A tangle of land and flesh spill over the edge of Derek Liddington’s canvases to consume the walls of the Carnegie Room. Their horizon was mountain, their distance reveals features the artist’s most recent explorations in painting that draw on his interest in embodiment, perceptual transformation, allegory and the residue of art historical images. Lobbed heads, fragmented hands and broken horizons move across the space of the gallery and the paintings themselves. Their horizon was mountain, their distance reveals is an exhibition that asks us to move slowly and look closely at what lies beneath surfaces.
This presentation is a satellite exhibition of Seeds to Sow, a temporary exhibition of public art presented by the City of Barrie from September 27 to November 8, 2024. Seeds to Sow features six installations of site-specific artwork that will change Barrie’s landscape. The artworks draw on local ecologies, history, and stories. The act of planting a seed is a powerful symbol of hope and potential. It connects us to ongoing cycles of seasonality, an inheritance from our past and an intention for the future.
Generously supported by
Anne Menzies
Joan Lehman
Barb Robillard
Derek Liddington, born in 1981, lives and works in Toronto, Canada.
After obtaining his BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia where he focused on video and performance, Liddington completed an MFA at Western University in 2007. Liddington’s work holds a continuous interest in cultural memory and its iterations through abstraction, representation and painterly forms of visual language.
Liddington’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including performances in Athens, Greece and Onagawa, Japan, and select presentations in Toronto (AGO), Madrid (ARCO), Berlin (Art Berlin Contemporary), and New York (Frieze Art Fair, NADA). Liddington has had solo presentations at SAAG (Lethbridge, Alberta), AKA Artist Run Center (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), AGYU (Ontario, Canada). Form 2022-24 his solo exhibition The trees weep, the mountain still, the bodies rust toured to Musée d’art de Joliette (2022), Richmond Art Gallery (2022) and most recently Contemporary Calgary (2024).
A central part of Liddington’s practice is his use of residencies as a means of developing ideas of space and place. These have included residencies at the AGYU/York University (Toronto, ON), AKA artist-run (Saskatoon, SK) and Onagawa AIR (Japan). Most recently Liddington was the recipient of the prestigious Glenfiddich Artist Residency in Dufftown, Scotland. Liddington has been the recipient of numerous public and foundation grants, including support from the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts. Liddington currently practices in Toronto, ON.
Liddington’s work is represented by: Daniel Faria Gallery (Toronto)
Liddington would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Katie Lawson is a curator and writer based in Toronto. She has curated exhibitions at Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery; Images Festival; Toronto Biennial of Art; MacLaren Art Centre; the Art Museum at the University of Toronto; the Art Gallery of Ontario; Y+ Contemporary, and RYMD Reykjavik. Lawson was awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation Fogo Island Arts Young Curator Residency in 2023. She is a PhD candidate in Art and Visual Culture at Western University and a team member of the Centre for Sustainable Curating.
