Braxton Garneau : Art Toronto at Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Braxton Garneau Dame Lorraine, 2023 asphalt and acrylic on canvas with lace 36 x 24 inches Photo by Blaine Campbell Courtesy of the Artist and Efraín López
Efraín López is pleased to announce its inaugural participation at Art Toronto with a solo presentation of works by Canadian artist Braxton Garneau. It coincides with Metamorphosis Ball, the artist’ s first solo exhibition in New York.
Garneau will showcase a series that explores the rich history of Carnival, with a particular focus on ritual, costuming, and the archetypal characters of early masquerade. These paintings incorporate natural materials that have deep connections to the Caribbean's intertwined colonial histories and cultural heritage. Two essential elements in Garneau's portraits are asphalt, a mineral-based emulsion, and raffia, a fiber derived from palms found in Africa and the Caribbean. The artist attaches special significance to asphalt, as it represents his grandparents' journey from Trinidad, which is home to the world's largest naturally exposed deposit of asphalt, to Northern Alberta's oil sands, where his grandfather worked in the 1960s. While asphalt is closely associated with the extraction and the petroleum industry in North America, in T Trinidad, Pitch Lake is seen as a generative environment, believed by locals to possess healing properties. Garneau uses this material to infuse his portraits with the energy and vitality of the natural world, while also anchoring his work in the inextricable colonial histories, patterns of migration, and cultural ties of Caribbean generations.
Braxton Garneau Processioner 8, 2023 Asphalt and acrylic on raw canvas with raffia 10 x 8 inches Photo by Blaine Campbell Courtesy of the Artist and Efraín López
Canboulay, derived from the French term "Cannes brûlées," meaning burnt cane, originated as a harvest festival and celebration in 18th century T Trinidad. It existed concurrently with the elaborate masquerades organized by French plantation owners. Canboulay, with its procession, pageantry, satire, music, and dance, served as a resistance to
Braxton Garneau Midnight Robber, 2023 asphalt and acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 inches Photo by Blaine Campbell Courtesy of the Artist and Efraín López
European dominance while paying homage to African culture. Over time, Canboulay transformed into the Carnival we know today, encompassing diverse meanings and forms that reflect its complex history. However, at its core, Carnival represents emancipation and self-expression. In his presentation, Garneau begins with individuals in the Canboulay mass processional. He then draws our attention to iconic Carnival characters such as Dame Lorraine, Pierrot Grenade, and Midnight Robber. These works exemplify the intricate fusion of African and European mask making and costuming traditions that have evolved throughout the years. They symbolize the resilience and transformation of cultures. In this body of work, Garneau not only emphasizes the intricate colonial history and deeply rooted cultural essence of Carnival, but also celebrates the collective resistance and social impact achieved through costume, music, and dance.
About Braxton Garneau
Braxton Garneau is a visual artist based in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Canada). He holds a BFA from the University of Alberta and has had solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2024), GAVLAK, Los Angeles (2023) and Stride Gallery, Calgary (2021). His work was featured in the retrospective exhibition Black Every Day at the Art Gallery of Alberta (2021), It's About Time: Dancing Black in Canada 1900 - 1970 and Now at Mitchell Art Gallery, Edmonton (2020), curated by Seika Boye, and New Direction, curated by AJ Girard and Artx at Château Cîroc, Miami, Florida (2021). In 2024, his work Pitch Lake (Pietà) was acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego through the Northern Trust Purchase Prize at EXPO Chicago, and he was awarded the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award. He has been accepted into the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), Brooklyn, NY for 2025.
With a focus on painting, sculpture, printmaking and installation, Garneau’s practice is rooted in materiality, costuming and transformation. Working in-between cultures, he combines visual influences from classical and contemporary forms with material investigations to consider cultural, social and historical implications. Garneau is interested in what he refers to as
“ material honesty, ” or the idea that the use of living matter can imbue work with their essence and power. Exploring and exploiting the physical qualities of materials, Garneau works with harvested and hand-processed mediums including asphalt, raffia, cotton, linen, sugarcane pulp, bones and shells. Garneau ’ s work investigates transformation through both natural cycles and the inherent human tendency for adornment, costuming and masquerade. Connecting materials, customs and clothing, he explores the ability of the natural world, and of the people in it, to adapt and transmute to whatever circumstances they may find themselves in.
About Efraín López
Efraín López is a Puerto Rican-American art dealer and exhibition maker based in New York City. Between 2012 and 2018, López founded and directed his eponymous gallery in Chicago, where he presented an ambitious and rigorous exhibition program, often giving artists their first solo presentation in the United States. His long-standing commitment to the career development of emerging artists has led to placements in major museum collections worldwide. In June of 2023 López opened Efraín López, a contemporary art gallery in New York' s T ribeca neighborhood. The program is conceptual, multidisciplinary, and globally minded, engaging both emerging and established artists.
Braxton Garneau will be at Art Toronto, at Booth A10, from October 24 to October 27, 2024 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
For information about Braxton’s artwork, please visit his site. Follow him on Instagram. Braxton’s interview with the magazine can be found here. The magazine showcases Braxton’s current exhibition, which can be found here. For information about Art Toronto please visit here. Please visit Efraín López’s website for more information about Braxton and other artists. You can also follow the gallery on Instagram.
