Born in 1988, Erin Loree completed her studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (2012), at both the Toronto and Florence campuses, followed by a 3-month artist residency at the Sachaqa Art Center in Peru. Along the way she has been honoured with many awards and scholarships, including the OCADU Drawing & Painting Medalist Award (2012), Nora E. Vaughan Award (2012) and the Karl Heinz Wiesen Memorial Award (2010). She is also the recipient of the Visual Artists: Emerging grant, awarded by the Ontario Arts Council (2015). Her work has been exhibited in Toronto, Montreal and in a number of art fairs including Art Toronto, Love Art Fair (Toronto) and SCOPE Miami Beach. She currently lives and works in downtown Toronto. Become the Sky

The paintings in Become the Sky are inspired by my experiences in the Peruvian Amazon Jungle. In the tangled paradise of the rainforest, I had the opportunity to really observe the cycles and rhythms in the natural world and in doing so began to understand how they reflected my internal processes. Everything around us and inside of us is in a constant state of becoming, birthing and dying, expanding and contracting. I am fascinated by the transience of nature and its ability to remind us of the constant transformation within ourselves. It is through the process of painting that I aim to investigate layers of human existence as they mirror nature’s resilient and mysterious ways.

I work intuitively and expressively with oil paint on canvas and panel by combining diffused multicoloured gradients with thick and visceral marks, creating what can often be seen as human or ghostlike forms and anthropomorphized natural phenomena. The built up layers of paint allow the strokes to weave through one other, giving the paintings an almost sculptural form. The work inevitably resembles something in a state of transition or metamorphosis as the paint appears to melt and fold into itself. Although I use paint to create static images, I apply it in such a way as to suggest forms that are fluid and ever-changing. Because I work without references, each mark dictates the next and the process becomes a series of risk-taking and problem-solving moments. This allows the painting to come alive and evolve as needed. I strive to experience an ongoing and interactive relationship with the material while allowing the imagery of my personal experiences to manifest in the work.

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