Causes, Convictions, and Cogitations

Naturally attuned to and deeply influenced by life on stage and on the road, bandmates from Lowest of the Low — Hawkins, Alexander, and Smith — churn colour and movement into spirited constructions that arouse, prompt, and provoke.

The lads from the Low spin words and imagery, often pushing against accepted norms and the establishment, giving voice to their paintings with the same intensity and conviction their fans relish in their music. Exposing both the harsh and the beautiful, they have created points of entry for ideas, opinions, and rage. For this exhibition, the artists have traded their band gear for brushes and we are the beneficiaries of their expression.

Meet the artists at the Opening Reception on Wednesday November 5, 6PM-9PM.

About the Artists: 

Ron Hawkins

Hawkins developed his visual art practice much the same way he became a musician, by absorbing and processing the art around him rather than taking formal lessons. When travelling, he is less likely to be found in a music venue and more likely to be spotted wandering through a gallery or art museum. A latecomer to painting, Hawkins began his practice at the age of 37 and dove in headfirst, painting daily and allowing it to consume him like a habit he couldn’t put down. His early works revealed a passion for portraiture, with Alice Neel the self-described “collector of souls” and Jenny Saville as particular influences. Just as his songwriting finds poetry in the everyday, his portraiture seeks the stories and mysteries held within the human face.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Hawkins shifted toward large-scale, quasi-abstract works he came to call “Punk Neo-Expressionism.” His Beer, Graffiti Walls and Go Rouse the Ghost series grapple with the politics and philosophies of the working class, exploring questions of authenticity within systems of corruption in late-stage capitalism.

Hawkins has exhibited his work in countless pubs and bars as well as galleries including The Haunt and Fountain Plaza in Buffalo, NY, and Katherine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects in Toronto. His current work provokes a conversation between the street and the gallery. Where is the workers’ art? Who has the right to dominate the conversation? Who owns the means of distraction? What happens when a piece hanging on a pristine white wall gets “tagged” by the 16-year-old ghost of its own maker?

These multimedia pieces — acrylic, spray paint, collage, linen, wrenches, electrical tape, and gears — are at once a eulogy for dead empires and a call to arms. Here, the sixty-year-old artist meets his sixteen-year-old self in a fight to the death.

Follow Ron on Instagram: @supersoundsystemsoul

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David Ray Alexander

Alexander is a multimedia artist and musician based in Toronto, Canada. He is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art (Everything Studies) and Sheridan College (3D Special Effects and Animation). Known for his no-stone-unturned approach to creativity, his work in visual effects has earned him Emmy and Gemini award nominations for Best or Outstanding Special Effects in Post Production.

As a founding member of the long-running band Lowest of the Low, Alexander has been inducted into the Canadian Independent Music Awards’ Indie Hall of Fame, and the band’s critically acclaimed album Shakespeare... My Butt achieved Gold Record status.

His visual art is a buffet of lesser-known characters, collage fry-ups, wherever places, and retrospections on the road to rock 'n' roll. His current series, Misrepresentations, explores the confused, messy, and unstable nature of communication. Messages half-heard, ideas misremembered, and conversations twisted by translation.

The artist paints in the gaps where language falters, where meanings slip sideways. Using a cartoon-inspired style of flat colors, elastic forms, and graffiti-like marks he interrupts and layers the surface to build a visual language for confusion. Text appears fragmented, misspelled, or abstracted like a thought struggling to be understood. Landscapes warp, symbols glitch, identities flicker and shift. Rather than chasing clarity, Misinterpretations finds beauty in the wrong. What if getting it wrong is a way of getting it right?

Follow David on Instagram: @lowdrummer88

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Greg Smith

Smith  is a self-taught visual artist from Woodstock, Ontario, now living in Toronto. He first made furtive gestures toward visual art in high school and later enrolled in graphic design at George Brown College, though he left before finishing his first year. Choosing to follow his passion for music instead, Greg toured Canada and the world with various artists. In 2004, while on the road with The Weakerthans, he began sketching vivid scenes that later inspired a growing body of paintings. For the past five years, he has been exhibiting this work.

Smith’s early pieces were informed both by necessity and by a fascination with our culture of obsolescence. His first works were painted on discarded lumber off-cuts and found wood. The natural grain, rich in texture, shaped his approach to both design and execution. While he still paints predominantly on wood, larger works have led him to experiment with canvas. His resourceful approach extends to his palette, often repurposing leftover acrylic house paints and off-tints from local shops. For application, he makes use of whatever is at hand — brushes, knives, cloth, spray bottles, even his own hands.

Alongside his fine art practice, Smith has designed album covers and was nominated in 2008 for a West Coast Music Award for Best Album Art for The Weakerthans’ Live at the Burton Cummings Theatre.

Follow Greg on Instagram: @gregsmithsounds

You can find out more about the band Lowest of the Low HERE