About The Artist

Rada Greg,  

 Born in Former Yugoslavia, Rada came to Toronto, Canada in 1975. She is self-taught, and has painted full-time since 1976. Rada has become established and know as artist of Naive and Folk Art. One of the first Artist's in Toronto to work in this style. Basically working with Oil and Canvas, her paintings express Simplicity, Sensitivity and Humor. Rada's sophistication and artistic sensibility never allow these paintings to become merely quaint. There is always a reaching beyond the image to make it mean more than it presents. This is especially notable in her Pumpkin Garden painting, and the paintings of skaters in Ice Skating, that inject the viewer into that perfect timelessness which hangs in the mind unchanging. Rada Greg is not at all concerned with ugliness. She paints with unadorned childlike simplicity. Hers is a special kind of seeing, one which is free from the burden of academic technique, and allows for the zeroing in on the subject with the least amount of fuss. Obviously her feelings for the scenery ways of life and customs of Canada are heartfelt. The gentle pictures of street like folk festivals and outdoor sports evoke feelings of nostalgia, they almost make you feel warm all over. "Mariposa Festival Centre Island" is vibrant and festive, while the blue sky and white snow on a crisp winter day in "Skating, Williams Lake, Nova Scotia" will bring a smile to the face of anyone who has ever gone skating on a frozen pond in winter. If Middle America can have Grandma Moses, and New York, Henry Fasalana, then we can boast that Toronto, has Rada Greg!

 

   RADA GREG PAINTINGS, MAJOR COLLECTIONS:

  • Collection of the Corporation of the City of Toronto.  
  • Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax.  
  • University of Alberta, Edmonton.  
  • National Museum of Man, Ottawa.
  • Helen Collinson, Curator, Ring House Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton
  • The Robert McLaughlin Art Gallery, Civic Centre Oshawa.
  • The Price Collection, Port Perry.
  • Dr. Sy Friedland, Professor, York University, Toronto.
  • Dr. Uri Zohar, Professor, York University, Toronto.
  • Mr. & Mrs. Willeman, The Landing Wind Theatre, Chester, Nova Scotia.
  • Transport Freight Sales Ltd., Mississauga.
  • Peerless Transportation Service Ltd., Toronto.
  • Nicole and Mario Allio Collection, Montreal, Quebec.
  • Mary Osler Collection, Toronto.
  • Frank Bacsa Collection, Toronto.

 EXHIBITIONS:

  • May 1976, Nov. 1977, Nov. 1978 – Solo, The Hidden Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.
  • December 1976 – July 1977, March 1978 - Group, The Hidden Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.
  • July 1979 – Solo, Market Gallery, City of Toronto Archives, Toronto, Ontario.
  • November 1979 – Solo, the Hidden Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.
  • April 1980 – Hart House Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
  • June 1980 – Solo, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
  • November 1980 – Solo, The Hidden Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.
  • July 1980 – December 1981 – Traveling Exhibition, Maritimes, and Alberta, organized and circulated by Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
  • January 1981 – Solo, The Pauline McGibbon Cultural Centre, Toronto, Ontario.
  • June 1981 – Solo, Ring House Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.
  • August 1982 – Group, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.
  • October 1983 – Solo, Gallery Ouan, Toronto, Ontario.
  • January 1984 – Group, Market Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.
  • July 1984 – Group, Harbor front Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.
  • May 1986 – 3 EME Salon International D’Art Naif, Paris, France.
  • September 1986 – Solo, Beckett Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario.