Alex Bierk: The Place at the End September 13 - October 27, 2018 Through a personal lens, Bierk’s painting practice examines past and future identities, and over the past few years has focused on his experience with addiction and loss, being a new father, and archiving his experience in small town Ontario – where he grew up and has subsequently returned with his family. The works are as much an attempt to reconcile the past as they are the future: Bierk strives to capture candid and authentic expressions of the often conflicted, ephemeral intersection of past and present. His painting practice draws on both personal photography and photorealistic painting traditions to create images that express the complex processes of memory, history, and place. Bierk makes paintings by reframing and reworking photographs taken from his everyday. The scenes are characterized by personal themes and the images are largely undirected; for example, the paintings in his exhibition “Pitfalls and Withdrawals” (2013) used images taken by his twin brother Jeff. He found the photos after leaving rehab and they recounted a story of addiction and loss, including the death of both parents. The series communicated a struggle unique to his but found its cultural context in the recent and widespread epidemic of OxyContin abuse in Ontario. By using candid photographic snapshots as the basis for these paintings, Bierk exposed an unglamorous autobiography, in contrast to the sensationalized depictions of opiate abuse found in popular media. Bierk’s labour-intensive works combine personal history with wider economic and social contexts, resulting in paintings that express the complexities of emotional and lived realities. Alex Bierk (b. 1982, Peterborough, ON) has presented works on paper in exhibitions in Copenhagen, Paris and Stockholm. Alex has exhibited his paintings in group and solo exhibitions internationally as well as in numerous art fairs: UNTITLED (New York), Art Toronto, Scope (Miami), Papier 14 (Montreal) and Art Southampton. His work is held in the collections of the Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank and the Art Gallery of Peterborough along with many private collections. In 2013, he was a finalist for the Kingston Prize, a national biannual portrait competition, and is the recipient of grants from the Toronto and Ontario Arts Councils, as well as the Canada Council for the Arts. Bierk’s exhibitions have been featured in The Toronto Star and Canadian Art Magazine. Alex Bierk lives and works in Peterborough, Ontario. GENERAL HARDWARE CONTEMPORARY 1520 Queen Street West, Toronto, M6R 1A4 Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 12 - 6 pm + appointments 416-821-3060 www.generalhardware.ca Alex Bierk ‘96, 22” x 17”, oil on linen, 2018 $5000 CND www.generalhardware.ca Alex Bierk Davy Looking Up, 9” x 12”, oil on linen, 2018 $6800 CND SOLD www.generalhardware.ca Alex Bierk The Blue Road, 11.25” x 15”, oil on linen, 2018 $7000 SOLD www.generalhardware.ca ALEX BIERK CV Born 1982, Peterborough, ON Lives and works in Peterborough, ON SOLO / EXHIBITIONS 2018 The Place at the End, General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto, ON Canada 2017 Memory,Memory,Memory, Mulherin NewYork,NewYork, NY USA 2016 Forerunners,Artspace, Peterborough, ON Canada 2015 Keepsake, General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto, ON Canada 2014 Pitfalls and Withdrawals, General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto, ON Canada GROUP / EXHIBITIONS 2018 Summer Show, General Hardware Contemporary,Toronto, ON Canada 2018 Skylab Gallery, Columbus, Ohio USA 2018 Harper’s Books