Six Positions in Abstraction
August 5-22, 2026
Red Head Gallery, Toronto
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 8, 2-5 pm

Red Head Gallery is pleased to present Six Positions in Abstraction, a new exhibition hosted by artist Ian Mackay.

Six Positions in Abstraction brings together six established painters from the western edge of Lake Ontario whose long-running practices now meet at Red Head Gallery. Hosted by gallery member Ian Mackay, the exhibition welcomes Barry Coombs, Jody Joseph, Peter Kirkland, Janice Kovar, Marla Panko, and Ian Mackay as equal participants in a shared conversation about what abstraction can do—formally, materially, and emotionally. Across the group, approaches range from gestural immediacy and rhythmic mark-making to calibrated geometry, layered spatial constructions, and attentive surface work. Each artist brings a distinct visual language, developed through decades of sustained studio inquiry, yet the works resonate through their common investment in colour, structure, and the expressive potential of paint. Rather than proposing a single definition of abstraction, the exhibition presents six complementary positions that explore how meaning emerges through process, perception, and the interplay of control and improvisation. In the artist-run context of Red Head Gallery, Six Positions in Abstraction underscores abstraction as a living language—plural, contemporary, and strengthened through collective exchange.