I had to choose between two painting exhibitions this week: one was all abstraction, the other was not. Given my predilection these days to think and write about art as a means to thinking and writing about other stuff, it should come as no surprise that I chose the latter. Based on the Koffler Gallery’s online burb about Howard Podeswa’s A Brief History, I knew I’d find a discursive springboard there; however, the one press image on their site had me hesitating at the possibility of a heavy-handed rehashing of your standard hell-on-earth tropes. Turns out I was half-right. 
Howard Podeswa, Heaven, 2015, oil on canvas (photo: Toni Hafkenscheid)
The exhibition is itself just two paintings dramatically facing each other in a room within the room where studies of one of the main works form a perimeter. The paired works are titled Heaven and Hell, and they are of a size to match the ambitious subject matter. One is predominantly white with lots of little and medium-sized circles. They could be planets, particles, portholes, bullet holes, or bubbles holding or revealing largely unrelated worlds. The whole is unresolved and, except for some tiny figures walking away, the micro-scenes are all barren. This is Heaven and, to paraphrase The Talking Heads, nothing much happens here (which is a description, not a judgment).
The other canvas holds a single giant black hole filled with obscure scenes of torment. Near the centre, police cars emerge through the night; around them masked, demonic figures corral shadowy masses. The irony of this binary is that you have to step back towards Heaven to get a better view of Hell and vice versa. 
Howard Podeswa, Study for Hell #3, 2013, oil on canvas (photo: Toni Hafkenscheid)
I prefer to regard the light one. The dark one is too singular in its vision. It lacks ambiguity. Plus this Hell looks clichéd. Demons, skulls and scythes, bodies falling in caves with the usual interior design. The logic of this place feels fake, like a fairy tale constructed just to make you scared. The artist’s statement indicates he’s referencing past art on the same subject, but the real Hell could be cold, crisp and bureaucratic or (spoiler alert!) bright like the school stairs at the end of The Believer.
Heaven, however, is more intriguing and inspired by astrophysics. When discussing divine metaphysics, Descartes never mentions Hell. He says there's God (which is more a dimension than a person) and then there’s nothing – not evil, but absence of perfection. But what about Heaven? It’s got something to do with infinity, and in the innumerable particles fading into the aether suggested by Podeswa’s canvas, it’s there in the gallery too.
Koffler Gallery: http://kofflerarts.org/
Howard Podeswa: A Brief History continues until March 27.
Terence Dick is a freelance writer living in Toronto. His art criticism has appeared in Canadian Art, BorderCrossings, Prefix Photo, Camera Austria, Fuse, Mix, C Magazine, Azure, and The Globe and Mail. He is the editor of Akimblog. You can follow his quickie reviews and art news announcements on Twitter @TerenceDick.
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Howard Podeswa at Koffler Gallery
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