The weight of the world is light as a leaf

Paul Petro Contemporary Art is pleased to present new and recent works on paper and a wall drawing by Zachari Logan. Many overlapping themes in the exhibition parallel those found in Logan’s recently released poetry book, A Natural History of Unnatural Things. Logan will be reading from this book on Saturday, November 13 at 2pm. The exhibition also includes works on paper produced in collaboration with celebrated American painter Ross Bleckner.


The Weight of the World is as Light as a Leaf

Another discarded cat claw
on the sill,

to be placed
in the antique candy bowl.

Stale-air witch’s brew
of whiskers,
claws,
fortune cookie scrolls,
dried orchid blooms,
daffodils

and a leaf.

Thanatos grips
the piling of twigs,
onto leaves,
grass,
stones;

bedskirts for many frozen
months.

A long ago thought
you birthed,
manifests as a drop
in temperature.
A brisk wind

causes a condensation,
cataract on the window
panes; light and movement
divined
through the gaze
of an augur.

— Zachari Logan, from the book of poetry, A Natural History of Unnatural Things, Radiant Press (available here).


ZACHARI LOGAN (b. 1980, Saskatoon, SK) received his MFA from the University of Saskatchewan (2008). Through large-scale drawing, ceramics, painting and installation practices, Zachari Logan evolves a visual language that explores the intersections between masculinity, identity, memory and place. In previous work related to his current practice, Logan investigated his own body as an exclusive site of exploration. In recent work, Logan’s body remains a catalyst, but no longer the sole focus. Employing a strategy of visual quotation, mined from place and experience, Logan re-wilds his body as a queer embodiment of nature. This narrative shift engages ideas of beauty, empirical explorations of landscape and overlapping art-historic motifs.

Logan’s work has been exhibited widely, in group and solo exhibitions throughout North America, Europe and Asia, including: Athens, Amsterdam, Atlanta, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Cincinnati, Chicago, Calgary, Edmonton, Grenoble, Kochi, Halifax, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, Regina, Paris, Salo, Saskatoon, Seattle, Schio, Tampa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Verona, and Vienna.

Logan has attended residencies in Paris in conjunction with Galerie Jean Roch Dard, in rural Tennessee at Sassafras ARC/Liberty, in Calgary through Alberta College of Art + Design: Visiting Artist Program, in Vienna several times through both the Museum Quartier’s quartier21: Artist in Residence Program and project space Schliefmuhlgasse 12-14, and in London at Angus-Hughes Gallery. In the spring of 2015 Logan attended the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), and returned to NYC during the winter of 2016 as artist in residence at Wave Hill Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. During the summer of 2017, Logan was Artist in Residence in the Tom Thomson Shack on the site of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection; part of a special commission to create a work in responses to the centenary of Thomson's death. Logan has also worked collaboratively with several artists, including noted American painter Ross Bleckner and French artist Sophie Calle.

Collections include the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Remai Modern (Saskatoon), McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinberg, ON), Mackenzie Art Gallery (Regina, SK), the Morris & Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC), the Leslie Lohman Museum (New York, NY), the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Overland Park, Kansas) and the Schulich School of Business, York University (Toronto, ON), the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, SK), Global Affairs, Canada, The Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa, ON) and the Thetis Foundazione (Venice). Corporate art collections include TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank and Cadillac Fairview.

In 2014 Logan received the Lieutenant Governors Award for emerging artist, in 2015 an Alumni of Influence Award from the University of Saskatchewan, and in 2016 Logan was long-listed for the Sobey Award. Logan has received numerous grants from the Saskatchewan Arts Board, Creative Saskatchewan and Canada Council for the Arts and in 2016, received a Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant (NY). Logan was the 2021 Koerner Artist in Residence at Queens University, in Kingston, Ontario. Logan’s work is currently on view in the solo exhibition Remembrance at the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA).



