The Canadian, Roger Watt, graphite on paper

My day did not go as expected. I had trouble getting the frozen locks on the car to open and in doing so activated it’s anti-theft mode. Door locks became non-functional and the key would not start the car. I couldn’t use the car and, in my typical frustration with mechanical things I can’t control, I muttered loudly once again that my aging  vehicle would be replace before long.

A friend came and took me to my morning meeting. I left the passenger door open on my own car thinking I might not be able to get into it otherwise, while I went off to fulfill Thursday’s first obligation. Another friend brought me home from the meeting to face this immovable car that I was imagining I would have to have towed to Port Moody.

I had plans for Vancouver that all had to be altered. I had already cancelled two meetings when Frank arrived. He laughed at my car-selling threats and commanded me to get the manual out of the car. There on the page for anti-theft devices I learned that, had I gotten out of the car, closed it up for thirty seconds and tried again, it would have started. By eleven in the morning, the locks had unfrozen and I was operative again,

I still had time to get into Vancouver for the core reason I was going in – to collect paintings from an exhibition that was over.

I’ve long ago learned to take adversity as opportunity. The cancelled appointments gave me time to stop by the Elliott Louis Gallery longer and take in the Toni Onley exhibition, Letters to Yukiko,  which runs until December 24th. It’s an excellent exhibition to see. I’ll describe it for you in a moment.

But first, I want to tell you that by the fact of being delayed in my trip to Vancouver, I happened upon a chance first meeting with Roger Watt.

Roger Watt is another of the represented artists of this gallery. You might have seen his work in the Drawing show back in July. He does small graphite drawings that are meticulous gems of observation, mostly of mechanical things that shine. He captures every nuance of light and shadow, of gleaming polish and detail of texture.

He had brought in two new works in this same genre, but diverging from what I had previously seen in that they took on an aspect of what I call “abstract realism”. That is, on first observation, you might think you were looking at something completely abstract, but on second inspection, you might find the close-up detail exposes a well know object. It might be the cropping of the of the imge that makes you focus on a small part of the oboject, or the cast of light brings to attention a point of view uncommonly taken.

D’Elegance, Roger Watt, graphite on paper

My appreciation of simple observation in this meticulous genre tends to not last long if there isn’t a secondary meaning that comes with it. I admire the skill and ability of the artist, but when I see one of these works that gives me that extra pleasure of something to think about, either from the subject matter or the abstract arrangement of the composition that works from afar and becomes something more close up, then I am in full admiration.

We spoke for a few minutes and I was happy to have the encounter.It’s always a treat to meet another artist.Then Roger had to get going and I did too, so we moved on.  In the back of my mind, I was thinking, if the car hadn’t given me such trouble, I wouldn’t have had this opportunity. Here I was, thanking my car for having given me grief.

I then took some time to view the Toni Onley exhibition.

The star items in this show are a collection of letters from Onley to his wife, Yukiko, as they are separating. From various places where he is away on painting expeditions, he writes passionate pleas for her to stay, quoting poetry of others on the subject of love, and writing some beautifully crafted poems of his own.

I have reservations however, about publicly posting the raw emotions of a man addressed to his wife in the middle of a split-up.

Somewhere in the curated writings about the exhibition, Yukiko explains that she couldn’t publish them while he was alive. My question is, why does she think they should be published now that he has passed away, exposing his raw sensitivities. Who needs to know?

Each of the letters is illustrated in watercolour with a view of the place he is writing with, or with a small image relevant to the text – a cat, an oriental figure, painted in typical Toni Onley’s calligraphic and  minimalist hand. The text is in a beautiful calligraphic style.

These have been reproduced very elegantly and are being offered up in a limited edition boxed set.

The letters take up a small portion of the show. The remainder comprise a series of oil on canvas landscapes. In addition, there are a few typical, elegant watercolours. If you show great interest in the work, the gallery owner may also show you a series of unframed watercolours. Of the twenty or so, I would easily have gone away with six of them, had I won the lottery. It’s not that they are so expensive, it’s just my pocket book is smaller than my acquisitory desires.

Untitled 1 and 2 , Toni Onley, Ink on paper on board, 10.5 x 14.5 inches

I was particularly taken with two of Onley’s Naples Yellow abstracts on paper marouflé* on board. They are fresh and clear coloured, and the compositions please me no end.

