Sarindar Dhaliwal featured exhibition: When I grow up I want to be a namer of paint colours, opened on July 21st 2023. The exhibition follows colourful artworks across three rooms inside of the AGO. Entering the exhibition, the traditional white cube space is automatically challenged. Instead of facing an anxiety-inducing fluorescent white room, Sarindar’s use of colour is an alluring way to draw attention into the intimate space. I found myself more drawn to it, compared to the predictable spaces among the AGO, it felt more inviting than alienating. There’s a playful nature to her exhibit, something childish to it. Just as the name implies, Sarindar’s use of vibrant colours gives a feast to the eyes across the exhibition from books, scriptures to portraits of beauties.

         Among one of the works, is an artisanal splash of red, smothered on the wall. Featuring a 65 foot long grid, 600 portraits of women wearing matching pearl necklaces, and a rich red phone sitting in the middle of the space. It’s hard to ignore the obvious placement of the phone in the centre of Sarindar’s exhibit, “Hey Hey Paula” sticks out as being the first wisp of morning dew in comparison to the rest of her works. Picking it up the song, (titled identically to the work) plays.  I found it fascinating how the photos of smiling engaged women were paired with a song that was both friendly and haunting. It became more bizarre, as I realised not only were they all sharing the same smile and pearl necklaces, they all happen to be brides in arranged marriages across the north west, USA. An interesting coincidence, that this western arranged marriage similarly reflects her own cultural experiences. Perhaps she’s commenting on the social pressures of marriage with young women, or perhaps she’s referencing her own experiences with cultural pressures. The hybridity between western and eastern cultures melds together, similar the artist that combines her heritage with western influences. 

         Following the themes of hue, a work appropriately named “southall: childplay”, features a 86 by 1046cm print of coloured pencil crayons across the hall. Children often gravitate to their favourite colours using it the most. Organised with care, the intention of colour coding instead of something oddballed, it’d clear a child did not arrange this spectacle. However there is love and care placed into each object and placement. Overtime objects that claim our affection most, tend to wear down with age. The thrill of a set of crayons for a child to use for the first time, then the ones used most are worn down and others lost or scattered. Dhaliwal understands this sentiment. She uses photos of pencil crayons she herself has used. The reddish warm tones tend to be used most by her as a child. Capturing a moment in time, a child carelessly doodling away with wonder. A simplistic choice to provide an intimate view into the artist’s life, something humanising about the gaze of the artist and viewers’ connectivity. 

       Plastered across a mustard yellow wall, lays a 60 by 34 inch mixed media piece. Dhaliwal plays a large part in making the viewer critically process the correlation of the names to the colour blocks. Shades of dots border the coloured squares, mimicking those of lead chip paints from walls or cars. Personally I find the contrast eye catching. The dots appear to be like shadows following along these coloured blocks, some of the squares appear to be rectangular or misshaped. Whilst we are encouraged to enjoy the subtle contrasts and imagery, as an audience we cannot help but want to dig deeper and find our own interpretations. Dhaliwal herself speaks on how the names and the colours do not relate and there’s no deeper meaning to it, yet our natural understanding is to simply want to create meaning. I would argue that Dhaliwal does provoke a well balanced line between playful nostalgia and a well depth sense of curiosity. It only dives deeper into what it means to have a childlike wonder, to push beyond the boundaries of what colour invokes in the viewer.

      At the very heart of this exhibition pushes to explore the identity of the artist, she shares her vulnerability hiding behind certain vivid visuals.  The mesh of cultural heritage with a childhood love of paint hues. She smartly is able to create an alluring display of splattered colours across the AGO walls,  that match closely to the very works places across the space. 

AGO as an institution is held as a historical source, yet their ability to branch into modern contemporary artists is a recent reflection of the institution’s ability to change. Dhaliwal being an artist long into her career, is still revolutionary in comparison to the old ideologies of a typical museum institution. There’s a sense of belonging in her works, something I’d argue is missing with a traditional space used to display trophies and claimed works. Her works are inviting to the viewer, a sense of intimate connection between the viewer and artist as an exchange of nostalgia. 

      To grow up is to experience the senses of life, visually speaking, the name of the exhibition touches this best. “When I grow up I want to be the namer of colours” it’s a cute idea, to be a curious innocent child and look at something you love like your pencil crayon in (“Southall: childplay”), or to stare at chips of paint and name them yourself. Imagine if that was a career in itself? I can’t help but ask, maybe when Dhaliwal herself was younger, if she wondered if she could be an artist as a woman of colour. To shift perspectives, maybe the use of a rainbow is truly just a commentary on race & cultural diversity. Perhaps beyond this cute exhibition, there lies social commentary that even Sarindar Dhaliwal  didn’t intend to convey to the public. 

Sources

Dhaliwal, Sarindar. When I grow up I want to be a namer of paint colours. Jul 23rd 2023 - Jan 7th 2024, AGO, Toronto, Canada. 

“In the Studio with Sarindar Dhaliwai.” YouTube, 21 July 2023, https://youtu.be/4L6sy0eEhZw?feature=shared. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023. 

Dart , C. (2023, August 8). Sarindar Dhaliwal combines the personal, the political, and the fantastical in her AGO retrospective. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6930532