Gina Rorai
Gina Rorai begins her large-scale landscape paintings with broad strokes of colour that evoke vibrant waves of energy. Rather than painting landscapes from life, Rorai expresses her memory of perceiving a landscape while walking through it. Horizons do not line up, and there is a constant shift between the images that appear close and far.
Rorai is interested in the qualities of the domestic and quotidian, and her work often appears as a landscape seen through a window, from the perspective of a domestic space looking out. She abstracts or disrupts familiar spaces or landscapes, playing with shifts between interior and exteriors views across the same plane.
Rorai is Canada’s great colourist of her generation. Her colour choices, which can vary widely in a given painting, lay out a foundation, and she builds upon this with textures of internal light and tremulous brushstroking. Her emotive delivery is predicated upon her choice of colours.
After graduating from York University with a BFA, Rorai began exhibiting with the prominent dealer Sable Castelli. She has been included in seminal exhibitions, and her work is held in numerous institutions across Canada. The artist lives in Toronto where she shares a studio where her husband, David Urban. Gina Rorai is represented by Corkin Gallery.
Traces of Abstraction: 1958-2020
29 Apr - 30 Sep 2023Traces of Abstraction: 1958-2020, a ground-breaking exhibition that pulls together important artists from across boundaries and generations. This exhibition showcases some of the most important artists who shaped the development of the abstract art movement.Read moreArtists Across Generations
17 Dec 2022 - 20 Apr 2023This exhibition brings the breadth of our international roster - ranging from local artists including Christian Butterfield and Gina Rorai to international artists Frank Mädler and Andrés Marroquín.Read moreWhat happens in silence
29 Jun - 3 Sep 2022Ann Agee | Young-Il Ahn | Barbara Astman | Vincent Barré | Virgil Baruchel | Lynda Benglis I Brassaï | Christian Butterfield | Sarah Charlesworth | Michelle Forsyth | Lily Cox-Richard | Kyungah Ham | André Kertész | Brendon McNaughton | Frank Mädler | Larry Poons | Gina Rorai | Grit Schwerdtfeger | David Urban | Zulu CultureRead more
"What happens in silence' brings together artists who reference notions of the sacred. These artists re-envision cultural icons by pushing the limits of mediaAccidental Geometries
9 Oct - 19 Dec 2020From mediums as diverse as photography, painting, drawing and sculpture, Corkin Gallery presents the exhibition Accidental Geometries with work by artists: Barbara Astman, Virgil Baruchel, Christian Butterfield, Jota Castro, Jeff...Read moreGina Rorai
Where One Finishes the Other Begins1 Apr - 5 Sep 2020Read moreWhen the sun departs for a new horizon
14 Sep - 21 Nov 2019Barbara Astman, Constantin Brancusi, Brassaï, Jota Castro, Jeff Chiu, Michelle Forsyth, Yakov Gakkel, Miles Gertler, Elisa Julia Gilmour, Thaddeus Holownia, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, André Kertész, Frank Mädler, Carol Marino, Andrés...Read moreDesire
30 Mar - 21 Apr 2018Group exhibition exploring themes of intimacy, fetish, gender and sexuality.Read moreWinged Victory
14 Sep 2017 - 31 Mar 2018Read moreDavid + Goliath
2 Feb - 29 Apr 2017Read moreOn Architecture And Structure
20 Nov 2014 - 11 Feb 2015On Architecture and Structure includes artists whose work either relates to wood and the architectural element, or uses structure as grounds for exploration and discourse. This exhibition will include works...Read moreGina Rorai
Path of Appearance 3 Sep 2014 - 1 Oct 2015Read more
Toronto Star - Deborah Dundas
Deborah Dundas, Toronto Star, August 8, 2020Vie des arts - E.C. Woodley
E.C. Woodley, Vie des Arts, July 1, 2020Canadian Art - E.C. Woodley
E.C. Woodley, Canadian Art, June 15, 2015Border Crossings - James D. Campbell
James D. Campbell, Border Crossings, June 1, 2015
"Traces of Abstraction: 1958-2020" Exhibition Review by E.C. Woodley
November 28, 2023Arrayed in two large rooms at Corkin was sixty years of painting by fourteen artists working primarily in Montreal, Paris, New York, and Toronto. The...Read moreCorkin Gallery at Art Toronto 2020
Corkin Gallery presents the group exhibition Accidental Geometries as part of Art Toronto 2020 October 2, 2020From mediums as diverse as photography, painting, drawing and sculpture, Corkin Gallery presents the exhibition Accidental Geometries with work by artists: Barbara Astman, Virgil Baruchel,...Read moreCorkin Talks: Gina Rorai
Gina Rorai in Conversation with Sarah Milroy September 30, 2020Gina Rorai in conversation with Sarah Milroy on her 2020 exhibition, Where One Finishes The Other Begins at Corkin Gallery.Read moreGina Rorai Exhibition Reviewed in Toronto Star
By Deborah Dundas August 8, 2020VISUAL ARTS - TORONTO STAR Toronto artist Gina Rorai's Corkin Gallery exhibition shares a new way of seeing We've all been on the inside looking...Read moreGina Rorai Exhibition Reviewed in Vie des Arts
By E.C. Woodley June 30, 2020Vie des Arts The Time and Place of an Exhibition: Gina Rorai at Corkin Gallery Light moves imperceptibly eastward in wide, motley patches across the...Read moreWhen the sun departs for a new horizon
Celebrating 40 years of Corkin Gallery September 5, 2019When the sun departs for a new horizon is a group exhibition celebrating 40 years of Corkin Gallery. The exhibition will feature work by Barbara...Read more
Send me more information on Gina Rorai
Join our mailing list for updates.
* denotes required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.