It’s clear that Onley’s strength was in watercolour. He reaches a finer nuance of colour in this medium than in oil and the “hand”, the brush strokes, look fresher.

From the Elliott Louis Gallery, I moved on to my framer and picked up some work; left some there too; then went to get my paintings from Hycroft.

In all, I think it was very well done that I had troubles with my car in the morning. It changed the course of my day and I was very happy at end of it to have met another artist and to have had time to soak up an exhibition that is rich in imagery and in meaning.

A final cautionary note on the car. If you have a similar trouble, do not close all the doors with yourself or anyone else in it. You may never get out.

References:

Roger Watt: http://www.folioart.co.uk/illustration/folio/artists/illustrator/roger-watt/

and     http://watt-art.com/drawings

Elliott Louis Gallery: http://www.elliottlouis.com/

* Marouflage is a technique whereby paper is glued to a support, usually wooden panel, and then painted. It provides a different texture than canvas and gives greater support and durability to paper. I don’t know if it is French in origin, but that is where I learned it; and the name is certainly French, so it may just be so.

I weighed in at the Xanadu Gallery blog today.

http://www.xanadugallery.com/wordpress/?p=1165&cpage=1#comment-2021

I found many good suggestions for an artist to talk about sales with people who come on studio tours, or friends who come to see my work.

It’s worth a read, for any artists out there struggling as we all do for sales in a  downturn market, or any market for that matter..

Personally, I don’t want ever to spoil a friendship nor a potential one by being too commercial or pushy even if I could dearly use a sale.

Here was my contribution to their blog:
I think of Art Studio Tours and visits to my gallery as advertising rather than sales opportunities. Though it’s obvious that the paintings are for sale, I don’t talk about that until someone asks. The prices are mounted beside the paintings. I’ve learned to set out less to see than more.
I do offer to allow the more interested visitors to browse my art storage after I’ve told them how to handle the pieces, and then I check on them from time to time. Sometimes it takes them a few visits before they come back for a sale; but the seed was sown at the first meeting – relaxed and friendly like a open house party. Mostly they are quite amazed at my accumulation of work and they bring people back with them to see it.

I invite friends and new visitors to come back at any time “I’d be happy to make you a cup of tea or coffee and let you browse to your content. Just call before you want to come.”
I get sales from people who came a year before and remember something that stuck in their mind that they had to have.
For anyone who has made a big purchase, I have a stock of small framed sketches 8×10 inches or smaller, and I will give them the choice of one as a bonus.
That being said, I too would like to be much better at turning a conversation of interest into a sale.
I’m always amazed at people who talk up their work by discussing the number of layers of paint they have used or the number of hours or months it took to execute the painting. For me, that’s not the point of the painting. However, people are interested in the process, so it doesn’t hurt to describe how one works. The more patrons know about the work, the more engaged they become.

Therein ended my blog response.

Let me add that,sales are important to an artist. Besides the money part of it, it tells the artist that he or she has succeeded in reaching the heart of the viewer. A sale encourages me to create more, as if the visual conversation I was seeking to engage has begun.

But I never want a friend/potential purchaser/client to feel uncomfortable about a sale; or to make a purchase they feel pressured into. It can only cause harm. I want them to be 100 percent happy with any purchase they make, because they re going to be my advertisers.They need to be proud of what they have bought.

I’m happy to take the work to where they live to put it up where they want to hang it, to see if it works. I’m willing to exchange a painting if they not happy with the original choice, even years later, because they have moved, or they have changed their tastes or whatever. Within limits of course. I’m not offering to fly to New York from Vancouver on spec, just to let someone see how it might hang in their location, for example.

And so it goes.

I’m happiest when I have my work up in shows. I’m working not so much on individuals sales, but on creating an updated resume that demonstrates the merit that has been accorded my work by other art professionals.

There’s show coming up at the Fort Gallery, Small Wonders, in December. All the gallery artists are bring out smaller works to show. It should be very interestnig. The work will be up by the 7th of December and runs to the end of the month. If you get a chance, come along and see what’s there. You never know. You may find a treasure.

The Fort Gallery is at 9048 Glover Road in Fort Langley, B.C., open from noon to 5, Tuesday to Sunday.

