Canadiana Project 2006 - 2008
Проект Канадіана 2006 -2008
Queen, Inuit and Geese , 2006, oil on canvas, photocopy on paper, pastel, pencil, charcoal, 48” x 48”
credits: Natural Resources Canada, GSC/CGC 39686; Patrick Montague-Smith, “The Country Life Book of the Royal Silver Jubilee”, ISBN 0-600-38200-1, illustr. from p.123
(Natalia_Laluq_f27) sold
People of The Book in Canadian Water, 2006, oil on canvas, photocopy on paper, pastel, pencil, charcoal, 48” x 96”
credits: Martin Gilbert, “The Jews in the Twentieth Century”, ISBN 1-55263-359-4, illustr. from pp. 10,12; H-inuit- KAYAKS-012, www.chicagokayak.com
(Natalia_Laluq_f28) sold
Balloons Over the Land, 2006, oil on canvas, photocopy on paper, pencil, 48” x 48”
credits: “The Great Balloon Festival”, Free Flight Press, Inc., Englewood, Colorado, 80155-3907, photo by Ed Dosien; Melanie J. Mayer ,“Klondike Women: True tales of the 1997-98 Gold Rush”, ISBN-0-8040-0927-9, illustr. from p. 42 (P.A.A.., E. Brown Coll’n, Mathers photo, B3081); Anne D’Alleva, “Native American”, ISBN: 87192-248-7, illustr.: “Osage Girl in a Ribbon-Applique Robe” (Smithsonian Institution, National Antropological Arch., neg. no.T-13409)
(Natalia_Laluq_f29) sold
Taste Canadian, 2006, oil on canvas, photocopy on paper, 48” x 60”
credits: “People of Ice and Snow”, ISBN 0-8094-9562-7, illustr. from p.52
(Natalia_Laluq_f30) sold
The Beautiful Garbage Day, 2006, oil on canvas, sepia wash, 48” x 96”
credits:The City of Toronto Archives, The James Collection, Snow Shoeing in High Park, 1909
(Natalia_Laluq_f31) sold
Known and Unknown Heroes of Canada, 2006, oil on canvas, photocopy on paper, charcoal, 48” x 96”
credits:“Portraits of a Challenge: All Illustrated History of the Chinese Canadians”, by Lee Wai-man, 9692106-1-2, illustr. from p.69 (B.C.1940, Canadian National.); Stanley I. Fischler, “The Rivalry: Canadiens vs Leafs”, ISBN 0-07-551302-1, illustr. from p. 100 (3,4)
(Natalia_Laluq_f32) sold
Kayaking for Jesus, 2007, oil on canvas, 48” x 60”
credits: “White Water Kayaking”, 1988, Strackpole Books, ISBN 0-8117-2284-8, illustr. from p.15; www.123-posters-online.com, 10055172Jesus.jpeg
(Natalia_Laluq_f33)
Welcome to Canada, 2007, oil on canvas, 48” x 48”
credits: “Basic Sign Communications”, 1983, ISBN 0-913072-55-9, illustr. from p. 65
(Natalia_Laluq_f34)
Sign Language, 2007, oil on canvas, 48” x 60”
credits: “American sign language dictionary”, 1998, Random House Webster’s, ISBN: 0-679-78011-4, illustr. from page 527; “People of Ice and Snow”, ISBN 0-8094-9562-7, illustr. from p.123; www.hockeymonkey_1938_83784836; “Rajasthan”, Roloff Beny, In the Crafts Museum of Udaipur – different “mehndi” disigns for decorating the palms, to bring good fortune; www.machanaim.org/teflin.htm, p.4
(Natalia_Laluq_f35)
Children Are Waiting, 2006, oil, charcoal on canvas, 48” x 48”
credits: National Geographic, October 1998,“Women and Population” by Erla Zwingle, Photographs by Karen Kasmauski, “Masai children gathered for opening ceremonies at Kimuka Primary School in Kenya’s Rift Valley…”; Toronto Star, July1, 2006, Olivia Ward “Stephen Lewis, as special envoy on HIV/AIDS, brings plan befor Geneva panel next week…”; Hair in African Art and Culture, Edited by Roy Sieber, ISBN 3-7913-2291-5 Library of Congress catalog N= 99-068113; www.saveafricaschildren.com/site, about.jpg; new.bbc.co.uk/go/iss/-/1/hi/business/5115806.stm; _41805744_afric…3b.jpg
(Natalia_Laluq_f68)
Canada Day, 2007, oil on patterned upholstery canvas, photocopy on paper, charcoal, chalk, pencil, 48” x 48”
credits: Patrick Montague-Smith, “The Country Life Book of the Royal Silver Jubilee”, ISBN 0-600-38200-1, p.43; Anne D’Alleva, “Native American”, ISBN: 87192-248-7, illustr.: “Osage Girl in a Ribbon-Applique Robe”(Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Arch., neg. no.T-13409); “People of Ice and Snow”, ISBN 0-8094-9562-7, p.123; www.hockeymonkey_1938_83784836; “Rajasthan”, Roloff Beny, In the Crafts Museum of Udaipur – different “mehndi” disigns for decorating the palms, to bring good fortune; www.machanaim.org/teflin.htm, p.4; “Basic Sign Communications”, 1983, ISBN 0-913072-55-9, p. 65
(Natalia_Laluq_f36)
Stand Up for Canada! I, 2007, oil on patterned upholstery canvas, embroidery with acrylic thread, 48” x 48”
