Not many would associate Capital Ex with an art exhibition, but inside Hall A, adjoining the Capital Casino and behind the craft vendors, is a garden art exhibition.
Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts is prominently on display, and if you weave in and around the faux stone garden, you'll find diorama sculptures, an art "snack" vending machine, along with 2D works on sale from the centre--which continues to foster and nurture artists with development disabilities.
Hanging overhead on several metal gates is Ted Kerr's work from the Shell Scotford residency; The Paint Spot has set up on one side of the room with a drop-in craft centre; large scale "organic" art made from blueberry oils and crushed diamonds took up several panels in the middle of the space; and Phil Alain's Night of Artists round out the rest of the space.
There was little lighting and the general atmosphere was hollow and rather depressing, but encountering unknown artist Myka Jones was all that was all that was needed to salvage the entire experience. Aside from the usual fray of dime-a-dozen still lifes of flower petals and wine bottles, Jones textural swipes of energy and muted colours continually drew in the eye. Extremely simple, the works communicated an unmeticulous and joyous sense of abandonment to all structure and form. (The ideas may not be new, but rarely does work made in this vein reflect the theories they are based upon.)
With no background information whatsoever available for Jones, the only assumption can be made that this artist is extremely young in career or has only just began to exhibit after years of seclusion. A guess would be made for the former, as Jones' pieces emanate something pure (a quality that usually fades with time).
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