I sometimes rescue paintings from secondhand shops or thrifts – originals that people have junked, not knowing what they have. Many are anonymous. I can’t figure out the signature (which is a good reason in favour of clearly printing one’s name when signing an original work of art).  It’s amazing what you can find. It’s also amazing what you cannot find – like any information on the author of the work. If anyone can help me out on that front, please do so.

Sometimes they come with framing and sometimes not.

I found a subtle watercolour portrait marked Don Quixote, very sensitively done, about six months ago is a beat-up black frame with a hand cut mat around it. The image is done in loose watercolour washes with blues for the shadows and warm tones of peach, rose madder and yellows in the warm tones. The eyes are beautifully drawn and the mouth and nose sensitively described.

Signature not clear: Kjariscal or K. Jariscal? Don Quixote, 2000. watercolor

“Never fear!” I thought, “I’ll just re-mat and re-frame it.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take it out of it’s frame. Oy vey!

It’s backing was a dusty, dirty pulp board – the cheapest kind of cardboard with no refinement whatsoever and prone to picking up moisture. It was full of acid. The mat wasn’t acid free either. Where it had touched the painting, the watercolour paper was going brown. Yuck.

It was taped in with brown paper tape – kraft tape, it’s sometimes called. The backing was nailed in with rusty nails. I don’t suppose they were rusty when they were first tapped in there.

This is just a reminder – a cautionary tale. It just costs a small amount more to buy acid free matting and backing; or to use barrier paper (an acid free paper that separates the work of art from a cardboard backing).

An acid free framing will last a lifetime or more without losing its crisp whiteness; the non-acid free will be brown in two years and spoil the appearance of your gem, not only dulling the framing, but eventually attacking the work of art itself.

My new acquisition is now looking crisp and proud in its new frame.

My favorite custom framing place is Final Touch Frames in Vancouver on the corner of  4th and Quebec in a blue warehouse space. They are reasonably priced; and if you have works on paper that need mats in the smaller sizes, there are a lot of pre-cut mats that might suit your work.

Big Charmers, Kathleen McGiveron, Ceramic Sculpture, approx 12 inches high

At the Fort Gallery in Fort Langley, B.C., we have several new young artists who have joined our collective. In the current exhibition running to November 13th,  Kathleen McGiveron is showing a  witty collection of  ceramic figurines.  Each one is a poke at pop culture – pop singers, pop food, mass culture and the mainstream figurine. The detail above is from the sculpture named Big Charmers and is patterned with a Nestle’s symbol.

In her artist statement, she refers to Red Rose Tea “Wade” figurines as an idea source. I’m not familiar with  those, but I am with the Lladro and Nao figurines which also display a similar shiny glaze over muted colours and a simplified form. Kathleen’s figures are small animals – a squirrel, a rat, a bird. So far, all of the figures are hand made, one-off sculptures, except the bird series which is reproduced by a casting method with a hand-built and unique base. All of them are much larger than the tea-box “prizes” that inspire them.  Each sculpture is painted differently and each includes some iconic logo as part of the imagery.  She contrasts traditional  – what you see from a distance – with pop culture decals such as- Macdonald’s Golden Arches symbol repeated as an understated decoration; or the Mac Apple.

Shutter Shades, Kathleen McGiveron, Ceramic sculpture, approx 12 inches high

She has these decals prepared especially for her and then applies them one by one – the surfaces are curved, three-dimensional,  so it’s impossible simply to lay them down on the clay’s first layer of glazing.

She says, “It is essential that humour and irony exists within my work and that the piece is whimsical. I am interested in exploring a dialogue between the mass produced, mainstream figurine and the mass, mainstream icon. I am fascinated with the human obsession with celebrities and mass media and how certain moments and images can define a person or company. My intent is to explore this absurd obsession and lifestyle, and to bring light to current mainstream figures through my sculptures

Take a look at her web site at      http://www.kmcgiveron-art.com

Golden Arches, Kathleen McGiveron, Ceramic Sculpture, approx 12 inch high

On this chipmunkl sculpture, the animal holds a nut in its paws, and the nut is covered with Macdonalds Golden Arches logos.

Jaegerbombs Kathleen McGiveron, Ceramic Sculpture, Approx 12 inches high.

