavi accompanies the exhibition.

Born in Sarajevo and currently based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, artist Endi Poskovic has exhibited at virtually all major international print biennials and triennials and is the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships and prizes; his works are in numerous public collections in the US and abroad. He is currently tenured Associate Professor of Art at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor School of Art and Design. During his residency at Open Studio, Poskovic  printed a series of wood cuts and worked with the technical collaboration of artist Jill Graham to create a series of lithographs. Poskovic’s work is informed by ideas about shared and personal history, memory and displacement. His graphic work seeks to provide a readable context in which different stories and emotions can be conveyed while simultaneously appearing infeasible. A text by Eric Mathew accompanies the exhibition.

Artists’ talks to accompany the exhibitions will take place at Open Studio on Thursday, May 28, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm, followed by an opening reception from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. For further details, please see the “Exhibitions” pages at http://www.openstudio.on.ca.

Open Studio
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 104
Toronto, ON
416.504.8238
office@openstudio.on.ca