Untitled (the possibilities of voids and the sentience of things)
Maggie Groat & Barbara Hobot

July 19 to September 7, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 19, 2 to 4pm

Curated by Tarin Hughes

Within their individual practices Groat and Hobot investigate presence and absence, whether through collage and object-based sculpture or through formal, observational painting. Groat’s work and research are concerned with the margin and the centre, shared histories and the role of the explorer. This broad scope of interest combines with Groat’s usage of circles, mirrors, and field chairs projecting imbued and associative meaning and ultimately, a simultaneously traditional yet futuristic artist/explorer. Similarly, Hobot considers herself a vehicle or transmitter of the void, the beneath, the interior. While she maintains a formal, abstract drawing practice, the artist’s hand is not prescriptive or communicative, instead she creates a space facilitating the possibility of getting out of the body, experiencing the void, the life of what lies behind the surface.

Together Groat and Hobot’s exhibition at ECFTA investigates curiosity, possibility, life and form. The artist’s works, however divergent, weave a dialogue between their practices, their individual means of exploration and their shared pursuits.

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About the Artists

Maggie Groat is a visual artist working in a variety of media including collage, sculpture, artists’ books, site-specific interventions, and field studies. Forming an ongoing research-based practice, her work explores studies for possible futures, relationships and reconnections to Indigenous land and the interdisciplinary potential of artistic intervention and envisioning. Maggie studied visual art and philosophy at York University before attending The University of Guelph, where she received an MFA degree in 2010. She is represented by Erin Stump Projects in Toronto. www.maggiegroat.com

Barbara Hobot produces sculptures and works on paper with the assumption that they have a mind of their own. This seemingly preposterous belief allows her to imagine what an inorganic decision might look like. Her responsiveness to the potential energy of materials guides some of her creative decisions, as do ancient and contemporary ideas about the characteristics of matter. Hobot holds a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Waterloo and is currently an MFA candidate at Western University, London. She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally with recent exhibitions at Art Mûr, Montreal; Harbourfront Centre, Toronto; Galerie Kurt im Hirsch, Berlin; and Chiellerie Gallery, Amsterdam. She has participated in residencies in Canada, the United States, and Europe and is the recipient of awards from the Ontario Arts Council among other foundations. www.barbarahobot.com