There is a bit of a problem with the exhibition as a whole. There is a group show of paintings going on at the same time and the painting component is quite distracting from Kathleen’s calm and unified work.

The group show of paintings is a memorial to Stu Richardson, a former  college instructor and mentor to a group of artists who gathered at Bernie’s Barn to paint together.  When Richardson passed away, his wife puzzled over what to do with his unfinished paintings. In collaboration with the artists in the Bernie’s Barn group, she gave the unfinished works to “finish” , each according to their creative inspiration. Each artist took a few of the paintings. Using Stu Richardson’s resource materials (photos and travel sketches) they then applied their own technique to complete the work.

There is a range of styles in the resulting work and the unity in this work only comes from the fact that the compositions were all started by Richardon. All are representational, many of boats, several are landscapes and a few are genre paintings of people in situ.

Four of Richardson’s finished works are on display, showing his mastery of the medium both technically and compositionally . “Frost Trees“, below is my favorite from the show because it glows with light.

Frost Trees, Stu Richardson, approx 24 x 30 inches, acrylic on canvas

and I quite enjoyed this one also for it’s detail, the thoughtful content and the beautiful handling of foreground and distance in complete harmony:

Stu Richardson, acrylic on canvas, approx 24 x 30 inches, acrylic on canvas

The Fort Gallery is at 9048 Glover Road, Fort Langley, B.C. open Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

For the whole thread see:

http://markwhitneyphotography.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/mount-hope-cemetery/

Mark Whitney’s great website with his current photos of graveyards and mortuary monuments generated a discussion of what was appropriate to sell in a gallery; and whether or not one could sell paintings with headstones and mortuary architecture as principal subject matter. Here’s what I replied to Mark, which becames a more generic discussion of artists and dealers. My last comment on his blog is about artists bringing work on-the-edge for show and  the dilemma that may arise when it doesn’t fit a dealer’s requirements to be able to sell the work

I’m not sure that the younger generation is in the position to buy much art; and if they do, it might just be the lower priced stuff. But it’s a completely different market than the boardroom/home consumption market.

I know the “artistic freedom” arguments of the artist very well. In the last years, I’ve come to appreciate what good dealers can do for artists that artists cannot do for themselves. They often assume an enormous rent, month by month, that has to be paid through sales. In order to do that they have to find rich clients – it’s not by hundred dollar sales that they make it, but by ones in the thousands.

To do that, they need to spend a lot of time and energy on advertising which, normally, is prohibitive for the artist. They keep a staff on, in order to keep the gallery open, and they often pay writers and/or curators to write blurbs for each show.  They foot the bill for the schmoozing opening. And in the end, they have to pay for their own living – and it’s not necessarily a high one. The 2 dealers that I’ve known a little bit more than grazing-shoulders-in-passing acquaintance have looked professional and well-to-do in their gallery surroundings, but their own lives are oft fraught with the worries about the next set of bills, and often,how to pay everyone at the end of the month – because everyone comes before they do – staff, artists, writers, advertisments, promotions, telephone, IT and electricity bills.
So when they are upstaged by an artist with images which they have a clientele for, they have to scramble, and he may not have a single sale. What does he do then? He has either to have deep pockets or an understanding banker.

Artist’s side of the coin?
I thought about this artist’s new work in context of some of my own (and mine hs been slightly edgy, but nowhere near as accessible as the skull-in-the-imagery guy). It’s my works that are ten years old that sell. It takes people time to get used to them, it seems. It’s curious. I think that may be so for many artists (not counting the purely commercial who are pumping out works to fill the living room decor needs of the nation). And of course, the artist has the same problems of paying bills at the end of the month. It’s a double edged sword.

In all that, it’s a miracle that new work emerges. It’s the artist who moves forward his vision from ordinary to extraordinary, who leaps the bounds of convention, who changes the direction of the norm and finds new ways of “speaking” to their viewers. Without their dedication to express themselves in exploratory ways, we would still be back in the chocolate-box works of the the 19th Century. Instead, we’ve been able to absorb some pretty challenging work – Impressionists, Abstract Impressionists, Pop artists,  installation artists, post-modernists.Each of those movements was unacceptable when it emerged.

