OAAG Tour: Varley Art Gallery – Unionville

I decided to start my OAAG tour in my old stomping ground of Unionville.

I actually have shown two pieces (below) at the Varley as a part of a multi-school group but I’ve never been inside during all my years hanging out in that area.

They were crappy.

Anyhow.

The Varley was a terrific little gallery.  It actually looked really big from the outside but there wasn’t a lot of showing room in the inside.  More than half of the space seems to be devoted to the reception area, a conference room and a shop.  I was a bit disapointed with that.

The main exhibition was Frederick Varley’s work.  Varley (1881-1969) was a famed portraitist.  I absolutely love his portraits.  I don’t know his entire portfolio but he seems to paint predominantly women.  His most power images, at least, seem to be of women.

My favourite Varley piece was his unfinished Madonna and Child (1960).  This Madonna was coated in the softest, most nuanced pastels instead of the traditional lapis lazuli and it made such a difference in the mood.  there was still a religious tone but it seemed so sensuous and lazy that you can’t help thinking that this was how Joseph saw his wife if he was the romantic sort.

The another part of the gallery was devoted to a barely lucid exhibition called Face Forward.  I thought the whole thing was horrid and self-indulgent and I do not want to name the offending parties involved.  The only painting I liked out of the collection was Maria Garbankova”s Report from a  Leaky Boat.

There was also a retrospective on Judith Livingston, who, in my opinion, does not deserve one.  She paints with annoyingly weak, WYSIWYG strokes.

So my rating:

(1) Environment:

Attractiveness of space: 7/10 – The exterior was really plain and the courtyard doesn’t leave you enough space to navigate around wedding parties; the interior is sort of a slick 80s look.

Use of space: 5/10  - I wish they used more space for exhibitions.

Maintenance of space:  9/10 -  Noticed a bit of dust.

(2) Curating

Effectiveness of Display: 6/10 – Paintings were well displayed but some of the standing pieces should have been given more space to show. Some items were missing tags.

Consistancy of Display: 5/10 – There was no visual segue between the Varley, Face Foward and Judith shows.  I was confused as to when one began.  There was a difference in qualilty between the FF and Judith shows

Attractiveness of Display: 7/10 – this was a hit or miss.  Some areas of the FF adn Judith shows needed pause

(3) Exhibition

Effectiveness of Exhibition – 3/10 – The FF and Judith didn’t need to be there.

Average: 6/10