June 18 — July 6
West Queen West Art Crawl; Expanded Cinema Performance by Jim Kroesen: Thursday, June 19, 5 – 9 pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 21, 2 – 5 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, June 28, 2 pm
Interview with Doris Purchase on the occasion of her show, Dim the Lights at Propeller Art Gallery by Emese Krunak-Hajagos, artoronto.ca July 2, 2025
This show is a response to my particular life stage, as things have quieted and I assert control of how I brighten the lights of life, or dim them. My work with frames stems from a childhood wish to create art worthy of framing, so years ago, I began working with frames in my practice. Here, I’ve chosen to present thirteen frames, each with its own dimmable light, which provide a backdrop to a stage I’ve created from picture frames and mouldings. A historic stage with its fancy architecture represents the theatre of life. At each piece on the walls, visitors are invited to dim the lights, if they choose. Because the lights are never off, there is never complete darkness, offering continued hope and persistence for the stage.
West Queen West Art Crawl: Thursday, June 19, 6 – 9 pm
At the centre of the room sit seven 16 mm projectors, which are the elements for an installation artwork by Jim Kroesen. The public is invited to the gallery on June 19, 6 to 9 pm, as we turn off the lights for Kroesen, so he can present his dynamic installation, Permutations, in conjunction with the West Queen West Art Crawl. At that point, his projectors will come to life in an analog film collage.
Sometimes in life, you have to turn the lights off, and let someone else take the stage. ~ Doris Purchase ~
Jim Kroesen is a multi-media artist who was born and currently resides in Toronto. Having worked many years in a more two-dimensional multi-medium collage format, has more recently begun the practice of multimedia installation using 16 millimetre projectors and collaging sound, image and smell to create a new collage discipline. His latest piece, Permutations, was exhibited in the summer of 2024 at the Electric Eclectics festival in Meaford, Ontario. His artwork has been shown at the AWOL Gallery, Sis Boom Ba, and the SOF Art House. Commercially, his work has been in publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, Globe and Mail, Utne Reader and THIS magazine.
Doris Purchase is a Toronto-based mixed-media artist. Doris’s work is predominantly conceptual and draws on the materiality behind a painting. Through her practice, she focuses on artists’ materials to invoke conversations about Western ideals and question our value system.
Doris’s work deconstructs our notions about the frames that hold and embellish artworks. Whether these frames are meant to be noticed or not, she asks us to look at them anew.
