Durham Art Gallery: Comtemporary Canadian Art

Exhibition: Curiosity House

Lorette C. Luzajic will show her collage-based paintings at Curiosity House Books and Gallery in Creemore.

Lorette C. Luzajic has channeled her active imagination and insatiable curiosity about everything into collage-based mixed media art. Her work draws from “art, literature, cinema, history, religion, and mythology” and she “explores human creativity, the pursuit of beauty; freedom and oppression; human darkness; religion and its intersection with imagination and morality; grief, addiction, mental illness, and the fractured family; and the human need for heroes, idols, and god.”  This eclectic and omnivorous fascination with such complex genres and themes results in an art maker who is as interested in text, narrative and exposition as she is in happenings and visual art.

Luzajic sees her world as an idea fountain and dedicates her art to “the beautiful absurdity of existence.” Diagnosed with a mood disorder she celebrates the vividness of her highs, and sees the truth in her depressions. It is upon these fluctuations of her fiercely curious mind that her creativity flourishes.

Her exhibition at Curiosity House embodies her wide-ranging interests, whimsical style, twisted humour and unexpected narratives that emerge from both playful and planned juxtapositions she utilizes in her mixed media art. Each work is assembled from an unrestricted assortment of tools, themes, genres, and inspirations. Unorthodox colour combinations; cultural references and sampling; number, letter, word and phrase fragments; skewed geometries; layering; and free-form flows and smudges of paint make up her canvases that are clever, evocative, lively, sublime and beautiful. The works attract with their arresting physical appearance and the playful cheekiness with which Luzajic names them.

Lorette C. Luzajic has a B.A. in Journalism from Ryerson University, and her writing has appeared in many online and print publications. She is the author of eleven books, an eclectic mixture of volumes of poetry, non-fiction, and short stories. Her art has been shown in Canada, the US, and Australia. Raised in the Niagara Region, she currently lives in Toronto.

Curiosity House Books & Gallery
178 Mill Street Creemore
705-466-3400


Exhibitions


Real or Perceived

Sept. 7 - Nov. 3
Opening: Saturday, Sept. 7, 2-4
Durham Art Gallery


Altered Images

Sept. 7 - Nov. 3
Opening: Saturday, Sept. 7, 2-4
Durham Art Gallery


Resident Artists

Sept. 27 - Nov. 3
Opening: Friday, Sept. 27, 7-8
Durham Art Gallery


Cripping Cyberspace

Sept. 27 - Dec. 20
Opening: Friday, Sept. 27
Canadian Journal of Disability Studies (online)


Curiosity House

Sept. 6 - Oct. 3
Opening: Friday, Sept. 6, 5-7
Curiosity House Books and Art (Creemore)