The Christopher Cutts Gallery is excited to announce our upcoming exhibition, Miniatures, showcasing small-format paintings by Gordon Rayner.

Once tucked inside the artist and his wife’s Toronto home, this intimate collection of artworks offers a glance into Rayner’s life and memories. Vibrant scenes from Oaxaca, intimate portraits, and serene landscapes — moments Rayner has captured in impressionistic light and heavy impasto.

These evocative miniatures present glimpses into different worlds, reflecting Rayner’s love of travel alongside his ever-evolving interests and subject matter. Although the artist was born and died in Toronto, his late wife, Kate Rayner, described Toronto as “a city he loved, but also loved to wander from. He travelled the world and also spent much time in the Ontario bush country, whose mysteries inspired much of his work. … While he was criticized by some for being always unpredictable, he had many ideas and too much curiosity to rest in one place.”

The transportive experience of these artworks belies their scale. The paintings draw viewers in close, then immerse them in scenes from the past — a bustling parade of trombones and tubas on the streets of Mexico, an evening with friends, or a raging storm in the countryside. Miniatures evokes a sense of wonder, taking viewers to another time and place.

This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to engage with the smaller-scale side of Gordon Rayner’s practice, which he developed alongside the larger, series-based pieces for which he is best known, such as the Oaxaca Suite and his late Self Portraits.