Our all-time example of this is van Gogh. Couldn’t sell a painting in his life-time, but is worth multi-millions now that he’s dead. Strange isn’t it?

Would it tickle your fancy to attend a free event where graffiti artists will tag a piece of your clothing  that you bring (a hat, t-shirt, shirt, etc). The event is free, but if you want to get something tagged, you need to donate something to the graffiti artist. One hundred percent of the donation goes to the artist.

Easer, Absolute Zero, 48×24 Spray paint on wood

Four of the artists will be working on their own paintings in the gallery -

It starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday July 30th at 258 East 1st Avenue in Vancouver.

It’s the same artists as I was talking about in my just preceding blog.

K

   

Ways, Wheelchair (left) and Snakebite (right), acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24

Letters is an exhibition mounted in context of the Drawn Festival in Vancouver. Graffiti is the glue holding this exhibition together and the theme “Letters” seems to connect only to some of the paintings show.  There is an anomoly here, in that the festival is about drawing, while all of this imagery is about paint; unless of course, you agree with my philosophy that “Paintings are only drawings in colour using a paint medium. Drawing is the core of all art practice.”

One needs to check one’s assumptions at the door,  about graffiti and its place (or not) in Fine Art or High Art. The difference is the “ground” or “support” (canvas, board, paper, or, as in most graffiti, concrete walls, postal boxes, ground level transformers, construction hoardings). Once the graffiti has been removed from its outdoor setting, it becomes something much more gentrified, but the skill levels and messages of the graffiti artists are the same, indoors or out. In this exhibition, we are treated to some of the finest graffiti artists that Vancouver has to offer.

However, it begs a question. Once the graffiti has moved indoors, does it lose its power? Does it lose its message?

Graffiti is born of anger, frustration and even rage, of a generation of younger artists, perhaps unable to find a venue for their ideas and their artistic development; oft-times protesting social ills or just venting. There is daring, in creating the outdoor works, that defies conventional art principles and the bourgeoisie. It’s meant to be somewhat impermanent. Conservation  principles do not apply.  It’s also the scourge of the police department who continually attempt to suppress this underground movement which so thoughtlessly defaces public and private property. The cost is in millions, per year.

It’s interesting to note that, in a perverse way, graffiti has been the germinating factor for a host of traditional mural paintings. Where a mural exists, taggers will rarely paint over. Business are finding that if they have a mural painted on their building, then they no longer have the problem of having to constantly repaint the walls to keep them graffiti-free.

Outdoor graffiti embodies the tension and testosterone of youth and rebellion.  Bringing the  graffiti indoors tames it, turns it into “normal” paintings, though the messages still may represent anger and frustration. It truncates the images by forcing it into traditional squares and rectangles. It prettifies the work for bourgeois consumption. It brings down the chutzpah- quality of the work to a boardroom or living room level.

It makes me think that gallery-ifying and taming this art is simply an age-old process of absorbing the dissident, revolutionary and outsider art into the mainstream. By its proliferation, we as a society have become inured to it, habituated, and even, fascinated by it, so much that it is now acceptable, honoured even, by the art establishment.

There is nothing wrong with this process. In this way the upstart Realism movement was validated (Delacroix, for example) daring to paint things as they were without prettification and broaching subjects like funerals and revolutions.  Impressionism with its upstart take on colour usage and lack of “draughtsmanship” became mainstream, as did the  Fauves  with their wild, non-representational or symbolic colours.  Just as these latter became acceptable,  the Abstract Expressionists with their tossing and splashing of paint brought in a new rebellious form, and so it goes. It’s an repetitive process.

It’s just the way of the Art world, bringing the young and the highly creative back into the fold, legitimizing their creativity.

Those musings aside, it was hard to choose which of the paintings in this exhibition that I liked the best, but I had several reasons for liking the work of the artist  Ways, who paints so directly and with so much difficultly.

Victim of an accident, he is wheelchair bound and his arm movements are quite limited. Yet with the help of his friends, he manages to practice his graffiti talents on large outdoor walls and also to make studio paintings. Wheelchair and Snakebite, above are deeply personal because they represent so strongly his own reality. The paintings are carefully executed, amazingly so, and yet there is an interesting texture in the otherwise flat background that keeps it from being too tight. There is a cartoon quality in all of his images shown.

