Matthew Sweig Exhibition – Arable Land

Dark and beautiful – the ‘Arable Land’ exhibition is one you should definitely see.

Courtesy of mushypony.com & Flickr

From now until November 21st, you’d be nuts not to check out Matthew Sweig‘s latest exhibition titled: ‘Arable Land’ at the XEXE Gallery (located at Richmond & Bathurst). His paintings are generally quite large, with special attention paid to dark shadows and intricate detailing. He is mainly known for his pieces revolving around the demolition of the old Princess Margaret Hospital, but is now focusing more on agriculture:

“Arable Land is the agricultural term used to describe land that can be used for growing crops. Agriculture is the key development in human history that enables humans to develop and maintain complex societies” he states. “Today, agriculture has been pushed further and further from our everyday experience. The means of producing food is disconnected from urban populations, both geographically and psychologically. Still, the romanticized notion of the farmer mindfully tending crops from seeds in the spring into a plentiful harvest in the fall still lingers in the corners of our memories.”

Sweig captures this essence nicely in his exhibit. Here is one piece, titled ‘Summer no.2′:

Courtesy of matthewsweig.com

“[My] works show seemingly mundane views of agricultural landscapes. These symbolic images of the agricultural landscape of the past are ingrained in our collective unconscious. The memory of ‘the farm’ that we all drove by on the highway while growing up serves as a benchmark from which we might evaluate the present.”

The Arable Land exhibition ends November 21st.

XoXo
– The Cowgirls