MAY KARP & DOUGLAS BENTHAM

We are pleased to announce an exhibition of works by Canadian artist May Karp at the Moore Gallery, 80 Spadina Avenue suite 404 in Toronto. May Karp: STREETSPEAKS will open at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 6, 2008.

This September, in her sixth one-woman exhibition, Toronto photographer May Karp continues a love affair that began 30 years ago in Paris on the banks of the Seine River. What Ms. Karp saw for the first time was “graffiti that was not scrawl... “I found the rounded shapes lyrical and sensual. It was very pleasant. As a result over the ensuing years whenever I traveled I kept my eyes open in the hope of finding more good graffiti. I also began reading about it in order to understand what I had seen in Paris and about its genesis.” Her latest exhibition represents two years of Ms. Karp’s travels through Spain, France, Portugal, the Canary Islands, Miami, New York, and Toronto, documenting the incredible graffiti that exists in each city through her photographs. In some places, the art is appreciated and encouraged by local authorities, with city space specially allotted to this artistic expression. In other places, it remains an outlaw art form, soon erased, with photos as the sole testament to their existence. To that end, May Karp is an archivist of the most ephemeral of art. Her work bears witness to a vast array of masterpieces produced by “art orphans” from around the globe. Some of these works were only in existence for a few hours. Ms. Karp has successfully immortalized the incredible work of graffiti artists in her photographs, and proudly displays this form of communication and expression which she defends and supports.

This exhibition is dedicated to the late Dusty Cohl, a very close and personal friend of May Karp.

On view In the East Gallery: Douglas Bentham – Stopping By Woods

A new series of abstract sculpture by Saskatoon artist Douglas Bentham is revealed at the Moore Gallery in September, launching the gallery’s 2008–09 season. These brass and stainless steel works demonstrate Bentham’s ongoing beauty quest, and his belief that it is the language of abstraction that can best articulate this elusive end. Here, the artist draws upon metaphorical similarities to modern poetry, specifically to Robert Frost’s. The sculptures are playful, penetrating, casual, and yet profound. The exhibition offers a range of scales, from intimate table pieces to a monumental, freestanding work. Intriguing and all the while mysterious, the mood of these new sculptures emerges as if from a kind of frozen silence, articulated through the notion that a particular place can suggest ideas unlimited by space.

THE ARTISTS WILL BE PRESENT FOR THE EXHIBITION OPENING SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2008 FROM 2:00 TO 6:00 P.M. THE EXHIBITION CONTINUES TO SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2007.

For more information regarding this exhibition please contact Sandra Schellenberg at the Moore Gallery (416) 504-3914. The gallery is located at 80 Spadina Avenue (south of Adelaide), Suite 404, Toronto. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Check out our website: www.mooregallery.com