The common housefly when magnified and seen close up is revealed to have some iridescent colours and a complex structure. It’s not everyone that can see beauty in this creature and make an art piece from it, unless you have an artist’s eye, like Carol LaFave.
“When you blow up the size, insects are actually quite pretty,” she said, although she has since moved on from insects to animals and birds.
She and partner Kim LaFave have opened a show of work at The Kube Gallery (#101 - 875 Gibsons Way) that will be on display for the month of March. In Carol’s corner of the gallery each picture is done using collage, that is, life-like renditions painstakingly arranged in coloured paper. A mournful looking dog was the result of a commission and is on display along with a colourful chicken and a handsome owl.
Carol wanted a change from painting images and she experimented. For these textural collages she buys hand-made quality paper or uses paper from such items as coffee cups, rips them up and fits them together like puzzle pieces to form the image. The glue she uses takes time to dry so there’s a chance to play around with the puzzle. She puts an audio book or music on her headphones and patiently works with the paper for a couple of hours at a time.
Kim LaFave’s work is also distinctive. He bounces back and forth in style, he tells Coast Reporter, from hard-edged, architectural paintings to softer, more organic shapes. This latest work is derived from a series of snow scenes he made last year for the October Art Crawl.
“The last snow we had was gorgeous,” he said. “Snow sticking to every leaf and branch. I spent a day wandering through the snow.” The resulting paintings use a softer palette with simplified colours that appear muted and cool.
Kim is also an award-winning illustrator of children’s books and he has recently acquired gallery representation in Vancouver for his paintings.
See www.thekube.ca for hours of opening and information about other artists on show.
