December 18 - 29, 2004

Bible Fish

Oleg Lipchenko

Opening Reception: Saturday December 18, 4-7pm

"My work centers on things which are invisible visually, but play roles not less than what visual shapes and forms do, and while many would consider my creation anything but realistic, I find it Realistic myself, as it is in its true original meaning - to present an existence".

December 4 - 16, 2004

4 Artists, 2 Generations, 1 Family

Mo Jamal, Mirak Jamal, Shahla E. Jamal, Maneli Jamal

Opening Reception: Saturday December 4, 4-7pm

The Jamal family have been a part of a politically eventful past that has lead them through several countries. They have recently migrated to Canada to put a bleak past behind, and to look onward to a stable future. With this exhibition, the family will share their diverse range of art for the first time as a group.

November 13 - December 2, 2004

Enchanted Dreams

Nasser Ovissi

Opening Reception: Saturday November 13, 4-7pm

Ovissi will present his most recent works of art embodying his signature designs of the horse, woman and pomegranate. He is an artist well-known worldwide and in the USA who will travel to Toronto from Washington DC for his premier show at Arta Gallery. Nasser Ovissi is one of Iran’s most renowned and successful living contemporary artists. He is one of the few pre-Islamic Revolution artists who achieved success prior and after the revolution.

October 30 - November 12, 2004

Strata and Branches

Craig Beal and Bernadette Badali

Opening Reception: Saturday October 30, 4-7pm

New works by Craig Beal and Bernadette Badali, husband and wife artist team, feature their individual paintings and their collaborative pieces. Beal works with the natural flow and movement of the paint, whereas Badali uses fibers to create a three dimensional aspect to her paintings from nature.

October 12 - 28, 2004

Contemporary Art of St. Petersburg

Opening Reception: Saturday October 16, 4-7pm

Arta Gallery presents a captivating collection of contemporary Russian oil paintings by both acclaimed and emerging Russian artists working within the vibrant St. Petersburg art community. Don’t miss this extraordinary exhibit, featuring works unusual for their vivid colors, rich textures and intriguing subject matters.

August 28 - September 10, 2004

The Organic Being

Eric Laurin, Eva Lewarne and A.l. Heenan.

Opening Reception: Saturday August 28, 4-7pm

Group exhibition.

July 24 - August 8, 2004

Being There, Volume 2

Sam Shahsahabi

Opening Reception: Saturday July 24, 3-

My dissatisfaction with reality has made its reappearance for some time in my practice. In Being There series, like my old mural size drawings I turn my attention to what has not been. Habitually I sense no explanation can illustrate the mirage in front of us, only an arena in which silence and conspiracy are hand to hand.

Consequently, I feel liable to repeat myself with different disguised to comment on my feeble being. On the level of perception, this need for repetition justifies itself in the process of achieving Baudelaire’s “stereotype” . But there is another and more significant reason for my semiotic polyphony, which is linked to the struggle against the feeling of psychological and social alienation. Being There defines this type of alienation as a phenomenon caused by a process of social degeneration, an ineluctable crisis of a society at once unable to die or renew itself.

July 3 - 16, 2004

Work

Kurt Rostek

Opening Reception: Saturday July 3, 4-7

Work is an exhibit of the artists’ exploration into large scale painted constructions that are routered with spiritual depth beneath layers of vivid colour in compositions both representational and abstract. He explores the worlds of literature, music and his own personal path with both skill and intuitive insight.

These works are the culmination of 6 years of WORK… and are expressed as Work. His labour as an artist takes on a very physical presence in these heavy painted constructions of plywood and paint.

June 19 - July 1, 2004

About Face

Nelson French

Opening Reception: Saturday June 19, 4-

Arta Gallery presents a unique series / installation of 'autonomic' photo-based life masks by Nelson Osborne French. About Face deals with race, identity, attraction, and authenticity.

June 5 - 18, 2004

Iran Revisited

Aleksandar Otovic

Opening Reception: Saturday June 5, 4-7

These photographs taken by Aleksandar Otovic are a part of Ivana Otovic's (his daughter) collection. This exhibition celebrates the amazing set of images of Iran taken from 1958 to 1961.

