canan tolon

Turkish-born Canan Tolon now lives in Canada. She is a visual artist who takes space, time, and gravity as her main subject. Tolon is specifically keen on the processes of time, ageing and its linear effect. Because of this fascination she ends up creating works that she describes as “landscapes stripped to their elemental state.” Tolon works with a diverse amount of mediums not limited to painting, drawing, and collage-work. Her unpredictable techniques form interesting creations, such as letting grass grow on a canvas, to smothering a surface with coffee grounds before painting over it. Tolon’s work is greatly influenced by architecture due to her various degrees on the subject.

Tolon has had several solo exhibitions at the Institute for Humanities at the University of Michigan, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Fe, among many more. Her group exhibitions include the Kiev Biennale, as well as shows at the Istanbul Modern Art Museum, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Copenhagen’s Rundetårn Art Center, and the San Jose Museum of Art.