GHC is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new work by Joe Fleming. Join us at the opening.

Exhibition text by: Graham Gillmore, 2024

Joe Fleming lives in one of the most desirable and densely populated neighborhoods in Toronto. Dwarfed by shiny new towering high rises, his is one of the last remaining houses on the block. The constant clamour of construction everywhere. Fragments of advertising, signage, digital billboards and the rush of people travel in all directions. It is loud and dirty. A thousand moving parts vie for recognition.

When approaching Joe’s studio in the Stockyards, you enter the meat packing district. If the wind is blowing from the east, it’s noxious smell intermingles with hops from the microbreweries next door. Strange robotic sounds emanate from a solar panel tech company that shares the same entrance by the loading dock. You could just as well be entering the belly of one of Joe Fleming’s paintings.

A towering six-foot hamburger, stacked with questionable ingredients, on the verge of falling over. An ice-cream cone balances precariously in a field of diagonal scaffolding. Lick it madly until your tongue freezes, or watch it melt into a puddle on the floor. Pair these low brow images with luxury goods, including Rolex watches, Louis Vuitton shoes and the odd Kobe steak, and you have the ingredients for Joe’s new work.

The Birkin handbag, another familiar image, is a ubiquitous accessory in Joe’s uber-posh neighbourhood. Designed for well healed fashionista’s, the Birkin gives “impeccable attention to detail and unmatchable craftsmanship”- but what you’re really paying for is the ultimate status symbol, fetishized to highlight one’s wealth and standing in society. Hyper-inflated price tags on luxury items are geared toward the affluent. In this sense, Joe seems to be telling us that one way to make paintings today is to bite the hand that feeds you.

Cartoonish illustrations, taken from kids coloring books are cut and collaged into various forms of mutant offspring. These fragments of Disneyesque doodles are at once playful and unsettling. They conjure a world in which the natural order has been highjacked by artificial intelligence gone awry.

Created from unconventional materials, these are complex and sophisticated paintings. Glossy showroom-finish enamels on plexiglass reinforce their seductive desirability. Converging elements appear to emerge and recede behind the aluminum support, which can be seen through the glassy surface. One is reminded of Robert Ryman’s all white paintings from the 1960’s (which are in many ways the opposite of Joe’s maximalist approach), subtly changing in appearance depending on the quality and angle of light. This transparency also gives Joe access to both sides of the substrate, doubling the paintings square footage. Now that’s good real-estate! Painting on both the front and the back of the surface creates unexpected visual density. There is a tension between the gouging of an out-of-control router and more delicate methods of mark making which appear like the contoured lines of a figure skater. Superimposed blocks of geometric shapes, often spray painted in primary colors, give your eyes a moment to catch their breath.

Just as the thrill of living in a thriving metropolis is to witness its constant transformation, part of the allure of Joe’s paintings is their mystery of process.

As for the 6 foot hamburger, Joe told me that it speaks of the enormity of the beef and hide industry and how taxing it is on the environment. It also pays tribute to his dislike of conventional condiments such as mayonnaise, relish and mustard- proof that ‘taste’ is in the mouth of the beholder.

Joe Fleming’s career spans over two decades, marked by numerous solo exhibitions internationally in galleries in major cities, including Singapore, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and New York City. Fleming has lectured at universities in Canada, the United States, and South East Asia since 1993. His paintings are included in numerous public and private collections, such as BMO Financial Group, Trimark Mutual Funds, Honeywell Bull, Prince Waterhouse Coopers (Malaysia), HSBC Bank, A.T. Tolley Collection, Australian High Commission, Canadian High Commission (Kuala Lumpur), the Art Gallery of Edmonton, the Museum of Civilization (Hull, Quebec), and the Holocaust Museum (LA).

Fleming has participated in several international art fairs, including Art Stage (Singapore), FIAC (Paris), Arte Cologne (Germany), Scope (New York and Miami), Art Miami, Papier (Montreal), and TIAF (Toronto). His work has been featured in a variety of publications, such as Carte Blanche 2: Painting - a survey of new Canadian painting (The Magenta Foundation), 60 Painters in Canada, The Artist's Studio (by Joseph Hartman), American Illustration, Imago Mundi, Design Lines Magazine, Azure Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Now Magazine, CBC, Chelsea Now, and The Wall Street Journal Magazine.