While I couldn’t live with the image in these next two of his paintings, I still find Ways’ work original and thought provoking. This is no glib painter. He paints from the soul and I sense a great deal of determination, but also occasional despair with bouts of anguish and anger.

Ways, Rat Race (left) and Stunna, (right) 30×23, acrylic on board

I don’t get that same gut-reaction from the other paintings in the show, but there are some other very thoughtful pieces, and then some quite decorative ones. All of them show a maturity of art practice and only a couple tend toward slickness.

Difer, Difi Man, 24 x 36 , Spray paint on canvas  (left) and No access 22×22, mixed media

These two paintings are representative of graffiti artist,  Difer, a tag name.  I am really drawn to the painting Difi Man. I like the richness of overlays in the red, the liberty of mark making, the energy in the imagery, but I can’t explain to myself why the composition works and holds my attention; and I’m not a fan of dribbles in paintings, so it may just be the austerity of the background colour married with the exuberant red that keeps me searching for something more in this work.

No access, appeals to my interest in construction, as this “no access” surely refers to some hoarding message saying that no one is allowed on site without meeting all the construction safety site rules. It may be tongue in cheek, because, so often, the mark of a great graffiti artist is not only the work itself but the inaccessibility of the place in which it has been placed. This painting echos  the grime  and dirt of construction sites and the forbidding nature of the signage. I find it gloomy so the only place it might be appropriate in my home would be on my office door to warn people off disturbing me as I work; but I could see this easily in a museum of contemporary art. It’s not a comfortable piece, but certainly a thought-provoking one.

Easer, Bullet proof, Acrylic on canvas 13 x 26 in

Easer’s painting Bullet Proof is similar to Difer’s No Access in colour range, but there is more formality in the composition. A strong contrast is set up between the rigid patterning of the diamond shapes on the right hand side and the free-form gestures and splatters of the left hand side of the image. They are pulled together by the overlapping row of bullets. Composition is this painting’s strength, and there is an added message, though the significance is up for interpretation.

Demos Art Demos, 25 x 73 inches, spray paint on wood

Demos exhibits  two very different styles. This one, above, is quite elegant, with fluid forms composed with a thick blue line, and colour fill added in the resulting outlined shapes. There is a mature sense of how colours marry well together and a good feel of rhythm as the enclosed shapes walk you across from left to right. The other style (not illustrated here) results in a formless  use of paint , as tangible as a massive cloud seen from its interior, or a London fog, with predominating pastel blues and mauves giving movement to the over all image.

Ensoe, Property 21×36 (left) and Density (right) 21 x 36

Ensoe’s paintings are all cleverly constructed. Their geometric figures ambiguously challenge the viewer to determine if the shapes are  are going back or coming forward and whether the  subject of the work is really about shapes or  rather about volumes. Each of his paintings has a different colour combination and yet there is a continuity from one image to another that defining the painter’s overall palette preferences. I like these paintings because they can keep your eye engaged for a long time trying to figure out what is going on. And I like them because they are beautifully finished – the surface is flat, without any variation in tone – a difficult feat to achieve, with clean edges and sharp transitions.

Scott Sueme, Move in Silence, 36×24 sharpie on transparency

Sueme’s Move in Silence is one of two in the exhibition that clearly conform with the exhibition’s title. It uses letters as subject matter in a Pop Art, comic book fashion.  It’s one of a few, that actually gives a feel of true graffiti lettering. It has the dynamism, the energy and the flow.  The words pop and crackle at the viewer. Obviously, this artist has graphic art training and experience. Each hand drawn letter and word is perfectly formed, even though they change in size, warp and transform in overall shape. This is a dying art, just like type setting and  as so much is computer generate, hand lettering has dropped out of the graphic artist’s toolkit.

Sueme, Conversation Piece 48×84 inches, mixed media on panel

Sueme’s “Conversation Piece”  also expresses the Letters theme. This diptych echos a true graffiti site, with layers of lettering superimposed, apparently randomly. There are at least three “type faces” or “fonts” used in the uppermost layers, representing different graffiti hands at work.  But this work is more deliberate than a tagging would be. The top lettering is very carefully formed, with all the letters the same height, and letters shifting in colour from one to the next, even shifting, modulating from light to dark within one letter shape, depending on what the previous layer’s tonal effect provided. The effect? The message on top is bold and clear. It’s a beautiful piece.  An uninitiated art appreciator might think this was put together randomly, but a trained artist will recognize the gift represented in this piece, of an artist capable of making something look random, gestural and free while in fact, his years either of work or education (or both) have led to this mature, elegant visual statement.

