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The 226 Main Street Gallery is presenting a space of imagined terrains where astronauts in bright green suits ride bright pink bison. That imagined terrain is called Gravity of Dreams, a collection of paintings that use needle techniques to heighten the details of that alternate reality.
While the realities detailed in artworks allow artist and viewer alike an avenue to escape reality, artist Pavlo Bovdur is careful to say that these works are not just an escape from reality; rather, they're an extension of reality. “These are my memories. These are my emotions,” he explains of the colour structure and the subjects he’s chosen in his works. “For example, when I was a kid, I was always dreaming [of being an] astrophysicist and working with science. And there is of [things] I like – for example, nature or travelling. So, all of what I’m doing... it’s my last memories. [These are] my childhood dreams.”
In this, Bovdur, who grew up in Ukraine and fled when Russia invaded Crimea over a decade ago, makes a distinction between something that is make believe versus something that is true because it’s a part of himself. The connections to who he is, and his identity become symbols both in the subjects of Gravity of Dreams and in the tools he uses, right down to the needles that provide details to his work.
“I was looking at what tool I can use to control the full process of what I’m doing,” Bovdur says, recalling a pivotal point in his artistic development after coming to Canada after spending many years in Mexico. “My father passed away when I was like four years old. He was drug-addicted with heroin and he literally died because of syringe and needle. So, for me, for many years, I was afraid of that tool. And when I [came] to Canada after Mexico in 2022, I decided to try and use... that tool for something nice and give for the people nice emotion.”
Much of his work inspired by his wife Daisy, who he met during his time in Mexico. “She saw a lot of my past works from my art school,” he recalls. “When she saw that, she told me... ‘You need to show. This is perfect.’ Basically, she is the fundamental of everything [that] I do right now.”
Gravity of Dreams is on display at the 226 Main Street Gallery until September 14, with an artist talk taking place at 7 p.m. on closing night. Gallery hours and more information can be found at the gallery’s website or on their social media channels.