OAKVILLE, ON.- This Friday, Oakville Galleries is pleased to present the opening of two new exhibitions. Micah Lexier’s Two Parents and Three Children, on view at Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens, presents the artist’s conceptual portraits of his family in a range of media, including sculpture, metalworks and works on paper. hunter/gatherer, an exhibition of photographs by Toronto-based artist Vid Ingelevics on view at Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square, features the artist’s meditation on familiar Canadian structures: woodpiles and hunting platforms. Both exhibitions will run from June 20 to September 6, 2009.

Members of the public are invited to an opening reception on Friday June 19 at 7:30 pm at Centennial Square. A reception will follow from 8:30 to 10 pm in Gairloch Gardens. Both artists will be in attendance.

Micah Lexier: Two Parents and Three Children
While the search for identity has always been paramount to Lexier's practice, his work has never fit easily into the genre of traditional portraiture. Unlike most portraiture, Lexier does not rely on the appearance of the sitter, but rather a refined sense of materials that are everyday and familiar. Two Parents and Three Children focuses on the artist's portraits of his immediate family. Seen within the context of Gairloch estate, this exhibition allows the artist to explore more fully a familial discourse. Curated by Marnie Fleming.

Vid Ingelevics: hunter/gatherer
hunter/gatherer brings together photographs from two of Vid Ingelevics's most recent bodies of work: one of hunting platforms scattered in the countryside, the second of woodpiles. Capturing structures that seem to exist outside of any recorded history, his large-format photographs draw into tension the paradox of documenting without historicizing, of recording sites of collective memory without disturbing them. Curated by Joan Stebbins. Circulated by the Southern Alberta Art Gallery and the Tom Thomson Art Gallery.

Also on exhibit:

Alex Metcalf: Tree Listening Installation (until 1 November 2009 in Gairloch Gardens)
Alex Metcalf's Tree Listening Installation links science and art to provide a fascinating new way of understanding trees. A sensor and amplifying device designed by the artist provides access to a tree's 'voice', allowing visitors to hear the subtle soundscapes created by a tree's internal workings. In so doing, Metcalf not only invites consideration of the visual pleasure of trees, but also opens up larger questions about our ability to take cues from the environment. Curated by Marnie Fleming.