W Projects Announces Second Exhibition, DREAM MACHINE, Opening Sept. 30th

*If I wished, such fancies – lazy voices in the crowd soften to slanted waves* (2023). Photo via W Projects.

As the month of September comes to a close, Richmond-BC-via-Brampton-Ontario artist Russna Kaur’s new solo show, DREAM MACHINE (try walking on a path of splinters with no shoes), is opening at W Projects (555 Hamilton Street).

With the advent of autumn’s grey days, Kaur’s series of colourful new abstract artworks – including a wall painting designed especially for the space and a piece made out of lotto tickets accumulated by her father since he immigrated from India to Canada nearly 40 years ago – promises to be a good way to brighten your day and get your brain working, generating some heat from the inside, out. From W Projects: “By combining colours, textures and panels, Kaur’s paintings marry multiple ideas and histories. Through her practice she raises questions around how abstract paintings can, sometimes inadvertently, reveal personal, family, and cultural histories.”

Topic strike a chord? For added context and insight into the pieces and person behind them, score a spot at the Artist Talk on Sunday, October 15th at 2pm, by sending your RSVP via email to [email protected] ASAP – capacity is limited! You can also add an extra layer to the experience, in your own time, with a bit of supplementary reading by Renée van der Avoird (Art Gallery of Ontario Associate Curator, Canadian Art) here.

Dream Machine is open to the public beginning on Saturday, September 30th, with an Opening Reception from 2-5pm, after which you can check it out by swinging by the gallery during regular hours (every Saturday from September 30th through October 21st, from noon to 5pm). If that timing doesn’t gel with your schedule, you can also contact the gallery directly to make an appointment outside of gallery hours.

Kaur’s solo show is only the second exhibition to go up on the walls of the new Gastown gallery since it opened earlier this summer, on June 3rd, with a series of photographic works by Los Angeles-based artist, Heather Cleary. For a bit more backstory on W Projects and it’s historic brick-and-mortar home, the Del Mar Inn, go here.