HARDedge: Precision as a Site for Experimentation

The term hard-edge is often associated with a strict formalism—clean lines, flat colour, and an almost mechanical precision that emerged in contrast to the gestural urgency of Abstract Expressionism. Yet, as this exhibition demonstrates, the language of hard-edge abstraction is not confined to a singular visual or material approach. Instead, it is a conceptual framework that artists can push against, subvert, and redefine.

In HARDedge, nine Canadian artists engage with the aesthetic principles of hard-edged abstraction while deliberately bending its historical rigidity. The works in the exhibition span painting, fibre, and sculptural forms, each taking an unconventional approach to the call. Some artists introduce unexpected textures, disrupting the traditionally smooth, flat surfaces associated with the style. Others play with irregular geometries, where precision becomes a starting point rather than an end goal. Still others use unconventional materials, applying the language of hard edges to mediums that inherently resist it—soft fabrics, organic forms, or layered constructions.

This exhibition challenges the notion that hard-edge abstraction must be purely optical or rooted in rigid formalism. Instead, it proposes that the movement’s defining characteristics—clarity, structure, and contrast—can serve as a foundation for experimentation rather than limitation. By embracing diverse processes and perspectives, the artists in HARDedge expand the vocabulary of precision, proving that even within strict boundaries, there is room for fluidity, nuance, and redefinition.

ARTIST BIOS

Angie Quintanilla (keen-tah-knee-yah) Coates is a visual artist born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico based in British Columbia, Canada. Her work is deeply influenced by her cultural heritage and personal journey. Through bold colour and geometric forms, she creates compositions that radiate joy and an unapologetic, relentless optimism. This is a nod to her Mexican roots, and an invitation for anyone who needs it, to get a dose of what she likes to call “dopamina mexicana”. When she’s not in her studio, she can be found exploring the nearby ocean and mountain trails in Port Moody, where she lives with her dog Meatball, and rescue husband Geoff.

www.angieqcoates.com

Ali Bruce is a Vancouver based visual artist specializing in bold and highly saturated design. Over the past decade she’s collaborated with small local businesses’, large lifestyle brands, and has painted many murals in the city and province. She’s currently focused on exploring and expanding her painting practice, and is inspired by making tactile, dimensional art. Bruce received a BFA from Emily Carr University in 2014, and a certificate in Communication Design from BCIT in 2016.

www.alibruce.com

Ideet Sharon is a Vancouver-based artist whose work explores themes of geometric entanglement, connection, and abstraction. After graduating from a fine arts high school, Ideet studied at the Vancouver Film School in 1997, followed by a career as a computer graphics artist and animator in the animation industry. Based in her East Vancouver studio, Sharon combines diverse mediums to explore geometric entanglement, connection, and abstraction, viewing the world as fragments that collaborate, balance, and integrate into a greater whole. The relationships between these geometries represent the complexities of our perception, where individual parts coexist within a unifying story. Her work reflects on individual and collective journeys, personal perception, and the way we interact with the spaces within and around us. inviting reflection on the relationship between environment, perception, and self-expression.

www.ideetsharon.com

Marion Landry’s background in design and her career as a 3D Architecture Visualization Specialist inform the way she observes, organizes, and translates the pictorial plane. In the 3D world, she specialized in lighting, an expertise that continues to influence her painting practice. Influenced by Modernist abstraction, her geometric painting compositions use chromatic vibrations, hard-edged forms, and graphic lines to capture the essence of light as observed in nature and evoke sensory responses. Through subtle painterly gestures, low contrast, and minimal compositions, Landry creates contemplative spaces that invite viewers to pause, reconnect, and find refuge in stillness.

www.marionlandry.com

Ben Skinner’s practice explores the nature of language through the use of text and materiality. Calling on a vast knowledge of materials and methods, Skinner applies his hand to concepts that are by turn ironic, witty, introspective and questioning. His works often combine mechanical production methods common in sign making with traditional materials and techniques such as hand-applied gold leaf and silk marbling. His conceptual practice moves him between an expanding list of media including foil, flocking, plaster, vinyl lettering, plastics, neon and mirror. Skinner has a keen eye for finishes that borders on obsessive, resulting in highly polished works with a quasi-fetish quality. Ben lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia. Currently showing with Winsor Art Projects in Vancouver, Herringer-Kiss in Calgary, and UpRise Art in NYC.

www.benskinner.com

Corrina Hammond is an artist specializing in textile design and hand-weaving using traditional floor looms. Originally from the Kootenay’s and Calgary, she made her way to Vancouver British Columbia through Austin Texas. Corrina earned her BFA in 1994 from Emily Carr College of Art and Design. Over the past decade Hammond has honed her weaving expertise, more recently establishing Domestic Intervention Company, a weaving studio in Vancouver’s Chinatown where she designs and hand weaves textiles and offers weaving workshops. Hammond actively engages with community by participating in fundraising events for public art institutions, open studio events for the public, hand weaving demonstrations such as a live weaving event and textile talk at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Heart of the City Festival. Her textile art has been featured in juried group exhibitions and currently has art on display in Calgary, a juried touring exhibit with Alberta Craft. Corrina’s extensive involvement in Vancouver’s art scene includes group and solo exhibits. She is a founding member of the Vancouver punk rock trio MAOW. Her visual art and music have garnered media attention, press support, and coverage in various publications.

www.domesticinterventionco.bigcartel.com

Kai Liu is a Chinese-Canadian artist based in Vancouver, BC, renowned for his expressive depictions of abstract landscapes. He utilizes painting, printmaking, and mixed media to explore the interplay between observed nature and imaginative imagery. Born and raised in China, Liu developed his artistic skills through formal academic training in his early years. His journey eventually brought him to Canada, where he initially worked as a graphic designer in Ontario. Later, finding his artistic home in Vancouver, he pursued printmaking at Langara College. Liu furthered his education by earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Emily Carr University. During his MFA program, he was influenced by both traditional Chinese art and Western art, exploring their integration through techniques, aesthetic philosophies and materiality in his contemporary practice, resulting in a unique blend of cultural influences. His work has been showcased throughout Canada, reflecting his unique artistic approach and diverse influences.

www.liu-kai.com

Marlene Lowden primarily works in oil and creates large expressive paintings on canvas. After several years in television broadcasting, she resumed her lifelong interest in painting, drawing, and photography. She draws from her experience in television and video production, applying to canvas similar principles of composition and storytelling. While working and raising her two daughters, she studied with a range of instructors learning watercolour, acrylic, and oil painting techniques. Saatchi Art selected her as 1 of 24 artists to collect in 2024 and she has been featured in Women United Art Magazine. She lives and works in her hometown of Gibsons, BC Canada.

www.marlenelowden.com

Challenging the rules of what is and exploring the what ifs, Melanie Olson (she/her) draws on 20 years of scientific research in labs across Canada and challenges the use of materials while researching emotion evoking subject matter to create a better world for the future. Olson is a Canadian multi-disciplinary artist. She draws inspiration from personal experiences and the landscapes of observation around her. In addition, she also gets excited by all the inspiring artist around the world sharing their work and creative processes.