Mark Adair & Mary Catherine Newcomb @ loop Gallery, 1273 Dundas St. W. March 27, 2010

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Mark Adair entitled Death’s Children and Mary Catherine Newcomb entitled Chocolate.

Mark Adair’s Death’s Children is a new series of small charcoal drawings that completes Death Drinks, a narrative about the adventures of Death in the modern world. Adair has worked on and off on the series for a decade and it has been exhibited in many shows in various stages of development. Both the subject matter and the labour intensive and detailed style of the work are inspired by the art of the difficult and dangerous 14th Century in western Europe.

Mark Adair is a Toronto artist who does charcoal works on paper and makes sculpture. His work was recently featured in the Patrick Jenkins documentary, Death Is In Trouble Now, airing on BRAVO! Television, which was also the basis for a 25 year retrospective of Adair's work mounted at Brock University's Rodman Hall Arts Centre. Adair is a graduate of York University, Toronto (BFA 1979) and the University of Victoria (MFA 1982). He is a founding member of the Torontoniensis Collective with whom he has exhibited since the mid 1990's. He has exhibited with Loop since 2004.

Mary Catherine Newcomb's spring exhibition at Loop features a 4' long reclining "chocolate" hare. The hare regards the viewer balefully and actually consists of a malleable material that smells slightly oily or rancid. A suspended oversized apple blossom crown that is made from copper, bronze and steel accompanies the rabbit. While heralding the beginning of spring, this exhibition juxtaposes ideas about beauty, illusion, consumption and our complex and often romantic relationship with nature.

Mary Catherine Newcomb was born and raised in Montreal. She received her art education at University of Waterloo and York University. She currently works and resides in Kitchener, Ontario. She has received numerous grants and awards and her work has been exhibited internationally.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, March 27th from 2-5 pm.

Mark Adair and Mary Catherine Newcomb will speak about their work during a Question & Answer Session at the gallery on Saturday April 17 at 3pm. Facilitated by Gordon Hatt.

Gallery Hours: Wed - Sat 1-5pm, Sun 1-4pm