IMAGINARY FRIENDS AND FANTASY BEARDS March 18th-29th

IMAGINARY FRIENDS AND FANTASY BEARDS
ROBERT DAYTON/JEAN-PAUL LANGLOIS
Paul Petro Special Projects Space
962 Queen Street West
Toronto


March 18th-29th
reception Friday March 20th 7-10 PM

"Imaginary Friends" is a collection of paintings that were all done since Jean-Paul Langlois moved from the West Coast to Toronto. In much of his earlier work, Jean-Paul was creating characters and stories to relieve the boredom and loneliness of living alone in a small town on Vancouver Island. With this new collection, he is missing the peace and quiet of his home and its natural surroundings. He reconciles that with the overload of people and the excitement of city life. Elk and deer, his cats and dog, and self-portraits have been common subjects since Jean-Paul arrived in Toronto. He treats them with bright, jarring colours and flattens the space as much as possible-since he can't turn down the noise of the city, at least he can simplify it.

"FANTASY BEARDS" is a continuation of Robert Dayton's recent series of "New Beard Archetypes", a collection of pen and ink portraits of the familiar, bearded faces drawn as masks with blank holes for eyes, they were meant to get the reaction of "I know that guy" even though they were ostensibly of no one in particular, just banal faces.
With "FANTASY BEARDS" Robert moves his portraiture away from the everyday and into beards that he would want to exist though they clearly don't. Not only is the subject matter further expanded but so are the details, design, line, and pattern. He has also been given the freedom to feminize the beards; no longer are they the stuff of men, sexuality is further undefined, broadened, and made lucid to exist in less exacting grey areas.


BIO FOR JEAN-PAUL LANGLOIS:
Kicked out of not one but TWO art colleges on the West Coast, Jean-Paul has been making serious art since his early teens. He has shown extensively in Victoria, Vancouver Island, and taken part in group exhibitions in Vancouver, Washington State, and Toronto. Jean-Paul is probably better known as D.J. P.L.A.N. in Toronto and actively D.J.s various weeklies, monthlies, and one-offs in Toronto,Vancouver and Victoria.
More of his work can be seen at: www.jeanpaullanglois.com

BIO FOR ROBERT DAYTON:
Robert Dayton is a recognizable moustachioed- some say ‘eccentric’-personality of many talents that often converge. As an artist he has exhibited in numerous shows and publications including his own art booklet "Y2K Compatible." He recently did a series of New Beard Archetypes for a group show curated by Jay Isaac at Paul Petro Special Projects and is currently in the "Wish You Were Here" postcard art show curated by Katharine Mulherin. He has regularly contributed drawings, art, features, reviews, obits, and quips to such publications as Hunter and Cook, Roctober, Cinema Sewer, Paper Rodeo, Free Drawings, $2 Comes With Mix Tape, and his own Y2K Compatible art booklet. Robert also contributed to the books “Nog A Dod: Prehistoric Canadian Psychedooolia” (Conundrum), “Lost In The Grooves: Scram’s Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed” (Routledge), , “Cinema Sewer: the Adults Only Guide To History’s Sickest and Sexiest Movies” (Fab Press) as well as the upcoming second Cinema Sewer book. He's recorded numerous albums with various acts such as Canned Hamm, July Fourth Toilet, Hallmark, and Wet Dirt. He's performed plenty of music and comedy with an emphasis on persona work. This former Vancouverite also starred in the Canadian feature film "Male Fantasy."
Robert Dayton recently relocated to Toronto, ON.
You can see more of his art here:
www.robertdaytons.blogspot.com