Reviewed by Beth Stewart
The Artistry of Notion exhibition at Westland Gallery celebrates the work and friendship of Johnnene Maddison and Mike Brouse. It includes fifteen of Maddison’s colourful abstractions, as well as three of her small hand-stitched gems, and fifteen of Brouse’s expressionistic pieces.
Maddison’s acrylic-on-canvas paintings fill the front gallery, while Brouse’s oils are spread throughout the rear gallery.
Johnnene Maddison’s delightful pieces preserve small points in time in paint and form.
In her artist statement, she writes about how her subject matter and choice of media has evolved over the years from mixed media work about women – their rights, their history, their challenges – to single-media acrylic paintings that are gestural and immediate.
This work is personal yet also presents Maddison’s experiences as universal truths.
The pieces burst with colour and carefully constructed forms. While the pieces stand on their own, the titles guide the viewer’s observations and direct their thoughts.
(Pictured: Johnnene Maddison, “Doors and Windows”, acrylic on canvas, 36 by 36 inches.)
Her 36-by-36-inch acrylic on canvas “Doors and Windows” rightfully occupies the front window. The subject can be enjoyed as is, but can also be seen as a representation of transitional thresholds.
(Pictured: Johnnene Maddison, “Wandering in My Mind”, acrylic on canvas. 30 by 40 inches.
Upon entering the gallery, her 30-by-40-inch acrylic on canvas, “Wandering in My Mind”, graces the left wall with its cadmium yellow centre clamouring for attention. Another eye-catcher, her 30-by-40-inch acrylic titled “Crazy Trip”, hangs on the back wall. Both embrace angular forms that straddle a line between staticity and busyness.
(Pictured: Johnnene Maddison, “Crazy Trip”, acrylic on canvas, 30 by 40 inches.)
While Maddison boasts a well-established artistic career, Michael Brouse came late to art after taking a class just before retirement. Around 2010, he began painting landscapes, but says he soon became “excited about the distortions caused by waves on reflections [and] segued into expressive abstraction”.
He cites Maddison and American expressionist painter Krista Harris, whose work is rooted in the natural world, as having influenced his work.
His works have an ethereal quality. As with Maddison’s work, titles are important
His layered, scratched, and scraped surfaces suggest landforms and figures, yet these remain elusive. His brushwork is ragged and energetic.
To Brouse, a notion as reflected in the title of this show refers to “an intuition, a feeling, imagination.” Fitting, as his expressive application of paint on a canvas conveys memory and dreams.
(Pictured: Michael Brouse, “Stillness”, oil on canvas, 36 by 48 inches.)
For example, he says his oil on canvas “Stillness”, which hangs on the left wall with its pops of orange, captures a vivid feeling from his childhood. It is one he has also marked with a poem: “Barefoot I stepped/ on to a cold winter floor/ as a child, touched by the/ radiant magic of a breaking morn./ My secret treasure stored away/ in the stillness.”
(Pictured: Michael Brouse, “North Shore”, oil on panel, 24 by 30 inches.)
On the right wall, Brouse’s 24-by-30-inch “North Shore” is next to the 32-by-40-inch “Notion”. While the subject of “North Shore” remains slippery, it contains forms that come tantalizingly close to representational, making it all the more intriguing.
One can assume its neighbour, “Notion”, is the source of the show’s title.
(Pictured: Michael Brouse, “Notion”, oil on canvas, 32 by 40 inches.)
IF YOU GO:
What: The Artistry of Notion featuring works by Johnnene Maddison and Mike Brouse.
When: February 3 to February 28. Opening Reception on Saturday, February 7, from 1:00 to 3:00pm.
Where: Westland Gallery, 156 Wortley Road, London, ON,
For more information, visit: https://westlandgallery.ca/
Reviewed by Beth Stewart
The Beat Magazine 2025 