New Work

Available work can be found on the Inabstracto website
www.inabstracto.com

Current Artists’ work available:
Nathan Carson, Djuna Day, Byron Hodgins, Julie Jenkinson, Rob Kinghorn, Lee Towndrow and Kurt Swinghammer.

It Starts Out Rough, Sculpture by Julie Jenkinson

January 16 – February 2, 2020                 
Opening: January 16 from 6-8

The enigmatic sculptures of Julie Jenkinson start with a simple material premise: a factory mould, the action of a piano, the discarded arm of a doll. Juxtaposed by her knowing hand and eye, however, these elements morph into objects that radiate an uncanny ambiguity. Straddling the line between organic and mechanical, representational and abstract, these constructions are also fanciful: the boats look ready to set sail, and the doll assemblages have a muted theatrical flair. They also delve into the mysteries of repetition, demonstrating how singular elements can be reiterated in order to create bold new forms of visual logic. — David Jager

Julie Jenkinson is a British-born, self-taught multidisciplinary artist and designer living in Toronto.

Image: Jenkinson’s studio, 2019.

Proud to be part of DesignTO 2020.

Barbara Klunder, My Wardrobe

Embroidered clothing and tapestries
December 7-22
Opening: December 7 from 3-6

Textile art has undergone a renaissance over the past century, as artists have pushed the boundaries of what can be considered a textile, as well as how a textile can be considered art. The 1970s, in particular, marked a turning point in this history. Feminist artists like Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro challenged the distinction between textiles and fine art, embracing techniques that were traditionally relegated to the realm of “women’s crafts,” such as sewing and quilting…. — Sarah Gottesman, Artsy

Barbara Klunder has had an ecclectic career in graphic design, illustration, theatre and costume design and textile art. In “My Wardrobe” Klunder’s embroidered clothing and tapestries embody her distinctive hand-drawn style of animal characters and beasts. Her strokes of thread appear to be sketched into the fabric, built up into rich layers of texture, colour and gesture.

Barbara is well known for her commitment to environmental causes, this exhibition is no exception. Her wild beasts and poisonous insects are woven into sardonic narratives and political dialogue. 

Her work is in the collection of the ROM, AGO, and the Textile Museum of Canada. Barbara has exhibitied at galleries and shows across North America.

She lives offshore, on Toronto Island.

Image: Detail, Poisonous Insects. 2019

Julie Jenkinson: Continued Existence

Continued Existence
Solo Sculpture Exhibition
VERSO Gallery @Inabstracto

Opening November 8 from 6-9
November 8-22, 2018

1160 Queen Street West, Toronto

Press Release
Julie Jenkinson’s new sculpture show is based entirely on small and large scale assemblages of post-industrial materials, salvaged wood and found objects. 

Following what she admits is a completely intuitive process, she succeeds in coaxing sensuous qualities out of the most derelict materials. The pitted surface of an industrial wooden spool takes on a rich and comforting roughness, abandoned industrial rubber car parts suddenly resemble ceramics, discarded pipe bowls are polished and oiled until they gleam. She finds bits and pieces of the discarded items around us and re-invests them with a visual allure that is palpable.

Her ability to evoke the primordial and arresting appeal of objects is one of the strongest qualities of her sculpture. She has a knack for finding things that carry corporeal weight, that demand an embodied response from the eye. Alone they’d be unnoticed, with her help they beguile and invite interaction. Relying on a rich and simple palette of mostly velvety black, brass and steel further simplifies her assemblages and unifies their visual logic. It is almost impossible not to touch them. This is especially true of her sculptural jewelry which radiates an exotic post-apocalyptic glamour you might call Bedouin post punk.

Jenkinson’s deep intuition for her materials allows her to pull off these improbable contrasts: degraded machine pieces look luxurious, antique fragments appear hyper-contemporary, mechanical elements become animal and the organic elements turn strangely inert.  She places wood, steel, brass, rubber and ceramic in dialogue with organic elements such as animal hair
or dried gourds. Her industrial rubber auto parts, in the piece “Still Life” for instance, are grouped together to form a trio not unlike a Morandi still life, with one of them topped with a tuft of wild boar hair stuffing taken from a 1960s sofa.

Her wide use of contrasting materials and stylistic elements makes her work difficult to place historically. You immediately think of modernist or futurist sculpture from the turn of the twentieth century, yet the whimsical and surprising organic touches also invoke early surrealism. Some of the more abject pieces, however, bring to mind the far more recent arte povera. Her constant use of the industrial with the organic, however, such as her brass pipes affixed to inky black gourds, also bring Louise Bourgeois to mind. They represent an organic synthesis of a myriad of influences that places them slightly outside of time.

The works in this collection represent a life spent intently investigating the strange charm of discarded objects. In this show, she demonstrates that she can bring them to life.

— David Jager 

Contact: Kate Eisen
kate@inabstracto.com
416-533-6362

Julie Jenkinson, Paintings and Sculpture


Continued Existence 
Paintings and sculpture by Julie Jenkinson
September 2017
Yesterday’s copper, acrylic on paper. 18×24 in. 2017
Infinity, rubber and vintage brass. 20x8x8 in. 2017

Chari Lesniak

Chari Lesniak_2

Chari Lesniak, Untitled 2.  36×56 in., oil on canvas. $3000.

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Chari Lesniak, Untitled 1. 82×52.5 in., oil on canvas. $5900.

 

Kurt Swinghammer, Red Canoe No. 32

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We’re so pleased to announce the arrival of Kurt Swinghammer’s
Red Canoe No. 32. Outstanding colour palette.
48×48 in., acrylic on canvas, 2017. SOLD

Byron Hodgins, oil paintings

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Neighbour’s House, Byron Hodgins. Oil on canvas,
43×54 in. 2013. $3350. SOLD

byron_2

Dogwood High Park, oil on canvas, 48×48 in.
$3350.

byron_3

River Silhouettes, oil on canvas, 54x43in.
$3350. SOLD

byron_1

Winter Thaw, oil on canvas, 24×24 in.
$1800.

Swinghammer’s “Loon Series”

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We’re pleased to present Kurt Swinghammer’s new
Loon Series“. 48″ x 48”, acrylic on canvas. INQUIRE

BLACKBONES Exhibition

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VERSO Gallery and INabstracto Present 

BLACKBONES Collection by Julie Jenkinson
Objects and sculptural jewelry for all sexes.

Thursday, November 26 from 6-9 pm.

The BLACKBONES collection spans the divide between found object, fine art sculpture and jewelry. Working through a deeply intuitive and organic sense of form, Jenkinson creates assemblages of artisanal and salvaged industrial materials. The results are strikingly dramatic pieces that one could only call post modern industrial primitive.

The visual intrigue of each piece derives from the way in which Jenkinson combines the vocabulary of indigenous and ethnic jewelry with a classic modernist sensibility. Bridging ancient and contemporary design, she creates a timelessness around each piece that is hard to place but is difficult to ignore.

Each BLACKBONES piece is irresistibly tactile, inviting you to hold and feel the beauty of their texture and explore their unique forms. Whether worn daily as a signature item or as an occasional accent piece, this collection is bound to draw attention and set the wearer apart.

BLACKBONES is Julie Jenkinson’s signature and thoroughly unique design statement expressed through jewelery and sculpture.

Julie Jenkinson is a British born, self-taught artist and designer living in Toronto. www.blackbones.ca

Brass Snake_LR

above: rubber, brass sculpture maquette, Julie Jenkinson
top: sculptural jewelry by Julie Jenkinson