401 Richmond Update

Spotlight

(About Gareth Bate 2007 Winner of the 401 Richmond Career-Launcher Prize)
Erin MacKeen, Spring 2008
Curtesy of 401 Richmond Update
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401 Richmond Update
Spotlight

(About Gareth Bate 2007 Winner of the 401 Richmond Career-Launcher Prize)
Erin MacKeen, Spring 2008
Curtesy of 401 Richmond Update.
Return to Press Menu

 

WHO
Gareth Bate, Artist (Basement Studio S17)
www.garethbate.com

HOW I GOT HERE
I arrived at 401 as the recipient of the 2007 401 Richmond Career-Launcher Prize. This includes the use of studio 260 for a year gien by Margaret Zeidler to one OCAD graduate. I had an amazing time in a beautiful studio overlooking the courtyard. The roof garden and plants in my window were a huge inspiration to me. The building is stunning. I'm really grateful for the experience and my work has grown a lot. I've become good friends with John Brown and Matt Janisse across the hall. Luckly I was able to stay in the building and share Studio S17 in the basement with Betsy Canfield.

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
I work in painting, photography, performance and video. While in the studio I filled it with grass gleaned from the countryside. This lead to a performance called Penance where I crawled along Queen St. W. for two hours with a field of grass on my back. It was extremely paintful and tiring. This piece is intended to represent a bizarre act of self-punishment and humiliation in penance for environmental destruction. The video is on my website. Gleaning in the fields inspired the Lament landscape painting series. I was trying to create a mood of sorrow and loss in in relation to the natural environments that are special to me. The paintings felt melancholic but also filled with a sense of hope.

Other interests include writing and reading about science, politics and art. I work freelance as a web designer, artist studio assistant, and class assistant at OCAD.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
I have a solo exhibition at Glendon Gallery at York University's Glendon Campus opening October 7th. It is called Penance & Devotion and will feature my performance video and painting series. Curated by Guest Curator Colette Laliberte. In January 2009 I will be the visua artist for a collaborative dance project in Montreal called Corps Interieur (The Innter Body) with David Pressault Danse at the Monument National.