credits: “Ice hockey made simple: a spectator’s guide”,1993, First Base sports, Inc., ISBN: 1-884309-09- 7, p.124 (icing, misconduct)
(Natalia_Laluq_f37)
Stand Up for Canada! II, 2008, oil on patterned upholstery canvas, 48” x 48”
credits: “Ice hockey made simple: a spectator’s guide”, 1993, First Base sports, Inc., ISBN: 1-884309-09-7, p.124 (hooking); www.boutique-shen-ti.com/.../1160057082.jpg
(Natalia_Laluq_f38)
Stand Up for Canada! III, 2007, oil on patterned upholstery canvas, 8” x 8”
credits: “Ice hockey made simple: a spectator’s guide”,1993, First Base sports, Inc., ISBN: 1-884309-09-7, p.124 (icing, misconduct)
(Natalia_Laluq_f39) sold
Stand Up for Canada! IV, 2008, oil, colour pencil on canvas, 24” x 24”
credits: “Ice hockey made simple: a spectator’s guide”,1993, First Base sports, Inc., ISBN: 1-884309-09-7, p.124 (icing, misconduct)
(Natalia_Laluq_f40)
Canada day III, 2008, oil on canvas, 24” x 24”
credits: Trevor Hall “The Queen’s Tour of Canada”, Souvenir Edition, Collins Royal., photography: David Levenson, p.39; “American sign language dictionary”,1998, Random House Webster’s, ISBN: 0-679-78011-4, illustr. from page 527
(Natalia_Laluq_f41) sold
Ukrainian Women Cutting Logs in Alberta, 2008, oil on patterned canvas, 27” x 51”
credits: Julia Saint/ Joan Reid, “Origins. Canada’s Multicultural Heritage”, 1979 by Academic Press Canada Limited, ISBN 0-7747-1119-1, illustr. from p.136
(Natalia_Laluq_f43) sold
Ukrainian Women Cutting Logs, 2008, oil, photocopy on paper, on canvas, 48” x 60”
credits: Julia Saint/ Joan Reid, “Origins. Canada’s Multicultural Heritage”, 1979 by Academic Press Canada Limited, ISBN 0-7747-1119-1, illustr. from p.136; Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861),”Kateryna”, oil on canvas (State Taras Shevchenko Museum, Kiev)
(Natalia_Laluq_f44) sold
Doukhobors in Saskatchewan, 2008, oil, acrylic on canvas, newspaper, pencil, charcoal, 48” x 60”
credits: National Archives of Canada: c-008891, 1899, 1954-165 NPC
(Natalia_Laluq_f45) sold
Natalia Laluq: The Canadiana Project
Curator's word for the show in StationStation Community Gallery
Whitby, ON, Canada, 2009
A recent census shows four out of ten Canadians are born outside of the country they now call home.
Natalia Laluq has called Canada home for almost six years now. As a new Canadian artist,
she began translating her experiences to canvas after she established her studio practice in midtown Toronto.
In The Canadiana Project. Laluq delves into Canada’s history and national identity.
Laluq learns about her adopted homeland through second-hand sources.
She sources aftermarket retail stores such as Goodwill and Value Village to find books,
catalogues and other printed material about Canada’s history. The artist absorbs and incorporates pictures
from a vast image archive housed in used clothing and bookshops. Throughout the exhibition,
you will also find that the painter has used recycled textiles as prepared surfaces for her paintings.
Laluq uses a unique process of image building; juxtaposing and layering visual sources from different times and places on one canvas.
For instance, in one painting contemporary Remax balloons float above Aboriginal teepees from the past.
The shapes of the balloons and teepees mirror one another. In another piece, Chinese railworkers from the turn of the century
are pictured building the CN railway. At either side of this canvas, famous hockey players from Canada’s centennial year flank
the rail workers in a similar pose.
Laluq is by nature curious about Canada’s often-neglected and under-represented history. The past is something that is discarded wholesale;
thrown in the trash bin of lived experience. The artist recycles these stories in her paintings and presents the world around us in a new and
engaging manner. With this project, Natalia Laluq reinterprets the Canadian experience in a fresh way. Many of the paintings conjure a
feeling of déjà vu for native-born viewers and create new ways of interpreting our collective history. For most of us, The Canadiana Project
re-engages a Canadian-born audience with a history beyond the grade seven textbook experience.
Olexander Wlasenko
Curator
Station Gallery
