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Lois Schklar

June 18 - July 12, 2025
Opening Reception: June 19, 5:30 – 8 pm  

Words can be confusing. It is not always obvious what someone means to communicate. Obfuscated is intended to perplex the viewer yet encourage their reflection and observation on how one interprets words and/or actions. Consequently, the work and instructions in this exhibition are intentionally ambiguous and somewhat difficult to understand.

Originally, my intention in Obfuscated was to examine the messages hidden in interpersonal relationships that often lead to miscommunication and misinformation.  A covered portrait momentarily caught my eye in a gallery. Its power became the groundwork for Obfuscated. It raised the question: what lies beneath? My curiosity led me to the magnificent Hidden Faces, portraits from the Renaissance, at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.  

And then the world collapsed. My direction shifted.

Obfuscated is now a personal and political reaction to the growing uncertainty in the world, fueled in part by modern technology and media overload.  It is a series composed of two and three-dimensional rebus puzzles, cryptograms, anagrams and codes. * In childhood, these puzzles captivated me. As an adult, they remind me of how symbols are universal yet open to interpretation depending on the history and intellectual curiosity of the viewer.

I want to slow down the process of the viewer’s experience. The exhibition combines several straightforward, hands-on analog activities to challenge the viewer (and the artist) to investigate new ways to engage with the artwork and, like my previous exhibitions, push the traditional NO TOUCH rules of the “white gallery” setting.

Lois Schklar has shown in exhibitions throughout Canada and the US. Her work has been recognized in both craft and fine art venues. In the craft community, she is best known for her burlap sculptures (1987–1996) and non-traditional dolls, (Thirty Years of Dolls, 2011, a retrospective made possible by an award juried by Craft Ontario). In 2017, Schklar was the honoured recipient of the Lily Yung Award.

Schklar’s work has evolved over forty years from complex soft sculptures to minimal installations created with wire or cord. She has received grants from the Toronto Arts Council, Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council for her laminated burlap sculptures (1987- 1996). Schklar’s mixed media installations (2006–2024) have received numerous awards including an OAC Integrated Arts Project Grant (2013) for Collected Memories, a wire installation with a professional dancer, musician and lighting designer; Prototypes (2019), an exploration of sound, narrative, light and audience participation, generously supported by Canada Council’s Explore and Create Grant (2018) and an OAC Exhibition Assistance Grant (2019). In 2021, she received two OAC Exhibition Assistance Grants for I Am Here, a solo exhibition at Red Head Gallery. In 2024, Schklar was awarded a Toronto Arts Council Individual - Visual Artists: Creation Grant for the project, Obfuscated, a mixed media exhibition based on rebus puzzles, cryptograms, anagrams and hidden meanings.

Schklar has been a member of Red Head Gallery since 2017.

For more information, visit: loisschklar.com | @loisschklar