Sueme has a number of other paintings in this show, also artfully ingenuous.

Sueme, four panels, enamel, graphite and spray paint on  wood, 24 x 24 inches

Nevermind; Midnight hour; Smooth landing; Play the part.

These four panels are a playful  use of  geometric shapes, jumbling, cascading across the picture plane like a flock of origami figures unbound. The figures are as subtle as Japanese handwork too,  with the careful gradations of colour and the highly personal colour combinations.  They seem effortlessly together, but I know from my own struggles to get clear crisp lines in paint, that there is a high degree of ability that has orchestrated these shifting colours to be bright, clean and precise. In this show, these are the least like graffiti and letters, but I nevertheless welcome the chance to have seen these fine paintings.

So, that’s the gamut of the exhibition.

Check out the web-site for the Elliott Louis gallery. As none of these artists are gallery artist, this being an exceptional exhibit provided through the aegis of the Drawn Festival, you will see all the pieces, the prices, the materials used, on the Exhibitions -> Current Exhibition page.  The show runs until August 6th, so you still have time to go to see it. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday. And one last word…  if you are looking for something contemporary for your walls, from corporate boardrooms to bedroom walls, there are some affordable pieces in this exhibition.

Hitachi Graffiti, Kristin Krimmel, Acrylic on Canvas, 32 x  40 inches, 2010

The first visitors to walk in the door on this exhibition were prior colleagues of mine in my Property Management persona – the day job that kept me, the artist, going.

“Whoa!” says Jim, an electrician,  a huge grin on his face, ” Where did the flowers go?”  !!!!!!

Over the past four years since I went artist full time,  I’ve had the luxury to explore other avenues. While I was working, often a flower was the closest I could get to having a model, and the most compliant, time-wise, for me to paint. I threw that all over when I emerged from my working cocoon and went fishing for more exciting material to work with.

These paintings link back to my property management experiences.

The work specific to this show has taken two years to paint. Some of you who have followed my post during this time may have seen some of these images, but then, I decided that if they were all posted, there would be no surprise at the opening of my exhibition at the Fort Gallery in Fort Langley, B.C.
So I stopped posting the images… well, time ran out – I stopped blogging altogether.

Pylons, Kristin Krimmel, Acrylic on Canvas, 32 x  60 inches, 2010

Here is what I had to say in the artist statement:
Over the past five years, there has been an unusual amount of construction going on around Vancouver in preparation for the Olympics, including the cut and cover construction of the Canada Line nearby my former home at Cambie and 41st; and later in Maple Ridge near my new home, with the construction of the new Pitt and the Golden Ears Bridges.

While the construction itself was disruptive and grungy, I took a childlike interest in the bright coloured machines that made it all happen – the excavators, bulldozers, cranes and other equipment. On a grey day, a bright yellow ‘dozer or a bright orange excavator can be the only lively looking thing, amidst dirt and gravel.

Construction is about new building. It sometimes requires demolishing or taking apart what was there before. Deconstruction is the act of taking things apart.

In painting, I’m interested in the “guts” of an image – the shapes, the textures, the surface qualities, the spatial relationships and the colour harmonies.
The construction machines have given me the opportunity to deconstruct the original photo-like image into component parts, to abstract it, to play with ideas of weight and balance, shapes, formalities of composition, and ideas.

Bulldozer, Kristin Krimmel, Acrylic on canvas, 32 x 40 inches, 2010

Liebherr Crane – Pulleys,  Kristin Krimmel, acrylic on canvas, 36×24 inches, 2011

Liebherr Crane, Kristin Krimmel, acrylic on canvas, 36×24 inches, 2011

Liebherr – Site Warrior, Kristin Krimmel, Acrylic on Canvas, 30 x 4 0 inches. 2011

To see more of my paintings, see this web site

www.kristinkrimmel.com

There’s a tangible buzz mid afternoon in the Elliott Louis Gallery on Saturday. June 25th.   Celebration time is six o’clock, but the preparations are no accident. Everything is well planned to ensure the guests are greeted warmly and that they enjoy themselves during the two hours that follow. Those who cannot be there for six are arriving early, circling amongst the fifty -plus paintings of John Koerner, one of British Columbia’s most respected artists, and likely the oldest, too. He’s nighty- eight and not missing a beat.

