Library Highlight
It is only in recent days has Ka-sing begun using the term “Toronto Circle” to describe the constellation of artists contributing to MONDAY ARTPOST—the online publication he and Holly created—and exhibiting at THE 50 GLADSTONE. This informal circle includes Tomio Nitto, Kai Chan, Gary Michael Dault, Shelley Savor, Fiona Smyth and others. What binds them is a shared spirit of informality—an ease and openness in both work and exchange. Over time, they have formed a close community, often gathering at the 50 as a natural meeting ground.
Recently, Lynn Campbell joined this orbit, presenting a substantial body of new work at THE 50 GLADSTONE in September. While connected to the Circle, her practice emerges from a distinctly different sensibility—calm, precise, rigorously sustained, unfolding through long periods of focused labour. Her work is quietly lyrical, almost musical in its composition.
Her exhibition, “Syncopation,” takes its title from the musical term meaning “an interruption of the regular flow of rhythm.” In her artist statement, Lynn describes using syncopation “as a pictorial metaphor to visualize how human activity has disturbed the Earth’s natural rhythms. These disruptions are not only environmental; they are personal, cultural, political and spiritual.”
A full catalogue accompanied the exhibition, and encountering the work in print and in person offers two distinct experiences. The originals, with their subtle surfaces and finely tuned material decisions, reveal details that reproduction cannot hold. The book, however, offers another kind of coherence: the entire series gathered into sequence, unfolding like a self-contained score—opening with an aria, followed by cadenza and movements. On the wall, each piece asserts its individuality; in the book, they become an orchestration.
The catalogue also includes a thoughtful reflection by Lynn on her practice. She writes: “Over time, I have come to see art making not only as an act of shaping matter but as an act of listening—to the quiet signals of materials.” It is a fitting insight. Lynn approaches her work with the attentiveness of a composer—meditative, attuned, fully aware of the rhythms she seeks to interrupt and illuminate.