Sometimes the saddest songs are the most inspiring. Rather than sink into guilt and despair at the state of the world, I try to find beauty in the tragic. As an artist I choose to believe that making art will somehow have an impact. It will make people feel, think and consider. It will motivate and affirm a sense of hope.

In November 2007 I crawled on my stomach with a reconstructed field of grass on my back along Toronto’s Queen Street West from Soho Street to Spadina Avenue. I then crawled backwards. After two hours I had to give up. It was painful and tiring. The performance video Penance is intended to represent a bizarre act of self-punishment and humiliation for the guilt of environmental destruction. I see this act as half serious and half ridiculous.

Reconstructing the body piece out of grass gleaned from the countryside was itself a reflective act. Agnès Varda’s beautiful film The Gleaners and I was an inspiration for the gleaning process. The Penance video moves back and forth between the agonizing performance, the bewildered response of onlookers, and contemplative scenes of gleaning grass in the countryside. The experience of being in fields inspired the “Lament” painting series.

“Lament” is a song of sorrow and loss, an existential contemplation on our place within nature and our effect on the world. It evolved out of a desire to paint the places that are special to me like Grenadier Pond in Toronto’s High Park, and Kings County in Prince Edward Island. However, the paintings became something different. The result was often haunted and lonely. For me, a strange melancholy permeated each painting, a human presence felt but never seen. Despite the darkness, winding pathways continually emerged in a completely unconscious way.

If we value our environment so intensely will we make difficult choices of self-control? Or will we instead cut the tops off mountains while “waiting for the miracle”? I value this world because I believe this is all there will ever be.

Penance Credits

Performer: Gareth Bate, Grass Body Reconstruction: Gareth Bate, Street Filming: Saglara Kitchikova, Studio & Country Filming: Gareth Bate, Editing: Gareth Bate, Street Still Photos: Carolyn Dinsmore, Saglara Kitchikova, Studio Still Photos: Gareth Bate Country Still Photos: Gareth Bate, Carolyn Dinsmore, Special Thanks: Georgina Neville, John Brown

Gareth Bate: Address: 327 Lippincott St. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2P6.

Gareth Bate is an emerging artist living in Toronto. He works in painting, performance, photography, installation and video. In 2007 he won the 401 Richmond Career-Launcher Prize, a 500 square foot studio given to one OCAD University graduate for a full year. In that studio he also ran a gallery space for the year called Gallery 260. While at OCAD Gareth also won The Ron Shuebrook Award for painting, Edmund Morris Scholarship for Academic Achievement, and the George A. Reid Award for Art Writing. In 2005 Gareth graduated from Central Tech’s Adult Art program where he won Outstanding Student in the 3-year program for two years in a row. Gareth was active in the student body. He founded and continues to run the Central Tech Art Alumni Network.

Gareth recently received an Ontario Arts Council Visual Arts Emerging Grant for a project in January 2009 where he will be the visual artist for a performance with David Pressault Dance Company in Montreal. He has exhibited at Bau-Xi Gallery, Loop Gallery, Gallery 44, Arcadia Gallery, Nuit Blanche, Queen West Art Crawl and the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. In 2007 Gareth founded the facebook group “Everyone’s An Art Critic: Toronto” where artists can review each other’s shows and discuss the art scene. Gareth works freelance as a web designer and as a class assistant at OCAD University. His website is www.garethbate.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto, September 1st, 2008 - New Season at York University’s Glendon Gallery opens October 7th, with Penance & Devotion by emerging Toronto based artist Gareth Bate with a artist guided tour at 5:30 PM and an Opening Reception from 6 to 8 PM.

How Do You Cope With Environmental Guilt?

Would You Crawl Along The Street With A Field On Your Back In Penance?

In Nov. 2007 Gareth Bate crawled along Toronto’s Queen Street West from Soho Street to Spadina Avenue with a field of grass on his back. It was painful and tiring. This bizarre act of self-punishment and humiliation for the guilt of environmental destruction has been captured in the performance video Penance. The exhibition also features Bate’s large-scale paintings. His “Lament” series deals with a sense of personal sorrow, loss and hope in relation to the destruction of the natural world.

Exhibition Title: Gareth Bate, Penance & Devotion

Curator: Colette Laliberté

Dates: October 7 – November 1, 2008

Opening Reception:  Oct. 7th. Guide tour at 5:30 PM.

Location: Glendon Gallery, Glendon College, York University, 2275 Bayview Ave. Toronto.

Directions: Yonge Subway to Lawrence, 124 Sunnybrook Bus short ride to Glendon Campus.

Gareth Bate’s Website: www.garethbate.com

Gallery Website: www.glendon.yorku.ca/gallery

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Friday: noon – 3:00 pm - Saturday: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Bio: Gareth Bate graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 2007. He is the winner of the 401 Richmond Career-Launcher Prize, a 500 square foot studio given to one OCAD graduate every year. He has won several awards for painting and art writing, and received an Ontario Arts Council Grant. He has shown at a number of Toronto galleries including Loop, Bau-Xi, Gallery 44, Gladstone Hotel and exhibited in Nuit Blanche. 

Acknowledgments: The artist would like to thank guest curator Colette Laliberté for all guidance and support. Glendon Gallery would like to thank its media partners: L'Express & Le Métropolitain newspapers, Radio-Canada TV & radio CJBC 860 AM, Première Chaîne and Clic Toronto. Special thanks go out to the Advising Committee:  Marc Audette, Nadine Bariteau, Omid Fekri, Anna Husdon and Colette Laliberté.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Martine Rheault, Coordinator of Artistic and Cultural Affairs, 416-487-6859.

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