Mulch Wanted

Reception: Saturday October 24, 2-5pm
Hours: Friday to Sunday, 11-5pm
Location: Piction, ON. Address to be announced.


Paul Petro Contemporary Art is pleased to present a farmstand weekend exhibition of earlier work by Morley Shayuk, on the artist's farm property outside of Picton, ON. These paintings precede the exhibition Yellow Paintbrushes from earlier this year, paintings informed by Shayuk's newly emerging flower growing operation.

Join us two weekends after Thanksgiving for this look-back exhibition of the first three formative bodies of works produced at his farm studio which reflect the remediation phase of the farm's evolution. These earlier works will be gathered together in the farmstand building while new work and works in progress can be viewed in the studio.

Mulch Wanted reaches back to a series of paintings from 2016, the year Morley Shayuk relocated to a derelict farm just west of Picton, ON, with the aim of transforming the property into a small organic farm. English Breakfast, produced earlier that year, anticipates Shayuk’s arrival on the farm with a series of small abstract oil paintings, anchored by two landscapes and one still life. The organic qualities of Shayuk's painterly approach are interrupted by the artist's ambition to communicate possible functions for his subjects beyond the visual, an idealism afforded to Shayuk while still removed from the realities of establishing a farm.

For On Building Soil, 2018, painting began in the studio with the aim of expressing the unhealthy soil situations on the farm: unearthed farming implements emerged as motifs, appearing human, organic and rusty, uplifting but dirty; iron oxides with integrated fungi and buried plastics assumed a nightmarish science fiction proportion, inspiring titles like Invasive Species and The Nitrogen Fixer, 2018. Earth pigments like ochre, umber and sienna were used to reflect discovered soil profiles. The painting process was deeply integrated with soil remediation and a secondary painting approach became necessary for stress relief and personal wellbeing - the optimism of an imagined healthy future, featuring titles like Summer flowers, Come to life, 2018. These two painting methodologies became integral to supporting one another while soil work continued outside.

By nurturing foundational themes that evolved from On Building Soil in 2018, Shayuk completed The Strength of Garlic, by 2020. During the early stages these works were deliberate and representational in an attempt to boost a weakened morale. By reworking surfaces over the months, subjects emerged organically and compositions found distinct and unexpected harmonies, mimicking the qualities of upheaval and renewal outside the studio.

The latest ongoing body of work, Yellow Paintbrushes, 2026, signalled the introduction of a new series of paintings informed by Shayuk's flower growing operation and a quiet feeling of dormant regeneration related to world events. By interrupting natural rhythms within the requirements of a growing operation, interesting relationships between plants were observed. Ornamental and native plants became entangled as adaptive behaviours took over and evolved. Inside the studio, the complexities of the farm were mimicked and simplified using shapes and texture to evaluate and deepen an exchange with nature. Layered painted surfaces, built up and edited over time, formed heavier brush marks, mirroring the growing season outside the studio and purposefully engaging with the spirit of survival.

Yellow Paintbrushes refers to meadow hawkweed, a plant that reminds growers that stewardship involves observation, obstacles, and compromise to find balance. Within the studio, these properties qualify the subject and allow the outcome to slowly reveal itself.

By Fall, 2026 the farmstand building will finally be nearing completion, representing possibilities and marking the start of new experiments. Please stop by and say hello!

Morley Shayuk is a multidisciplinary artist from Toronto and currently lives and works on his farm in Picton, On.