Joe Fafard & Russell Yuristy at Cube Gallery

Having

Joe Fafard & Russell Yuristy

Tuesday, Oct. 16th, to Sunday, Dec. 2nd, 2012

Joe Fafard & Russell Yuristy in a Major Exhibition at Cube Gallery

They are allies, champions of art and fast friends in spite of a geographic divide of several thousand miles. In October, two lions of the Canadian art world - Joe Fafard and Russell Yuristy -- will share the embrace of a combined show at Cube Gallery, 1285 Wellington St. West. Ottawa

"Russ gets the walls, I do the floor," is how internationally acclaimed sculptor Joe Fafard defined the upcoming show with long-time pal and equally renowned artist, Russell Yuristy.
Fafard and Yuristy have known each other since the summer of 1968 when the two were art instructors at the University of Saskatchewan Regina campus. Yuristy now calls Ottawa home while Fafard lives in Lumsden, Saskatchewan. Decades later, the two prairie natives also share space in Canada's National Gallery.

Yuristy says his friend Fafard remains, "a true original." "I love Joe's work for its honesty, directness and inventiveness," says Yuristy. "He shows sensibility for his subjects and creativity in his use of colour and whichever medium - clay, ink, paint, bronze, or steel - he chooses. His admiration for certain artists and their influence on him is clear - like Van Gogh, Cézanne and others - but this is used to help him find his own way. Joe is unique in contemporary art for his energy and for following his own passion, rather than the fad and fashions of the art business."

Fafard says Yuristy's work continues to "move and inspire" him. "It is not easy to say why one likes such and such an artwork," Fafard says. "But, when a work moves you, you know it. It is akin to a feeling of love. In Russ' work, I can point to spontaneity, freshness, intensity, innocence, fearlessness and commitment as the ingredients that radiate from his paintings. It is a total aesthetic experience for me to look at Russ's work. That is why I always have some of his work around, in my home and my studio."

Cube Gallery curator, Don Monet, recognized the bond between the two and knew it would translate into an "epic" combined show. "I visited Joe's retrospective at the National Gallery in 2008 and saw his wonderful sculpture of Russell," Monet says. "These two artists are so very strongly tied - to the land, to the prairie, to ecology, to their process - and of course to each other. However they both had very different types of work. In our large gallery space Joe literally takes the floor with some 30 sculptures while Russ owns the walls with his prints and paintings."

Fafard & Yuristy, together at Cube Gallery, from October 16 to Dec. 2, 2012

Meet the artists in an exclusive afternoon at Cube (patrons receiving this email only)
Wed Oct 24th, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

See web site for photos from the exhibit:

PHOTOS

For more information on this show, or to schedule a private viewing, please call Cube Gallery
at 613-728-1750.

Cube Gallery, OTTAWA

1285 Wellington St. W. Ottawa, K1Y 3A8
613 728 1750 Cubegallery.ca
Tues-Fri 10:30 - 6pm Sat.-Sun 11-5pm Open late the First Thursday of every month

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