Dina Roudman was born in Norilsk, Siberia, in 1991, moved to Kazakhstan at 3 months, and then to Israel at the age of 8. As a teen, she began a modeling career which subsequently took her to many of the fashion centres of the world – Paris, Milan, Berlin, New York, Miami and Athens. . . finally settling in Toronto . . .

Blessed with an unusually free and courageous spirit, Roudman has continually overcome her fears, faced her limitations and then boldly stepped – perhaps leapt is a better word – into the unknown. Dina enjoys an unusual combination of biographical elements and character traits. She experienced some excellent traditional influences as a child, but is essentially a self-taught artist. She had something of a whirlwind youth and early adulthood during her modeling career which impressed upon her the scope and sophistication of the world of art, design and fashion. She is by no means fearless but rather faces her fears and overcomes them. She has a kind of ‘edgy confidence’, if that isn’t too strange a notion. Sensitive but not fragile, she has learned to trust herself and knows from her experience at trying her hand at many things that the greatest struggles are internal.”

Emerging as a painter, Roudman is thoughtfully bringing her familiar boldness and creativity to a predilection for large format mixed media canvases. You can tell that she’s using her entire body to paint. She structures her compositions tracing large-limbed movements, varying her line with brushes ranging in size from a fraction of an inch to a hand’s-width, combining explosive, colourful energy with lyrical monochromatic minimalism. Often a particular fragment of a large complex piece will capture the attention, providing an entry point to begin engaging with the many elements, colours and disparate forms that comprise most of her pieces. One identifies a signature of shaping the space, putting down the colour and holding it all together in a way that is somehow reminiscent of disparate great influences in the world of art, from Lichtenstein’s pop-art illustrations to Miro’s large scale abstractions.

Dina’s instincts are pure, her drive is formidable and her ambition is boundless. She is open to influence from endless sources and has a healthy respect for the need to always be learning. Excellent original ideas pour out of her in a steady stream. With the work of this exhibition as an indication, we are keen to follow her development into her continuing explorations of the possibilities of the medium. Expect the unexpected.

Read Less -