Toronto Now
Libby Hague: Sympathetic Connections
June 11 – September 11, 2011

Opening reception: Saturday, June 11, 2-5pm, in the Young Gallery beside Frank Restaurant, with the artist in attendance.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is pleased to announce that the Toronto Now series continues with an exhibition by local artist Libby Hague.

For her Toronto Now exhibition, Libby Hague will animate the Young Gallery by connecting paper and print elements across the architecture of the space. Representational and abstract forms will be combined in a three-dimensional narrative that describes the natural world and our often troubled relationship to it. While the natural forms of Hague's woodblock prints and paper sculptures appear outwardly light-hearted, closer observation reveals a nuclear power plant – with all its impending allusions – looming on the landscape's horizon.

Inspired by anime, comic books and science fiction, Hague's playful, yet often foreboding narratives give physical form to imaginative worlds. Her sculptural manipulation of print creates environments for investigation that hover between dystopia and utopia – spaces that present both inevitable disaster and possible solution.

About the artist:
Libby Hague is a Toronto-based visual artist who works primarily in print installation. Her recent exhibitions include We were young and still believed in heaven, Galerie Circulaire, Montreal, 2010; tiens-mois tres fort, La Centrale, Montreal, 2010; being natural, Durham Art Gallery, 2010; and One step at a time, Art Gallery of Mississauga, 2009. She is featured in the British book, Installations & Experimental Printmaking by Alexia Tala and won the 2009 Open Studio National Printmaking Award. She is represented in many public collections including the Donovan Collection at U of T.

Toronto Now spotlights local artists and offers the public an opportunity to see exciting contemporary art projects free of charge. The series inhabits the Young Gallery, a free, street-level space adjacent to Frank restaurant, facing Dundas Street.

Toronto Now is generously supported by The Contemporary Circle. Contemporary programming at the AGO is supported the Canada Council for the Arts.

Photo caption: Libby Hague, studio study for Sympathetic Connections, 2011, woodcut and reverse woodcut, modified paper, 195.6 x 152.4 x 53.3 cm © 2011 Libby Hague

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