Jumping through Portals, one painting at a time

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This article was published 10/10/2023 (771 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are 20 circular canvases linearly arranged, each one holding a universe with its own story.

A body of work three years in the making, Portals forms artist Cole Cancilla’s first solo exhibition at X-Cues Café and Lounge on Sargent Avenue.

Hung in chronological order, the exhibition invites the viewer to first explore each painting before appreciating it in its entirety.

“Each painting is individual but also holistic,” Cancilla says. “When you look at one painting you enter into its world. The chronological order is key because, despite all the personalities, you see a gradual evolution that happens.”

Cancilla started the paintings in 2020, on the cusp of the pandemic, and completed his 20^th canvas in August this year.

His favourite works in the collection are his heavily detailed, textured fabric canvases, of which there are four.

They are also the ones that took him the longest time to create — a total of three months

“The textured fabric works were created in a time where I was pushing for this reinvention in my painting and didn’t want to be anchored down by the notion of style or any limits,” he says.

“I’m always returning to fabric as theme, for I have admired embroidery and fashion for years … it gives the work a specific power which no other medium has.”

The staggeringly different styles in the pieces are a nod to Cancilla’s intention to honour the notion of versatility. He can do more than one thing.

“I find in terms of an artistic medium, the term ‘style’ can be limiting to an artist. These works hone in on higher standard for yourself as an artist,” says Cancilla, who is currently completing his bachelor of fine arts at the University of Manitoba.

The use of circular canvases is also deliberate, after he was encouraged by his grandmother, Tina Cancilla, to explore the shape.

“She introduced me to the circle canvases and bought me my first three. It’s an unconventional format I used to explore painting as a medium,” he says.

“I am always fixed on adding more whimsical edge in my work. Despite how different they are, it’s all cohesive because it’s all one shape.”

Each painting is available to purchase with prices ranging from $100 to 300. Cancilla’s other works are currently on display at Cre8ery gallery, Pottery Bug Studios and Fleet Galleries in the Exchange District. Portals is on view at X-Cue’s until Oct. 26.

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca