How can exploring a family archive transform our understanding of the collective present?

The Past Is Before You by Montreal-born artist Arnie Lipsey explores this question by considering how memories can be examined, reimagined and even uplifted, shedding new light on the artist’s personal history.

An exercise in catharsis, Lipsey’s paintings forgo linear time, choosing instead to collapse the past, present, and future. Each work begins with an archival family photograph, and branches out into thematic explorations of war, survival, immigration, family life, as well as leisure. Lipsey’s paintings depict everyday Jewish life in Eastern Europe and Montreal from his family’s vantage point, highlighting stories transmitted across generations that are simultaneously loving, comforting, humorous, and haunting.

On June 27, please join us for a celebratory vernissage of The Past Is Before You. We welcome you to immerse yourselves in the surrealist worlds within Lipsey's vibrant compositions.

Opening remarks from the artist and our curatorial team will take place at 8:00 pm. Complimentary refreshments will be available, and our bar (payable by card only) will be open with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage options. We invite guests to stay later into the evening with live music by our DJ.

Kindly note that advanced registration is required for all who wish to attend. Visit the button below to reserve your spot.

Accessibility: Please note that our building is currently not accessible to visitors with limited mobility. This exhibition takes place on the second and third floors.

About Arnie:

The son of European-Jewish immigrants, Arnie Lipsey was born and raised in Montreal, and is a graduate from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts School of Art and Design, majoring in Film Animation. After working for a period in the nascent Israeli animation industry, he relocated to Toronto in 1978 where he had a decades-long career in animation for film and television. Working in the classical mode (as director, animator, designer, and storyboard artist) using pencil and paper, he later made a successful transition to digital technologies. Arnie augmented his commercial work with independent filmmaking, producing two animated shorts that have been screened internationally.

In 2018, he returned to his early artistic discipline: painting. He has exhibited and won awards in juried exhibitions and curated group shows in Ontario and Florida, and participated as an arts grants juror in St. Petersburg.