In Abstracted Realities, Viz Saraby and Simon Kattar both take everyday experiences and transform them into something entirely new. Kattar’s paintings are full of movement, colour, and rhythm, a sensory translation of life itself, while Saraby twists the familiar with conceptual play, humour, and abstraction. Together, their works invite viewers to explore a world where reality is just the starting point, sometimes strange, sometimes funny, always thought-provoking.
Exhibit Schedule
Opens: March 7, 2026
Grand Reception: March 7 | 2-4pm
Closes: April 1 at 2pm
Viz Saraby
Ship Happens!
Boats are meant to be steady, graceful things. In Ship Happens! sails warp, hulls bend, and vessels dissolve into abstraction, turning harbours into places of chaos. These sailboats are photographs printed onto birch plywood and painted in moody brown ochres. They borrow the drama of the Old Masters, lending weight and solemnity to images that are, at heart, unruly. They are boats remembered through a haze: familiar yet disobedient, dignified yet faintly absurd.
In these works, the boundaries between work and play begin to blur. The painted boats carry traces of skill, care, and memory, but also a wink. They refuse to behave as intended and sometimes drift off course. Sometimes, ship just happens.
Simon Kattar
Mixing Memory and Desire
I was born in Beirut and have lived in Toronto since 1975. My Lebanese Canadian heritage has deeply shaped my artistic journey and identity, which is both wistful and hopeful, blending past and present, “mixing memory and desire” (T.S. Eliot).
My creative process is largely intuitive and spontaneous, inspired by nature and the grateful experience of everyday life, however seemingly mundane. Inspiration can come from anywhere and from the most unexpected places, but music is a constant source of revelation: Chopin, Vivaldi, or the voice of Fairuz, melancholic and nostalgic. “My heart is in your hands,” sings Fairuz in Bahebak Ya Lebnan (I love you Lebanon). These words echo through my work, which always begins with love.
I strive to layer and contrast colour and texture to evoke underlying feelings, the exultations and conflicts of our inner lives and the utter beauty and complexity of the world around us. I intend my work to be a point of connection between my heart and the viewer’s, and the viewer and their own personal landscapes.