Aleksandar, originally from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, was a treasurer to the Yugoslav Embassy in Tehran in 1958. Over the course of his three-year stay in Iran he has photographed almost every site he has visited. Today, his photographic collection extends to hundreds of images that display tombs and palaces, turquoise tiled mosques and exotic bazaars.

With the help of Aydin Aghdashloo, a well-known artist in Iran, Ivana Otovic carefully curated the show in hopes of portraying a visual nostalgia and timelessness of the aged images, as well as fascinating beauty of Persian culture. These 46-years old images of mosques in Isfahan, gardens in Shiraz, ruins of Persepolis and precarious roads of time leading to the shores of Caspian Sea are true archival treasures.

May 29 - June 4, 2004

Form & Concept

Amir Sheikhvand

Opening Reception: Saturday May 29, 4-7

The artist is known for his conceptual jewelry. His works have been exhibited at many art galleries in Ontario, such as Varley Art Gallery, Mc Master Museum of Art, The John Thompson Gallery, Harbourfront Centre and Craft Gallery (OCC). In this exhibit, he will present works in which he connects simple forms with individual concepts.

May 15 - 28, 2004

Essence

Carol Maybin

Opening Reception: Saturday May 15, 4-7

The true nature of northern Saskatchewan landscape exists in a moment. A storm approaching while the sun sets is only one distinctive feature of its essence.

May 1 - 14, 2004

The Golden Reign of Spain

Orah Buck

Opening Reception: Sunday May 2, 1-4pm

This ambitious, unique biblical work teams poetry of many prominent Spanish Jews (900 to 1250 C.E.) with images taken at the National Museum in Madrid and the Barcelona Rare Books Library. From a technical perspective, pre-Gutenberg illuminated manuscripts have been enhanced by today's latest digital processes.

April 17 - July 30, 2004

Paintings

Natalia Laluque

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 17,

Ukrainian born artist unveils her first paintings show at Toronto art scene. She says: "One can find ones world reflected in ordinary daily occurrences.Every time you leave your home you may find yourself in a different place. If you open your eyes wide, the way to this new place will be clear without fail."

April 3 - 16, 2004

Country Reflections

Orah Buck

Opening Reception: Saturday April 3, 4-

The artist considers her latest photography collection literally a window to rural life.

The images reflect the artist's love of nature and country life. The rusticity of the photographs is enhanced by the framing technique - antique wooden windows have been cleaned and stripped down to their natural state.

The artist has created an optical illusion; instead of viewing a photograph, you feel you are witnessing a real-life, real-time event through a window.

March 13 - April 2, 2004

A Passage To East

Sirak Melkonian, Ahmad Sakhavarz, Mahmood Meraji, Farshid Razavi, Mehrdad Shoghi, Shahriar Izadi, Sam Anvari.

Opening Reception: Saturday March 13, 4

A group of seven Iranian-Canadian artists share the experience of their individual journeys after years away from their Iranian homeland.

February 25 - March 12, 2004

The Spirit of the Landscape

Peter Favot

Opening Reception: Saturday February 28

His abstract paintings are his impressions of light touching the landscape. He raws heavily on his experience and his respect for the land and nature, attained through the years as a practicing Architect.

February 21 - 21, 2004

Children of Zahra

Charity Antique & Art Auction

Opening Reception: Saturday February 21

To benefit the Children of Zahra, a non-profit, non-governmental organization coming to the rescue of destitute single-mothers and their children in Iran. Especially urgent is the cause since the Bam earthquake.

January 31 - February 20, 2004

My First Vision of Toronto

Shahriar Izadi

Opening Reception: Saturday January 31,

Designer & photographer exhibits his first vision of Toronto with 20 photo prints and audio-visual slide show. Although known as an architect, photography has always been Izadi's main thinking tool. He has created a dozen slide shows from the European, Middle Eastern and North American cities to which he has travelled.

January 10 - 29, 2004

David Meekison

David Meekison

Opening Reception: Saturday January 10,

Abstract expressionist works, rich with color and texture and comprised of elaborate patterns.