Vernon’s Headbones Gallery brings a taste of Toronto back to the Okanagan.
The gallery opens this weekend with an exhibition of works by Toronto-based artists Daniel Hanequand and Mahmoud Meraji.
Also featured will be a presentation of photos by Headbones owner Julie Oakes, who has just returned from opening her exhibition, Awestruck Calendar of Ecology, at The Canadian Clay and Glass Museum in Ontario.
Both Hanequand and Meraji exhibited their works when Headbones Gallery was located in Toronto from 2005 to 2010.
“Both have been composing visual letters, communicating with another dimension that is occupied by spirits, dreams, imaginings, and ideas,” said Oakes.
Born in France, Hanequand spent an artistic sojourn in New York City before immigrating to Canada.
His exhibition at Headbones, entitled Ghostly Yours, revolves around the previously contradictory conditions of dreams and reality, as defined in the 1920 Manifesto of Surrealism, said Oakes.
“Hanequand named one of his signature pieces Ghostly Yours as if signing a letter from the other side,” she said. “He has dedicated his life to creating beings (his friends), and environments for his invented beings, that become entire worlds unto themselves.”
Meraji was born in Iran and moved to Canada with his wife, Amideh, and his son, Mehrad, more than 15 years ago.
Already a portrait painter as well as a modernist in his home country, Meraji studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design.
“Both of these affirmations speak of making a connection with an unrealized idea and then transferring it into a form that can be realized by another,” said Oakes, adding, “He has an exceptional hand.”
Meraji will display a life-size portrait of Oakes that he painted in 2008, as well as work chosen for his exhibition, entitled Truth Seeking.
Ghostly Yours, Truth Seeking and the presentation by Oakes open at Headbones Gallery Saturday, Oct. 17 with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. The gallery is located at 6700 Old Kamloops Rd. Call (250) 542-8987 for more information.
