Tim Whiten: Elemental Fire
September 15 – December 2, 2023
Guest curated by Liz Ikiriko
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 14, 6–9pm
AGYU is honored to announce our upcoming Fall exhibition, Tim Whiten: Elemental Fire, which brings together over 14 cultural objects from the past four decades of Tim Whiten’s prolific career, including works in glass, works on paper, and a new site-specific installation created specifically for this exhibition. Whiten’s enduring 50-plus year practice has been clearly and consistently focused on the known and unknowable; on practical and ephemeral aspects that fundamentally propel and challenge human existence and consciousness.
Elemental Fire, guest curated by Liz Ikiriko, considers how the material transformations of fire appear in Whiten’s work as forms of alchemy, risk, play, and energetic power. Often alluding to notions of time and faith through histories of storytelling and spirituality (ranging from prehistoric, Greek, and Roman mythology through to Kabbalist and Buddhist traditions), Whiten’s work returns us to consider primary questions of our bodies, our presence, and our value in this current moment.
Elemental Fire is part of an expanded, multi-venue retrospective and collaborative publication celebrating Whiten’s extensive career, developed as a partnership with the Art Gallery of Peterborough, Art Gallery of York University, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, and McMaster Museum of Art from 2022 to 2023. This series of exhibitions shares the nomenclature “Elemental” and is thematically united by the classical elements of air, water, earth, and fire — a reference to Whiten’s interest in alchemical practices. AGYU is pleased to present the final exhibition of this series… (AGYU: Press Release)
To find the full list of programming go to the AGYU website here.
Featured Image: Tim Whiten, Untitled, 1971. Graphite on paper, 153.5×188 cm. York University collection.