Trust

This is a show that brings together three diverse Canadian painters: Robbie Munro, Jack Lloyd and Fiona Ruth. Within the reality of city and rural life, this show demonstrates the human relationship (to the urban landscape and aims to display a range of personal experiences) one has with their surroundings. Daily life plays a key role in the conception of these works. From the ordinary to extraordinary, through active observation and appreciation for little interactions, a painting immortalizes what might go unnoticed or simply pass you by. (From a meaningful conversation with your hairdresser, to gazing at the night sky through electrical wires, to an afternoon spent strolling around downtown with a friend,) these subtle moments may not seem noteworthy, but it is within this simplicity that beauty can be found.

Living in a Canadian city like Montreal, with oscillating climates, our surroundings can at times be unsympathetic and bleak, leaving us feeling cold and isolated. In Fiona Ruth’s work, we see how she takes winter environments and arranges them into something peacefully warm.

In Robbie Munro’s work, we see a series of situations shared by two people. In each situation, the characters seem to be encapsulated within a present task at hand or exchange. Whether they are aware or not the physical space they are found in becomes a driving emotional factor of the exchange. These are conversations of light and dark.


Robbie Munro is a painter born and raised in Montreal, QC with a background in film studies from Concordia University. He uses traditional oil painting methods to develop works exploring themes of the surreal, the uncanny and the unconscious mind:

“To date, my artistic practice has revolved around the translation of visual storytelling, navigating surreal, liminal and unusual situations that seamlessly intertwine with everyday life and dreams. By meshing the conscious and unconscious found in personal experience and/or cultural images, I am trying to deconstruct mental images into paintings, and investigate the intangible - the ineffable. In exploring these concepts, I try to tap into a shared human experience between myself and the viewer.”

Jack Lloyd is a cartoonist and painter that uses a variety of mediums to create works that blend comics, illustration and painting. Born in Calgary, AB. Now living and working in Montréal, QC. He takes inspiration from the nostalgic humor within old animated cartoons and comics as well as observing and viewing his everyday surroundings.

“My practice revolves around storytelling. I get a lot of inspiration for my work from experiences as well as things that I see, whether it be things on the streets, people, animals, architecture, signs, comics, cartoons, nature, etc. I am in awe of my surroundings and how everything and all of us exist and interact with each other.”

Fiona Ruth is a Canadian painter based in Montreal. Pulling intuitively from her environment and lived experiences, her work explores landscape, gesture and motion. She holds a BFA from Concordia University in Art History and Studio Arts (Montreal) which she completed in 2022.

“Feeling at times like we have no control over the passage of time and the changes it brings, painting allows me to indulge in suspended time through the isolation of a moment. The work blurs the line between figuration and abstraction resulting in mysterious, dreamlike realms. In these painted worlds, the abstracted imagery leaves room for the unknown. Just as a memory is not cataloged uniformly in a person’s mind, the interpretations of the work are infinite.”

19/04/2024 - 26/04/2024