Colin Muir Dorward & Gavin Lynch


Colin Muir Dorward & Gavin Lynch “Crossfaded” – March 1-31, 2018

Colin Muir Dorward and Gavin Lynch met while studying for their MFA’s at the University of Ottawa in 2012.  Both artists had an affinity to painting, David Hockney and DJing, and became fast friends.  This is their first 2-person exhibition together and they present two visually disparate bodies of work.   Dorward explores early medieval culture and myth while Lynch’s work is rooted in the landscape genre.   Though the subject matter is different, both artists create representations of imagined places, rooted in their love and knowledge of the history of painting.

 

Colin Muir Dorward’s new paintings are connected to his research for his PHD, which focuses on early medieval culture.  The paintings included in our exhibition reference early Christian histories, myths and legends.   In each canvas, Dorward creates a different narrative.   In “Nicaea X” he re-tells the story of the Second Council of Nicaea in the year 786 where officials met to restore the use of icons or holy images.  “Corpus Integrum Pt. 2” references the evolution of the image of Christ from late medieval representations (the Mandylion) through to our contemporary image of a shrouded ghost.  Dorward creates a duality between real space and myth with “Exhibens Similitudinem” and presents a sumptuous union of entwined figures with the painting “Psychonometry”.

Gavin Lynch’s landscape paintings experiment with representations of both observed and imagined spaces, which allude to ideas such as time, perception and place.  He approaches the picture plane with a “collage mentality”, where he can combine painterly applications and gestures.   His aim is to make contemplative spaces that explore our relationship with nature.   Since moving to rural Quebec, his work has almost exclusively depicted the woods that surround his family home.  His daily practice involves morning hikes in the hills above his house; his movements in and observations of the forest have become the focus of his work.

 

Colin Muir Dorward

Colin Muir Dorward (born 1979) obtained his BFA from Emily Carr University in 2007 and his MFA from the University of Ottawa in 2013. He is currently completing his PHD in Visual Arts at Western University in London, ON.

In 2012, Dorward was selected as a finalist in the RBC Painting Competition, and won the Honorable Mention in the 2013 competition.  In the fall of 2014, he was awarded the Robert and Isabel Pope Painter’s Residency at NSCAD University.

His work is held in numerous private and public art collections, including the RBC Corporate Art Collection, National Gallery of Canada and the City of Ottawa Art Collection.

 

Gavin Lynch

Gavin Lynch (born 1978) received his BFA from Emily Carr University in 2009 and MFA from the University of Ottawa in 2012.  He is the recipient of awards and grants from various organizations, including the Canada Council for the Arts (2014), the Ontario Arts Council (2013) and the province of Ontario (2011).

In 2014, Lynch was a finalist for the RBC Painting Competition.  His work has been exhibited across Canada, featured in Canadian Art magazine and is in various collections including TD Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and the City of Ottawa.

Most recently in December 2017, Lynch created a monumental site-specific painting for the Air Canada VIP lounge at Pearson International Airport.

He lives with his family in Wakefield, QC, just outside Ottawa.  Gavin Lynch is represented by Angell Gallery, Toronto.