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Van Der Plas Gallery is pleased to announce Toonies ‘n’ Loonies: Three Canadians, a group exhibition showcasing the imaginative works of Susan Day, Devon Marinac, and Jason McLean. Three Canadian artists, three distinct styles, all united by a brilliant command of line, character, and wit. This cross-disciplinary trio brings a distinctly Canadian spirit and a healthy dose of playful eccentricity to the Lower East Side.

 

The show’s title is a nod to Canada’s iconic one and two-dollar coins, affectionately known as the “loonie” and “toonie.” However, “loonie” doesn’t just refer to Canada’s one-dollar coin. It’s also a lighthearted term for someone who’s acting hilariously unpredictable, adding a playful double meaning to the exhibition’s title. That sensibility runs through every line, brushstroke, and ceramic vessel in this collection.

 

Devon Marinac adds his whimsical lens, producing colorful, freewheeling drawings and paintings that teeter between childlike wonder and adult absurdity. In his new work, I Eye Can Can Dew, Marinac blends expressionist figuration with cartoonish energy. Inspired by the theatrical world of can-can dancers and gentleman’s clubs, the piece centers on a lone, colorized figure surrounded by a fragmented, black-and-white business-class audience, creating a layered meditation on performance, voyeurism, and identity. Drawing from previous works and characters developed for a recent comic, Marinac pushes his style into bold new territory. The result is an immersive and celebratory scene offering a loose, vibrant response to the stiffness found in much contemporary art.

 

Jason McLean’s mind-mapping drawings sprawl with chaotic clarity, offering diaristic glimpses into personal and cultural memory. Future Directions continues Jason McLean’s stream-of-consciousness practice, using tubular, neon-like lines and graphic patterning to chart personal experience and emotional terrain. Referencing tools like brushes, pens, ink, and acrylic, the work becomes a material exploration and a figurative self-portrait of McLean in New York. Scattered throughout are his signature bursts of text and personal markers: neighborhoods, jazz clubs, subway lines, ladders, arrows, and street signs, all visual cues that trace his physical and mental imprint as he moves through the world.