at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California USA 2017 Summer show, General Hardware Contemporary,Toronto, ON Canada 2017 From / were / are, Art Gallery of Peterborough, Peterborough, ON Canada 2017 Spring/Break Art Show, Mulherin NewYork, NewYork, NY USA 2017 Old Glory,Mulherin NewYork,NewYork, NY USA 2016 Inconvenient Interiors,Wilder, Nashville, TN USA 2016 Another World, Drake Devonshire, Prince Edward County, ON Canada 2016 GIFC, David Risley Gallery, Copenhagen, Steinsland Berliner Gallery, Stockholm, Agnes B’s Galerie du Jour, Paris 2016 Summer Group Show, General Hardware Contemporary,Toronto, ON Canada 2015 Hidebound, MAW, New York, NY USA 2015 UNTITLED, Mulherin New York, Booth D-29 New York, NY USA 2015 Art Toronto, Portrait & Landscape Editions, Superframe,Toronto, ON Canada 2015 ArtToronto,General Hardware Contemporary,Booth C-28,Toronto, ON Canada 2015 NOW – curated by Luis Mora,WorkingTitle,Toronto, ON Canada 2015 Uncooperative, Forest City Gallery, London, ON Canada 2015 Face/Off, PDA Projects, Ottawa, ON Canada 2015 Mercury Rising, Mulherin New York, New York, NY USA 2014 IWill Not Grow Old in Peterborough,Artspace,Peterborough,ON Canada 2014 AFTER,Art Gallery of Peterborough,Peterborough,ON Canada 2014 Project Space, General Hardware Contemporary,Toronto, ON Canada 2014 Papier14, General Hardware Contemporary, Booth 404, Montreal, QC Canada 2014 OnView,LyonsWier Gallery,NewYork ,NY USA 2013 The Kingston Prize, Art Gallery of Calgary, Calgary, AB Canada 2013 Art Southampton, Lyons Wier Gallery, booth A71, Southampton, NY USA 2013 Skipping Stones, General Hardware Contemporary,Toronto, ON Canada PUBLIC PROJECTS 2016 Mural, Passing Cloud, City of Peterborough, 114 Simcoe St. CORPORATE COLLECTIONS Royal Bank of Canada TD Bank Art Gallery of Peterborough Luciano Benetton Collection GRANTS + AWARDS 2015 Open Studio guest artist Published edition 2015 2nd round Finalist, BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London UK 2014 Canada Council for the Arts, Project Grant 2014 Ontario Arts Council,Visual Artist Grant 2014 Toronto Arts Council, Project Grant 2013 Kingston Prize Finalist SELECTED REVIEWS 2017 Work in Progress, Sholeh Hajmiragha (February 2017) 2016 Ann Jaeger, Electric City Magazine, Forerunners (Nov. 2016) 2014 Leah Sandals, Canadian Art, Review, “Alex Bierk:When Addiction Becomes Art” (Jan. 23) 2014 Murray Whyte, TheToronto Star, “Alex Bierk andAndre Ethier:A tale of two painters” (Jan 31st) 2014 MurrayWhyte, TheToronto Star, “Light from Darkness:Alex Bierk at General Hardware” (Jan 27th) 2013 Leah Sandals, Canadian Art, Kingston Prize PUBLICATIONS 2017 Peterborough, Alex Bierk with foreword by Derek McCormack, Swimmers Group 2016 Out of the Bush Garden, Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection 2016 Hart House Review, University of Toronto 2014 AFTER, Art Gallery of Peterborough, essays by Charles Foran and Murray Whyte 2013 The Kingston Prize, Exhibition Catalogue DONATIONS 2018 Auction, Art with Heart, Casey House,Toronto, ON Canada 2017 Auction, Art with Heart, Casey House,Toronto, ON Canada 2017 Auction, Stellar Living, Mercer Union,Toronto, ON Canada 2017 Auction, C Magazine,Toronto, ON Canada 2016 Auction, Art Gallery of Peterborough, Peterborough, ON Canada 2016 Fundraiser, Artspace (Artist Run Centre), Peterborough, ON Canada 2016 Auction, Canadian Art Foundation,Toronto ON, Canada 2016 Auction, C Magazine,Toronto, ON, Canada 2015 Auction, Canadian Art Foundation,Toronto ON Canada 2015 Auction, Ar t Gems, Toronto, ON Canada 2015 Auction, Art with Heart, Casey House,Toronto, ON Canada 2014 Auction, Art with Heart, Casey House,Toronto, ON Canada www.generalhardware.ca.