March 28 – May 2, 2026
Opening reception:
Saturday, March 28, 5-8pm
COOPER COLE, Toronto, Canada
↓ InformationCOOPER COLE is pleased to present It splits off, gently lifting under the pull, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Russna Kaur. This marks the artist’s first presentation with the gallery.
The exhibition brings together a group of large-scale, multi-panel paintings that operate in the space between what is visible and what remains concealed. Resistant to immediate interpretation, the works sustain a sense of ambiguity, allowing forms and meanings to shift over time.
Through mark-making, composition, and scale, the paintings gesture toward memory and identity before dissolving back into abstraction. Bright, vibrant colours initially appear playful but quickly give way to friction and instability. Within this tension, surfaces peel and shift, revealing something unspoken. Kaur’s abstractions carry the weight of personal and cultural histories without fixing meaning, leaving the works open to multiple interpretations, and inviting contemplative engagement.
Layering shapes both the form and meaning of Kaur’s paintings. Panels of canvas are assembled together, emphasizing the work’s physical structure. Repeated gestures, accumulated paint, and overlapping surfaces become analogues for emotion and generational memory. These processes echo Kaur’s early studies in biology, which sharpened her attention to hidden systems, internal frameworks, and the accumulation of time. Rather than resolving these tensions, Kaur sustains them, allowing the paintings to remain dynamic spaces where meaning is continuously formed and undone.
To learn more about this exhibition, please provide your contact information.
Russna Kaur
Unsuspecting, rebellious thoughts
Unsuspecting, rebellious thoughts - flawless, and with so little time, 2026
Acrylic paint, coloured sand, charcoal and molding paste on canvas
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Russna Kaur
Increasingly misguided, shrill tones
Increasingly misguided, shrill tones - a welcome is near!, 2026
Acrylic paint, oil stick coloured sand and molding paste on canvas
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Russna Kaur
Party lines (trembling from the blizzard, even when inside)
Party lines (trembling from the blizzard, even when inside), 2026
Acrylic paint, matte medium and molding paste on canvas
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Russna Kaur
A smirk, unchanging and rotten to the core
A smirk, unchanging and rotten to the core, 2026
Acrylic paint, coloured sand on canvas
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Russna Kaur
In that hour we must not shrink, laid in the dust of obedience
In that hour we must not shrink, laid in the dust of obedience, 2026
Acrylic paint, oil pastel, chalk pastel, molding paste and coloured sand on canvas
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Russna Kaur
The crowd believes to point one out
The crowd believes to point one out, 2026
Acrylic paint, coloured sand, molding paste on wood panel
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Russna Kaur
Hurled kindness (now, now, cheer up).
Hurled kindness (now, now, cheer up)., 2026
Acrylic paint, coloured sand and molding paste on wood panel
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Russna Kaur
And yet, they were unafraid
And yet, they were unafraid, 2026
Acrylic paint, coloured sand and molding paste on canvas
R.Kaur0039
