Bogdan Luca: The Green Suitcase

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Baggage. Acrylic, oil, and collage on canvas.

The Green Suitcase
Bogdan Luca

March 1 – 25, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday March 4, 2023 from 2-5 pm
Artist will be present in the gallery on March 4, 18, and 25 during gallery hours.

The Red Head Gallery is pleased to showcase the first show The Green Suitcase by Bogdan Luca.

My mother and I immigrated to Canada in 1996 bringing along a suitcase full of photographs. I rediscovered this luggage decades later and found myself captivated by its contents. The photographs are a history of my family: many people whose futures I know. My interest was particularly piqued by my grandfather, a paternal figure who had a classified parallel life. He served the Romanian communist regime from the 50s to the 70s as a detector of spies.

The Green Suitcase is my way of articulating the mystery of my grandfather’s extraordinary life. You can sense his gaze in the notes and markings he made on some of the photographs. His life and actions were similarly scrutinized by another gaze: the state. The suitcase suggests to me a layering of witnessing, vigilance, and surveillance.

This show was generously funded by a Canada Council Grant.

Studio shot.

Bogdan Luca is a Toronto based painter. He makes work about the relationship between visual culture, dreams, and reality. With an insistent interest in the human figure, the artist creates worlds where relationships that we take for granted are revisited: figure/ground, abstract/representational, depth/flatness. Bogdan is the recipient of Canada Council and Ontario Art Councill grants. He teaches drawing and painting at OCAD University, Sheridan College and the Art Gallery of Ontario. The Green Suitcase is his first exhibition with the Red Head Gallery.

The Red Head Gallery

Accessibility Information

The Red Head Gallery

Accessible

The Red Head Gallery was established in 1990 and is Toronto’s most enduring collectively run art gallery. It has stood the test of time as an exhibition space as well as a collective where critically engaged, highly productive artists enjoy curatorial control over the presentation of their work. Over the past two decades more than 100 artists have been part of The Red Head Gallery and have produced over 200 exhibitions.

There are two accessible entrances to 401 Richmond. At the northwest corner of the building, a ramp leads upward from the sidewalk to an automatic entrance onto the building’s main floor that measures 34″ wide, and with a lip that measures 1″ high. The other entrance at the northeast corner is less evident but equally, if not more, accessible. The automatic door measures 34″ wide and inside has a gradual ramp downwards which leads towards the elevators.

Methodology

Self-Survey

Date

Dec 2017

Entrance & Building Exterior

Entrance
Street Level	Yes
Street Level without Steps	Yes
Street Level with Steps	No
Door
Width of doorway	80"
Automatic Door Opener	No
Vestibule
Vestibule at Entrance	No

Restrooms

Accessible Washroom
Single Occupancy Accessible Washroom	No
Wheelchair Accessible Stall
Wheelchair Accessible Stall in a Washroom	Yes
Washroom Door width	Unknown
Washroom Automatic Door Opener	Unknown
Grab Bars Beside and Behind the Toilet	No
Obstructions Under the Sink	No
Measurement from the Bottom of the Sink to the Floor	Unknown