Individual Works:





Zachari Logan Dandelions (Roots) 2021 chalk pastel, graphite, blue pencil and watercolour on pink paper 10 ½ x 10 inches private collection, Toronto






Zachari Logan Remains 1 2020 chalk pastel on tan paper 7 ¼ x 6 ½ inches






Zachari Logan Remains 2 2020 chalk pastel on blue paper 9 x 8 ¾ inches






Zachari Logan Remains 3 2020 chalk pastel on blue paper 8 ½ x 8 inches






Zachari Logan Remains 4, Daisy at the Cottage 2020 chalk pastel on brown paper 7 ¾ x 8 inches private collection, Toronto






Zachari Logan Remains 5 2020 chalk pastel on brown paper 6 ¾ x 5 ¼ inches






Zachari Logan Remains 6 2020 chalk pastel on blue paper 7 x 12 ¼ inches






Zachari Logan Remains 7 2020 chalk pastel on brown paper 8 ¾ x 7 ½ inches






Zachari Logan Remains 8, Fall Aster at the Cottage 2020 chalk pastel on blue paper 9 ¾ x 7 ½ inches private collection, Toronto






Zachari Logan Remains 9 2020 chalk pastel on brown paper 8 ¾ x 10 ¾ inches






Zachari Logan Remains 10 2020 chalk pastel on tan paper 10 ½ x 7 ¼ inches






Zachari Logan Remains 11 2020 chalk pastel on blue paper 8 ½ x 5 ½ inches






Zachari Logan The Weight of the World 2021 chalk pastel on blue paper 45 x 25 ¼ inches






Zachari Logan Disappearing Sky 2020 chalk pastel on blue paper 49 x 60 ¾ inches






Zachari Logan Dead Carnations 2019 chalk pastel on blue paper 17 x 20 ½ inches






Zachari Logan Shell 1 2020 chalk pastel on blue paper 5 x 6 inches






Zachari Logan Shell 2 2020 chalk pastel on brown paper 10 x 8 ¾ inches






Zachari Logan Shell 3 2020 chalk pastel on brown paper 6 x 7 inches






Zachari Logan Shell 4 2020 chalk pastel on tan paper 6 x 10 ½ inches






Zachari Logan Shell 5 2020 chalk pastel on blue paper 5 ½ x 8 ½ inches






Zachari Logan Shell 6 2020 chalk pastel on blue paper 9 ½ x 5 ¾ inches






Zachari Logan Shell 7 2020 chalk pastel on tan paper 7 ½ x 8 ¾ inches






Zachari Logan Shell 8 2020 chalk pastel on brown paper 6 ½ x 8 ½ inches






Zachari Logan Shell 9 2020 chalk pastel on blue paper 5 ¾ x 9 ¼ inches






Zachari Logan Shell 10 2020 chalk pastel on tan paper 5 ¼ x 6 inches






Zachari Logan Shell 11 2020 chalk pastel on brown paper 8 x 7 inches






Zachari Logan Shell 12 2020 chalk pastel on tan paper 8 ¾ x 7 ¼ inches






Zachari Logan Summer Bones 2020 chalk pastel on brown paper 69 ¼ x 50 inches






Zachari Logan Fallen Leaf No. 1 (Lungs) 2020 chalk pastel on tan paper 10 ¼ x 10 ¼ inches






Zachari Logan Apparition Black Mould 2021 chalk pastel on blue paper 27 ¾ x 49 ¼ inches & Nomenclature #8 2021 graphite wall drawing






Ross Bleckner Untitled 2007-2018 aquatint and oil on paper 28 ½ x 27 ¼ inches






Zachari Logan In Between Series No. 16 2018 blue pencil on Mylar 8 x 8 inches






Ross Bleckner & Zachari Logan Collaborative Series No.5 (Meditations 1) 2018 etching, Mylar overlay, and mixed media 41 x 27 ½ inches






Ross Bleckner & Zachari Logan Collaborative Series (The New York Times Obituaries 4) 2018 lithograph, oil and pastel 39 ½ x 27 ½ inches






Zachari Logan From Cut Flowers, after Mary Delany (No. 2) 2019 vitrified clay, acrylic, paper and chalk pastel 10 x 4 ¾ x 1 ½ inches