The exhibition of Montreal artist Vivian Gottheim’s work at York’s Glendon Gallery, originally scheduled from mid-November to mid-December, will now open on Jan. 13, 2009, with the Soft Shapes Series, a collection of her work spanning from 2002 to 2008.
Soft Shapes is composed of an ensemble of graphite drawings on paper as well as scanned and enlarged drawings on photographic paper. These drawings are invented or appropriated shapes from signs and symbols present within the visual inventory of our culture. What these images have in common is that they all belong to a type of iconography which reminds us of the multi-faceted nature of human representation.
“The basis for Vivian Gottheim’s work, shown at Glendon Gallery, is a study of our culture’s forms and symbols,” says Marc Audette, curator of the exhibit. “The artist proposes a philosophical approach, which turns away radically from the superficial use of product symbols and brands. In this exhibition, the term ‘logo’ regains its original nobility in Greek etymology: the word, the reason, the meaning of things.”
The public is invited to meet Gottheim at the Glendon Gallery on Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 5:30pm for a guided visit of the exhibit, followed by the opening reception from 6 to 8pm. This is an opportunity to speak to the artist of these strong and sensual images which explore the endless heteromorphism of the human body.
Soft Shapes Series 2002-2008 will be on display at the Glendon Gallery from Jan. 13 to Feb. 6, 2009. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Friday, noon to 3pm; and Saturday, 1 to 4pm. For more information about the exhibition or the gallery, visit the Glendon Gallery Web site or call 416-487-6721.
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Above: A gallery goer at Vivian Gottheim’s exhibit
More about Vivian Gottheim
A Brazilian-born artist from the city of São Paulo, Gottheim now lives and works in Montreal. Established in Quebec since 1985, she has received grants from the Brazilian government and from the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec. Gottheim earned a doctorate of arts from New York 
University and a masters of fine arts from Syracuse University, New York. Her artworks have been exhibited in Brazil, Quebec, the US, Germany, Italy and Portugal and belong to public collections, including the Collection Prêt d’oeuvres d’art of the Quebec’s National Museum of Fine Art, the National Bank of Canada and Loto-Québec. She has lectured in Canada, the US and Brazil, and has published on art in Brazil, Germany and France. Works by Gottheim have been on display in several Montreal public schools as part of Quebec’s policy of integration of the arts into architecture and the environment.
Submitted to YFile by Glendon communications officer Marika Kemeny