PUSHing out Osvaldo’s Beasts

June 14th, 2009

It is safe to say that Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo, who is younger than you would think and very much brimming over with equal parts creative enthusiasm and dedicated focus, is one of THE contemporary artists working in Canada (or wherever he goes, stays, sleeps and tumbles) to pay attention to now and forever more.

I have been a huge fan of his for several years since I first saw his large illustrations gracing the halls in the new, oddly sterile (or just odd & sterile) EV building at Concordia University. His use of intense mythologies and an unbelievable technique made me stop in my tracks, rabbit-caught-in-field-in-the-middle-of-the-hunt, and compelled me to make immediate contact. Since then, we’ve had the honour of working with him for Art Pop 2008, and have seen more and more folks take the appropriate measures they should in regards to aiding and abetting his skills.

Which is why I am SO excited to go to his latest show at Megan Bradley’s awesome PUSH gallery, which opens in only a few days, on the 18th of June. Penned Bestiaries, it is a series of new works that are smaller in format than some of his larger-scale works, but prove only how versatile an artist he is, as they translate the finesse of line and impact of symbolic gesture equally powerfully. There will be big stuff there too, for those who have…size issues. As well, he’ll be showing some of the lithographs he did recently at the St.Michael’s Printshop residency in Newfoundland, which is a medium he hasn’t explored in some time, so it’s a special treat to be able to look at these astounding prints.

Honestly, this little write-up hardly does his complex and compelling work any justice at all, but one day I will put up a full-fledged interview with the guy and get it over with. Until then, mark off your calendars for this Thursday starting at 7pm, and get your butts over to PUSH and see for yourselves.