Flow Channel

February 5 - 7 2016
West Lodge Apartments
105 West Lodge Avenue
Apartment 623
Toronto, Canada

François A Côté
Oliver Roberts
Dana Slijboom
Margaux Smith




      Human beings are
         soft and supple when alive,
          stiff and straight when dead.

      The Myriad creatures, the grass and the trees are
         soft and fragile when alive,
         dry and withered when dead.

Therefore, it is said:
    The rigid person is a disciple of death;
     The soft, supple, and delicate are lovers of life.

     An army that is inflexible will not conquer;
     A tree that is inflexible will snap.

     The unyielding and mighty shall be brought low;
     The soft, supple, and delicate will be set above.

- Lao Tzo, Tao Te Ching


         The foremost reason that happiness is so hard to achieve is that the universe was not designed with the comfort of human being in mind. it is almost immeasurably huge, and most of it is hostilely empty and cold. It is the setting for great violence, as when occasionally a star explodes, turning to ashes everything within billions of miles. The rare planet whose gravity field would not crush our bones is probably swimming in lethal gases. Even planet Earth, which can be so idyllic and picturesque, is not to be taken for granted. To survive on it men and women have had to struggle for millions of years against ice, fire, floods, wild animals, and invisible microorganisms that appear out of nowhere to snuff us out.
         It seems that every time a pressing danger is avoided, a new and more sophisticated threat appears on the horizon. No sooner do we invent a new substance then its by-products start poisoning the environment. Throughout history, weapons that were designed to provide security have turned around and threatened to destroy their makers. As some diseases are curbed, new ones become virulent; and if, for a while mortality is reduced, then overpopulation starts to haunt us. The four grim horsemen of the Apocalypse are never very far away. The earth may be our only home, but it is a home full of booby traps waiting to go off at any moment.

- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, FLOW The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Front: François A Côté Lamp (In Finitude) 2015
Back: Margaux Smith Bacchanale 2015

Front: François A Côté Lamp (In Finitude) 2015
Back: Margaux Smith Untitled 2015

Left: Margaux Smith Untitled 2015
Right: Margaux Smith Untitled 2015

François A Côté
Lamp (In Finitude)
2015

Margaux Smith
Untitled
2015

Margaux Smith
Untitled
2015

Margaux Smith
Untitled
2015

Margaux Smith
Bacchanale
2015

Front: François A Côté Locus 2015
Back: Dana Slijboom That Thing You Like 2015

Front: François A Côté Locus 2015
Back: Dana Slijboom Swan Dove 2015

Dana Slijboom
That Thing You Like
2015

Dana Slijboom
Fingerstick Fish
2015

Left: Dana Slijboom Fingerstick Fish 2015
Right: Dana Slijboom That Thing You Like 2015

Left: Dana Slijboom That Thing You Like 2015
Right: Dana Slijboom Dynomite 2015

Dana Slijboom
Dynomite
2015

Left to Right:
Dana Slijboom Dynomite 2015
Oliver Roberts Chinquapin Bay 2016
François A Côté Locus 2015

Oliver Roberts
Chinquapin Bay
2016