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38 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday June 6, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Artscene Oakville Beaver · FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 2008 Local artist comes of age, garners award By Joanna Phillips SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER In the course of eight years, Gareth Bate has gone from young hopeful to accomplished OCAD graduate, with a 500 sq. ft. studio to boot. It was Friday, Feb. 18, 2000 that an 18year-old Bate was profiled in The Oakville Beaver as an OAC student at T.A. Blakelock High School. There he was, on the front cover, posing with a mural, Seasons of Life, he'd painted in the entrance hall of school. He professed to an interest in aboriginal art, African in particular. His murals, Inuit Scream and Seasons of Life, were a tribute to Ojibwa artist Norval Morrisseau, who he'd been exposed to on a field trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario. "It was meant as a tribute. That's why I used his style...It was designed to look exactly like his artwork," said Bate in the article. "A lot is his symbolism, and a lot is my own take on native symbolism." What a difference eight years makes. Bate has now come into his own, and last year won the 401 Richmond CareerLauncher Prize, which is a 500 sq. ft. studio given to one OCAD graduate for a year. He will be wrapping up his year there with the exhibition Lament at Gallery 260 (second floor), which will run until June 21, every Wednesday to Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. Bate's family emigrated to Canada from South Africa when he was just six years old. Since then, the world has been his oyster. In 1997, he spent a year in France at the Lycee Marie-Curie, representing Canada, and learning French. He obtained a university entrance schol- ARTISTIC LICENCE: Gareth Bate stands in his studio in front of three of his landscape paintings that are part of his latest exhibition. arship to the University of Ottawa, and was chosen as one of 39 bilingual students from Canada to participate in the House of Commons Page program. "I had a great time, it was awesome and I learned a lot. But I didn't want to be immersed in Ottawa politics," Bate admitted. His heart lay in expressing himself freely, in painting, drawing, photography and sculpture, an opportunity given to him by the Art Centre at the Central Technical School in Toronto. There, he completed a three-year post secondary adult art program, which is offered free of cost by the Toronto District School Board. Bate then entered OCAD's Bachelor of Fine Arts program in 2005, with a drawing and painting thesis. With credits from Central Technical School and University of Ottawa, he was given advanced standing, and graduated in two years. His most recent paintings, to be shown in the exhibition, pay reverence to the Canadian landscape, but with a twist. Although Bate says he didn't start off painting with a political agenda, "I felt that was on my mind." "I sat around for four months reading, when I got the studio," he said. Mostly, he read science books. In November 2007, he was inspired to create a grass sculpture, which he dragged on his back as he crawled along Queen Street in Toronto. He gleaned huge quantities of grass from Whitevale, Ontario for this, which ended up as his first public performance film, Penance, accessible on YouTube. "It was extremely painful and tiring," he said. "The piece is intended to represent a bizarre act of self-punishment or humiliation in penance for environmental destruction." Bate's been thinking about a sequel, which may involve him on his hands and knees again, this time during the next installment of Nuit Blanche. But doing what? "Dragging electronics, chained computers," he offers up. Whether or not he's serious, Bate has made his mark in the face of 21st century climate change and global warming. Bate has been on his hands on knees for more than just his film debut; he's been working away in his studio on canvasses so large as to envelope the viewer. The environment, global warming and human evolution all tie together in his paintings. "They come across in the mood of the paintings," said Bate, "and have continued into other pieces...all have this dark quality." "I don't think they were this moody before," he says in reference to his previous forays in art. For information about Bate, visit www.garethbate.com.