Artist's Statements
CATHARINA GOLDNAU
At the heart of my sculptural practice is femininity in all its messy, magnificent complexity. My Venuses aren’t here to pose, please, or conform. They are raw, imperfect, sensual, vulnerable, and strong — bodies that carry stories, contradictions, and the marks of being human.
As a mother of two daughters and grandmother to five girls, I’m deeply invested in how we experience girlhood and womanhood, both physically and psychologically. I draw on lived experience, observation, and intuition to create figures that challenge the polished ideals imposed on the female body.
I’m interested in what happens when we stop trying to fix, flatten, or idealize women — and start seeing them as they are. My work is an invitation to question who gets to define beauty, to embrace imperfection, and to claim the freedom to inhabit our bodies on our own terms.
SUSAN N STEWART
"PINK PUTS UP A FIGHT"
After two months of artistic combat and a mounting body count of discarded paintings, I was ambushed by PINK.
PINK was everything I distrusted: frivolous, girlish, cheerful and entirely lacking in gravitas.
I attacked with brushes, scrapers and considerable indignation. PINK retaliated with MAGENTA.
The battle was ugly. The casualties were numerous.
Then something unexpected happened. I finally began to like my paintings.
PINK has since retained legal counsel and is demanding full credit.
Susan N. Stewart is an award winning Toronto artist who has works in private collections in New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Melbourne, Toronto, Montreal, India, Bermuda, Germany and USA. She is also the Founder of Flick the Switch Artists’ Collective.
