Additional Images

Provenance:

Courtesy of the artist; Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto. Photo: Richard-Max Tremblay.

The Work & Artist Bio

For over 40 years, Carol Wainio has made compelling paintings that are a world of their own. The Dog and Its Reflection, 2021, adds yet another example of her poignant invention. In this elegant acrylic on canvas, Wainio gives us enveloping trees and hints of green and brown that make you think Cézanne had become a fabulist in a natural world. The painting has “gone to the dogs”; in the left foreground a worried, attentive canine looks out at us; on a fallen tree that forms a bridge over a stream, a spotted dog looks into the water where it sees another dog, whose reflection is shimmering in the water. A story of natural waiting and watching is being inscribed here, and you desperately want to be part of it. (In 2021 a variation on this same subject called Dog and Shadow was exhibited at TrépanierBaer Gallery in Calgary).

Carol Wainio (b. 1955, Sarnia, Ontario) studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and University of Toronto before receiving an MFA from Concordia University in 1985. She has taught in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University and Département d’arts visuels de l’Université d’Ottawa. She lives and works in Ottawa and Montréal. Recent solo exhibitions include “Réenchantment,” at 1700 La Poste in Montréal (2023). Earlier touring solo exhibitions include “The Book,” curated by Diana Nemiroff for Carleton University Art Gallery (2010) and “Les Registres de Contemporain,” curated by Michele Theriault for the Musée d’art de Joliette. Her work has been included in group exhibitions including “Songs of Experience” (National Gallery of Canada, 1986); “Elles Aujourd’hui” (Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, 2015) and “Adisòkàmagan/We all Become Stories” (Ottawa Art Gallery, 2018) and she has participated in international group exhibitions such as “Aperto” (Venice Biennale, 1990); “Anni Novanta” (Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna Bologna, 1992); “A Notion of Conflict” (Stedelijk Museum, 1995), among others. Wainio’s work is in major corporate, private, and public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Art Gallery of Ontario, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and Glenbow Museum. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the 2014 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.

Carol Wainio, Border Crossings Issue 161, 2023

Once Upon a Time Before the Art of Carol Wainio, Border Crossings Issue 128, 2013

The Very Rich Hours of Carol Wainio, Border Crossings Issue 85, 2003

Artist's Website

Paul Petro Contemporary Art

TrépanierBaer Gallery