Chris Ahlers: Urban Systems
October 18, 2007 to March 10, 2008
Guelph abstractionist Chris Ahlers is first and foremost concerned with blank space: the naked canvas marked, mapped, drawn, demarcated with circles of paint. For the exhibition Urban Systems, Ahlers created an entirely new body of work, including one canvas commissioned for the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre’s permanent collection which will be unveiled in the exhibition. Ahlers’ interrogates his canvases, his approach as much archaeological as philosophical. Comprising thick layers of paint embedded with found objects and other materials, Ahlers’ works are a metaphor for the disorienting global landscape through which we wade.
Chris Ahlers was born in Toronto in 1968. He pursued instruction in visual art, mass media, and the social sciences, and studied film at Ryerson Polytechnic University (Toronto) for three years, focusing on experimental and documentary disciplines. Ahlers returned to painting in 1990 and began showing in Toronto. In 1992, he moved to Guelph to start an art supply business with family. Since then, Ahlers has shown extensively in Guelph and the surrounding area, and participated in numerous juried and group exhibitions in Toronto, Guelph, and Elora. Ahlers draws inspiration and support from family, colleagues, many friends, and his contacts through the art materials world.
The exhibition and catalogue, which includes an essay by exhibition curator Dawn Owen, was supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial support of The Guelph Community Foundation, which is a public foundation serving the people of Guelph and Wellington. The Foundation builds permanently endowed charitable funds for the changing need and opportunities of the community and provides grants to eligible charitable organizations in arts and culture, education, health, environment, recreation and social service sectors.
Opening Reception
Thursday, October 18 at 7 PM
Artist’s Talk with Chris Ahlers
Tuesday, October 30 at noon
Images:
Left: Untitled, 2007 (mixed media on canvas)
Centre: Untitled, 2007 (mixed media on canvas)