Paul Bernhardt: The Alien Shore

Opening: Wednesday, 12 May at 7:00pm

These unusual mixed-media paintings on steel by Halifax-based emerging artist Paul Bernhardt explore the tension between various oppositions: image and surface, beauty and toxicity, abstraction and figuration. Landscape references emerge from the the richly-worked steel surfaces, on which the artist has used abrasive tools, rusting and patinating agents, as well as oil, tar and enamel. Viewers are both attracted and repelled by the resultant works and their layered implications.