January – February, 2020
The Slide Room Gallery is excited to begin our season of virtual exhibitions with local, visual artist Mary Babineau (Victoria, BC) and her solo exhibition RECENT PAINTINGS. Babineau’s work is a poetic and indepth investigation of space. The space of a particular location, the space on the surface of the canvas, the space between paint, marks and movement. The artist places importance and value in her subject as well as how it is approached through paint and brushmarks.
RECENT PAINTINGS by Mary Babineau
Land of Opportunity, oil, pastel and pencil on canvas, 59.5”x78”, 2018 
Turn, oil on canvas, 36”x48”, 2019 
North End Night, oil on canvas, 36”x48”, 2018 
Driveway In, pencil and oil pastel with collage on wood cradle, 11”x14”, 2018 
Guardians, oil and pastel on canvas, 78”x54”, 2018 
The Barmaid’s Stray, oil on wood cradle, 18”x24”, 2019 
Scones & Fashion, oil on canvas, 48”x36”, 2019 
Under Renovation, gouache and mixed media on canvas, 48”x36”, 2018 
Today’s Complaint, oil and pastel on canvas, 78”x54”, 2018 
Shopping the River Styx, oil, pastel and pencil on canvas, 32”x60”, 2019 
Drawings from series, Residue of Promise, mixed media with collage on paper, 2018 
Snow Day, from L A Y E R show, re-purposed materials and plaster of Paris, 2019
Artist Statement
My work is about where I go and what I’m going through. Paintings express my experience of urban environment, physical state and response to situation.
Process directs how I think through a painting. Some are drawn from my vacation photos, taken when I get a break from responsibility. I use sense memory and gesture to share the pleasure but am unable to deny what is seen, such as the contrasts of lives and fortune on the Las Vegas Strip, or the lot of work over leisure for servers in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Other paintings incorporate photos of spaces and objects in museums: using these I construct inviting sanctuaries which offer me comfort. I also work from imagination, exploring personal motifs and an abstract language of mark-making. There is a release of energy in the immediacy of what I am dealing with and by trusting to intuition and practice an image is created.
I’m currently working on a series about making it through the final year of my father’s life. He passed away recently at the fine age of ninety-seven years and seven months. I was his live-in caregiver for over eight years and suffered from sleep deprivation and financial challenges in this time. The solace I have found in beauty with the tandem flux of change, vulnerability and disintegration manifest in my work.
I’ve learned to accept tedious stress, share some sense of security tempered with dulling fatigue, and observe the falling apart along with the elation of making art from life.
Biography
Mary Babineau has a BA, Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia, a Diploma of Fine Art and an Independent Studio Program Certificate from Vancouver Island School of Art. She works from sense memory and personal photos to explore experience of urban environments in drawing and painting. The gestural re-imaginings of public spaces create landscapes of uncertainty through which Babineau reflects on her experience of place and space.
We encourage you to look at Mary Babineau’s website by clicking here and to follow her on Instagram (@mary.babineau.9).
RECENT PAINTINGS by Mary Babineau
Land of Opportunity, oil, pastel and pencil on canvas, 59.5”x78”, 2018 Turn, oil on canvas, 36”x48”, 2019 North End Night, oil on canvas, 36”x48”, 2018 Driveway In, pencil and oil pastel with collage on wood cradle, 11”x14”, 2018 Guardians, oil and pastel on canvas, 78”x54”, 2018 The Barmaid’s Stray, oil on wood cradle, 18”x24”, 2019 Scones & Fashion, oil on canvas, 48”x36”, 2019 Under Renovation, gouache and mixed media on canvas, 48”x36”, 2018 Today’s Complaint, oil and pastel on canvas, 78”x54”, 2018 Shopping the River Styx, oil, pastel and pencil on canvas, 32”x60”, 2019 Drawings from series, Residue of Promise, mixed media with collage on paper, 2018 Snow Day, from L A Y E R show, re-purposed materials and plaster of Paris, 2019
Thank you for viewing RECENT PAINTINGS, a digital exhibition by Mary Babineau. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Please stay tuned for new exhibitions coming soon.
©Mary Babineau. Images courtesy of the artist.
