Graham Gillmore | Unfounded Objects

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Graham Gillmore, "Why Do I Know What I Already Think I Know," 2022

oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 x 86 in. Image courtesy of the Gallery.

Monte Clark is pleased to present Unfounded Objects, an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by Graham Gillmore. On view is a collection of work that examines language as form, shifting from the colourful oil and enamel paintings we are familiar with to monochromatic and abstract sculptures. 

Gillmore’s paintings are characteristic of his practice and depict revelations scribed with oil stick across fragmented fields. Bold statements are softened by the texture of the oil stick and layered with transparencies, and complex compositions.

 These colourful paintings hang in contrast to Gillmore’s monochromatic tablets comprised of hand-cut letters, plasticine, found objects and gesso. The tablets emphasize both a visual topography and verbal significance. White paint unifies the pictorial field, manifesting a productive tension between flatness and depth. While embodying reduction and restraint these works convey a sense of playfulness making reference to anecdotes and tensions within the creative process.  

 Fashioned out of unconventional materials are five sculptures that explore multidimensional space and corporeal form, reflecting on a connection between language and the human body — how words travel through us and where meaning sets in. The fluid compositions reflect those found in his paintings as streams that separate or connect thoughts. Comprised of familiar objects, clothing hangers, a spice rack, a candelabra, garden ornaments, paper holders, and knife blocks, these items are transformed from a utilitarian purpose to an aesthetic one. 

The titles of the sculptures reference songs by Thelonious Monk, an influential American jazz musician whose technique is identified by sparse, complex, sometimes dissonant harmonies, and imbued with warmth and playfulness. Gillmore demonstrates unwavering experimental freedom that is at once liberating and fragile, revealing deeper truths about ourselves.

Gillmore’s work is collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Ghent Museum, Gian Enzo Sperone, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, RCA Records, The Royal Bank of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and numerous other institutions worldwide. He has been featured in publications such as Canadian Art, W Magazine, Art News, ArtForum, L.A. Weekly, C Magazine, and the New York Times Magazine. He lives and works in Winlaw, BC and Toronto, ON.