Cherney celebrates moments in time

“For the past 10 years, I have been creating abstracted still-lifes that reflect my sense of joy and fun,” says the artist — and nowhere is this more evident than in her current exhibition in The Gallery at Victoria Hall, entitled simply New Paintings.

Cherney's large acrylic works on canvas put a modern spin on the Fauvist ideas put forth by Matisse and his contemporaries a century ago. Bold primary colours dominate the exhibition, drawing the viewer’s eye to various points around the room at once.

Cherney describes her paintings as “moments in time,” rendered in vibrant colours that have been loosely and expressively brushed onto the canvas. These captured moments, she says, can be “a canoe ride at dusk on a calm lake, or the still life scenes that naturally arrange themselves on a kitchen table.”

With a keen eye for composition and form, Cherney pursues the ideal, which she describes as “a moment where natural beauty overwhelms us…The large scale and thick layers of paint are intended to translate this awe and joy.

“My work is about celebration, inspired by our daily routines,” says the artist, who earned a BFA degree in Painting and Drawing from Concordia University. “The wonky perspectives and shapes and vivid colours mirror the mostly happy chaos of our daily lives.”



• 'New Paintings' by Nina Cherney, a solo exhibition at The Gallery at Victoria Hall, 4626 Sherbrooke St. W., continues through March 15. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the week and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. For more information, call 514-989-5226.