Pari Nadimi Gallery is pleased to present Trying to do Two Things at Once (Tale of the Minotaur), a solo exhibition by Toronto artist Peter Kingstone.
Trying to do Two Things at Once (Tale of the Minotaur) is about making art. Kingstone asks the question of what we expect from artists and how we, as a culture and society, give them support. In exploring this conundrum through the classical Greek story of the Minotaur myth, Kingstone finds the complexity in the human-animal hybrid identity, or the rational and the emotional. The rational is an upstanding member of society and the emotional as a suffering artist.
Even in its own story, the Minotaur does not get to play the protagonist; its suffering becomes trivial to our society's quest to contain, dominate, and finally terminate it. Through his sketches, photographs and sculpture, Kingstone hints at the story and becomes the Minotaur on his way to being killed. In exhibiting this embodiment, Kingstone presents the work of an artist. The making of the works are evident, the same animal is sketched many times, the lights and backdrop are seen in the photos, and the sculpture is left rough, almost unfinished but usable.
Trying to do Two Things at Once (Tale of the Minotaur) presents the making of art and the sustaining of the activity as art. Showing the impossibility of being just an artist in contemporary climates, Kingstone attempts to demystify the fear behind the Minotaur. His sculpture Pasiphae's Simple Machine breaks down the barrier between bull and human putting visitors in the position of Pasiphae falling in love with the bull. Just like the Greek dramatic tradition, the exhibition uses tragedy to evoke sympathy. The Minotaur is not an outcast; its role in society is denied forcing it into a limbo, precarious stage of existence.
Peter Kingstone is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited across Canada and internationally. His signature installation 100 Stories About My Grandmother has been exhibited in Reframe Peterborough International Film Festival, Peterborough (2010), Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick (2009), Ace Art, Winnipeg, Manitoba (2009), Latitude 53, Edmonton, Alberta (2009), Eastern Edge, St. John's, Newfoundland (2009), Toronto at TPW (2008). He also has also had exhibitions at Claynton Staples Gallery, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas (2016), International Festival of Film on Art, Montreal, Quebec (2014), and in group exhibitions at McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London, Ontario (2012), IPCNY, New York, New York (2011). Kingstone recently self-published a book project Bedtime Stories (2015). Kingstone won the Untitled Artist Award in 2005 for his installation The Strange Case of Peter K. (1974-2004). Kingstone holds a Masters of Fine Arts from York University, Toronto (2004).

Opening Reception: : Friday, November 10, 6 - 9 pm

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