Ivan Rupeš

Here is a story of a smokestack, a diagonal, and some insects: While retracing the footsteps of my grandfather, a Czech avant-garde photographer Jaromír Funke, I came across a power plant. But this was no ordinary plant. Commissioned in 1932, built in a slick functionalistic style and loaded with cutting-edge technology, the plant signified the promise of a bright future surely waiting just around the corner. The building’s clean geometric lines inspired many an artist, including my grandfather, to experiment with innovative framings and compositions. Ninety years later, the plant is still there, still in commission, still burning the same coal. The current owner, a multinational corporation also active in Toronto, likes to portray itself as the world’s leading provider of environmental solutions. Which, it would seem, doesn’t bar it from running a carbon-churning operation in the middle of a faraway Central-European town, provided its stack is decorated with murals of giant green butterflies.

Ivan Rupeš is a Toronto-based photographer. In his work Rupeš examines complexities of the human relationship with the environment. He is especially drawn to probing the nuances and ironies of the ways humans affect their habitat and the ways it affects them back. Rupeš was born in what is now Czechia. He started out as a biomedical researcher whose career brought him first to the USA and then to Canada. Currently, he takes on documentary projects both in Canada and around the world. His ongoing work alongside the Indigenous Peoples of the northern Philippines was presented at the 2021 Earth Photo Exhibition.

May 15 to May 26th, 2024
918 Bathurst Street, Toronto
Sun and Star Rooms

Hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 12pm to 5pm
Opening reception: Thursday, May 16th from 6-9pm
Artist talk: Saturday, May 18th from 1-3p


Contact:  info@ivanrupes.com  
Website:  http://ivanrupes.com
IG: @ivanrupes