Haunting

Derek Caines

A Space Windows

May 31 – July 30, 2011

Curated by: Henrjeta Mece

Copresented by: This is Paradise Collective

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Presented by A Space Gallery and This is Paradise Collective as part of the Paradise Now program. Paradise Now is extended programming that connects the dots from past to present. Art exhibitions, videos, performances, maps and archives will link Toronto’s unique downtown culture today with the queen west art scene of the ‘80s, celebrated in This Is Paradise at MoCCA (Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art).

Places disappear; oral histories fade away; only images remain, to haunt the present. In a poster format the silkscreen prints of Derek Caines present a vivid record of some of the seminal events that took place in downtown Toronto three decades ago – marking an era of triumph and tragedy. The prints disclose themselves as ghosts of the past recounting the stories of the time and reinstating its collective memory. In a mixture of mythological creatures, Inuit art, and popular culture these artworks project a distinct style, revealing a kind of beauty that is uncanny.

Biographies

Derek Caines was born in Newfoundland. The artist studied art at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax. As a print-maker and painter Derek was an active artist in the stream of the downtown Toronto art scene during the 1980’s. In the music sector, he was a vocalist and saxophone player in the art band, Dog Sound. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Toronto, St. John’s, Ottawa, New York, West Berlin, and Zurich. He has also created an array of limited edition prints and commissioned posters.