Born: 1972
Lives: Montreal, Canada
My work is informed by certain attractions, compulsions, and obsessions with the photographic image. Images may come from a variety of sources, whether shared online or personal. Selected for their formal or intuitive appeal, the images undergo a process, which aims resolve or utilize the ambiguous potential of the narrative they present. The subject matter is malleable as is the medium; in the production of new imagined potentials to communicate the personal or the emotional. This physical and painterly process aspires to celebrate the essence and concept at play in the image, while examining everyday experiences such as failure, anxiety, longing, transformation, beauty, uncertainty, resilience, and escape.
A painting practice is not a black and white endeavour. It is a fluctuating, tumultuous process, which requires constant evaluation. One must maintain an approach that remains fluid and equipped to address the changes and challenges in the evolution of painting and the art sector. As my work develops, my curiosity for what drives us to make is only increasing.
My latest paintings are mostly small scale, and intimate, slightly unreal views into larger worlds. We see through abstracted portals like in a dream, or a distant memory, but these could also be protective barriers or something more ominous encroaching. The figure/ground relationship is not straightforward, but the longing for reconnection is real. A desire for the paradoxically soothing and frightening natural world is present, and they are also a tribute to what we are inextricably linked to. Ultimately, these works are metaphors for inner life, which in turn is affected by the precarity of the self. It’s an investigation into the many manifestations of our own internal wildness or “nature”. Are we closer to it by means of these openings, or do they create more distance?
Heidi Daehler has exhibited her works in solo and group shows in and about Montreal and New York, and has completed dozens of commissioned paintings. Her work can be found in numerous private collections across Canada and the U.S., as well as in the U.K., Japan, Australia, and Mexico. Daehler holds a BFA in Studio Arts and a BA in Psychology (Concordia, 2006 and 1997).
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 Recent Portraits, accompanying show to “Blind Date, Centaur Theatre, Montreal, Canada
2016 Something Tangible, General 54, Montreal, Canada
2011 Do you miss me?, Wilder & Davis Gallery, Montreal, Canada
2010 General 54, Montreal, Canada
2008 Central Stamp and Seal, Montreal, Canada
2006 Peace Art Gallery, Belgo Building, Montreal, Canada
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 Regarding the Wild, Chashama Space to Present: One Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York, USA
Flyover State, Resonator Institute, Norman, Oklahoma, USA
2018 The P Show, The Long Haul Gallery, Montreal, Canada
Trou de Ver//Wormhole, YMUNO Gallery, Montreal, Canada
Festival Soir: Lou, Montreal, Canada
Centre Hermitage, Georgeville, Canada
Art Ailé, Studio Georgeville, Georgeville, Canada
Duo Exhibit, Monastiraki-Le petit monastère, Montreal, Canada
2017 The O Show, The Long Haul Gallery, Montreal, Canada
Le Corps Humain, Studio Georgeville, Georgeville, Canada
Timeraiser 150, Au Sommet Place Ville Marie, Montreal, Canada
2016 Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, The Long Haul Gallery, Montreal, Canada
The N Show, The Long Haul Gallery, Montreal, Canada
Centerfold 9, Nuwrk, Montreal, Canada
Face to Face, Studio Georgeville, Georgeville, Canada
Timeraiser Montreal, 5th Edition, Montreal, Canada
2015 The M Show, The Long Haul Gallery, Montreal, Canada
Galerie Fringe 2015, Montreal, Canada
2014 The L Show, The Long Haul Gallery, Montreal, Canada
Timeraiser Montreal, 3rd Edition, Montreal, Canada
2013 Timeraiser Montreal, 2nd Edition, Montreal, Canada
2012 The J Show, The Long Haul Gallery, Montreal, Canada
2011 Petit Sacré, AB Gallery, Montreal, Canada
2009 Winter Show at Interstice, Montreal, Canada
2008 Photo Op, Plum Gallery, Montreal, Canada
Food for Thought, Club Le Social, Montreal, Canada
Ferment, The Long Hall, Montreal, Canada
2007 Pindemonium, Articule, Montreal, Canada
2005 Menagerie, Art en Majuscule, Montreal, Canada
Infinité…Les Objets, VAV Gallery, Montreal, Canada
2004 Trembling Ground, Museo Civico D’Arte Contemporanea, Casacalenda, Italy
2003 JACASS, John Abbott College, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Canada
1994 Art Rental Collection, Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Pointe Claire, Canada
EDUCATION
2003-2006 BFA (with Distinction), Studio Art, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
2001-2003 Personalized full-time studies in the Fine Arts, John Abbott College, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Canada
1992-1997 BA (with Distinction), Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
AWARDS, DISTINCTIONS, RESIDENCIES
2018 Vermont Studio Centre Residency, Vermont, USA
Merit-based Artist Grant ($1200 USD) Vermont Studio Centre Residency, Vermont, USA
2011 Friday’s favourite four (paintings of the week) Belgo Report, weekly online magazine
2005 In-Course Bursary
2004 Millennium Scholarship Award, Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation
2004 In-Course Bursary; Golden Key International Honour Society Induction
2003 Millennium Scholarship Award, Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation
2001 Elected jury member for John Abbott College graduation exhibition