Artist Kelly Lycan will be at Gallery TPW tomorrow (October 10) from 12 – 5 pm for the last of her White Hot Flea Markets. The gallery space has been set up museum-style, full of solid white objects and art pieces, all of which are for sale in flea market fashion. “My work is about collections and accumulation,” says Lycan, “and with this show I wanted to address the idea of markets — art market, flea market, gallery.” Part of Lycan’s “collection” is a set of white knitted balaclavas by artist Heidi Nagtegaol; the one Kelly wears at left is the smoking cap. “I’m not photogenic,” jokes Lycan,” so this is perfect for me.” Gallery TWP, 56 Ossington Avenue, Ends October 10
Later, Lycan consents to pose sans-mask with Surrender Forever, above left, a too-long white flag that’s “about over-consumption and excess, and how we surrender to it or not.” “And all this stuff back here [Peg Board Storage/Hoarding Wall, above right] is about how our culture relies on storage as a way to deal with our over-consumption,” explains Lycan. “The carpet [below] is sort of the same thing, SAVE. I made it bench height so it sort of relates to home décor.”
Another interesting piece is Mantles, below, a collection of cutout mantle tchotchkes in various Martha Steward whites. “I like the way white minimalizes and neutralizes things,” explains the artist. “I like the way it references minimalism. I also like how white de-sentimentalizes things, by stripping out colour you make things more about form and that’s also something that interests me.” Originally from Alberta, Lycan has lived in Toronto off and on but is now based in Vancouver. Before doing her BFA at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and her MFA at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, Lycan studied photography at Ryerson. “The program wasn’t right for me,” she recalls, “because it was very technical and I’m more of a conceptual artist, I’m interested in the meaning of things, specifically in the meaning of objects.”
Kelly has spent every Saturday for the past month in residence at the gallery like a clerk working a flea market stall. “This show is also very much about display, and I’m addressing retail space for sure. That’s the place of display that I’m probably most fascinated by.” Being resident at TPW has also given the artist a chance to discuss her work with gallery goers. She’s happy to explain her motives but isn’t bothered if people absorb the work without her input. There’s a handout for those who want to delve a bit deeper but Lycan is cheerily resigned to letting people make of it what they will. “With art sometimes you get the information, sometimes you don’t,” she says. “That’s part of the deal.”
NOTE: This posting is a taste of things to come on livewithculture.ca. At the end of October we’ll be moving to a blog format with a more editorial slant, taking readers behind the scenes and introducing you to the vast array of talented people who make Toronto such a thriving cultural Mecca.
Artist Kelly Lycan will be at Gallery TPW tomorrow (October 10) from 12 – 5 pm for the last of her White Hot Flea Markets. The gallery space has been set up museum-style, full of solid white objects and art pieces, all of which are for sale in flea market fashion. “My work is about collections and accumulation,” says Lycan, “and with this show I wanted to address the idea of markets — art market, flea market, gallery.” Part of Lycan’s “collection” is a set of white knitted balaclavas by artist Heidi Nagtegaol; the one Kelly wears at left is the smoking cap.
Later, Lycan consents to pose sans-mask with Surrender Forever, below left, a too-long white flag that’s “about over-consumption and excess, and how we surrender to it or not.”
“And all this stuff back here [Peg Board Storage/Hoarding Wall, above right] is about how our culture relies on storage as a way to deal with our over-consumption,” explains Lycan. ”The carpet [below] is sort of the same thing, SAVE. I made it bench height so it sort of relates to home décor.”
Another interesting piece is Mantles, below, a collection of cutout mantle tchotchkes in various Martha Steward whites. “I like the way white minimalizes and neutralizes things,” explains the artist. “I like the way it references minimalism. I also like how white de-sentimentalizes things, by stripping out colour you make things more about form and that’s also something that interests me.”
Originally from Alberta, Lycan has lived in Toronto off and on but is now based in Vancouver. Before doing her BFA at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and her MFA at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, Lycan studied photography at Ryerson. “The program wasn’t right for me,” she recalls, “because it was very technical and I’m more of a conceptual artist, I’m interested in the meaning of things, specifically in the meaning of objects.”
Kelly has spent every Saturday for the past month in residence at the gallery like a clerk working a flea market stall. “This show is also very much about display, and I’m addressing retail space for sure. That’s the place of display that I’m probably most fascinated by.”
Being resident at TPW has also given the artist a chance to discuss her work with gallery goers. She’s happy to explain her motives but isn’t bothered if people absorb the work without her input. There’s a handout for those who want to delve a bit deeper but Lycan is cheerily resigned to letting people make of it what they will.
“With art sometimes you get the information, sometimes you don’t,” she says. “That’s part of the deal.”
Photos by Christopher Jones
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