Many of the paintings come from private collections, and they span a sixty year career of this remarkable artist.

The Lighthouse: Opus 119, John Koerner, acrylic on canvas, 42 x 52 inches, 1995

I fell in love with his paintings many, many years ago. Particularly, I loved his use of blues and turquoise in his landscapes.  I contemplated getting one of his oils, years back, but it didn’t happen; and then ten years later, was able to purchase a small watercolor, which I cherish still. It’s called Orchard 2 and is about 8 inches by 10.  I promised myself that, one day, I could purchase an oil and remembered the one I’d seen at the Diane Farris gallery on that early occasion. Then, miraculously, a still life in oranges and peachy colours came up at auction and I got it. I was thrilled. To actually own one! It sits in my office and I see it every day.

Just look at the paintings here. They are fresh and alive. There is no hesitation nor overworking. All the colours are harmonious,  clear and sparklingly clean. In the Lighthouse: Opus 119, you can see how he establishes depth of field with the large bouquet signifying the here-and-now, and the lighthouse, small in the distance, an ever present available guiding spirit.

Now I was here, well before the crowds would arrive, at leisure to get up close and contemplate each painting carefully. I can find new things in his paintings every time I look. There are ways of using acrylic so that it creates it’s own texture like when oil paint separates slightly when diluted with water. It’s a glaze that leaves a pebbly surface – hard to achieve while still maintaining control in acrylics. There are the overlays areas of small strokes  built up in a stained-glass like fragmentation. Most of the paintings contain  a compendium of different marks that can run from flat and smooth, to build-ups of jagged, direct ones, overlaid one upon another, giving a richness of pattern or depth of color. And, holding all this together is an overall composition of a meditative nature and a sensation of light.

Hikari 3, John Koerner, Acrylic on Canvas, 42 x 52 inches

The Lighthouse Series was inspired by the Point Atkinson Lighthouse – a monolithic white tower in West Vancouver, visible on a clear day from the University of British Columbia where he spent his career teaching in the Fine Arts Faculty. The lighthouse recurs in many paintings, signifying the source of light and the power it gives to guide us spiritually, inspirationally and physically.

The Pacific Gateway series, implies the link between Canada and Asian countries, as well as signifying peace, a visual play on words with “pacific”. In addition there are paintings with a Japanese flavour with suggestions of Kimono shapes; and a some paintings of African landscapes.

Harbour Reflections, John Koerner, 36 x 36 inches, acrylic on canvas, 1960

I couldn’t attend the opening due to another engagement, but once my other event was over, I hastened back to the Gallery to join the celebration. It was all but finished, but the attendance had been spectacular – well over 200 people had come. There were still at least 40 people there. John Koerner had already gone. But the symbiotic energy that was still reigning in the gallery  was exciting to join.  People did not want to go home!  Ted Lederer who owns the gallery greeted me in his usual enthusiastic fashion and immediately introduced me to David Bellman and Meirion Cynog Evans, the team of curators who had put up the show.

“You have to see this,” says Ted, leaving me with David, Meirion and a well known art collector in the back office where incoming new art is put out of the way of the day-to-day activities.

Up on the wall were some of Lionel Thomas’s late works, flowers on canvas painted in tempera, some geometric abstracts and exceptionally, about ten, two- sided copper enamel works. Size is approximately 8 x 10 inches. They are framed so that they can be seen as sculptures, free standing,  The color are brilliant (because copper enamelling is a process of affixing glass onto a metal base), with lots of pure bright hues of reds and blues. They are like jewels.

David Bellman and Merion Evans are in the process of preparing the Lionel Thomas collection of his works for an up-coming exhibition at the Elliott Louis Gallery. But that’s another story, since this was the celebration for John Koerner.

I couldn’t stay long; but was long enough to bring back some images to share on this blog.  Here are a few more favorites:

Still Life, John Koerner, Gouache, ink and paper collage, 1965

If you live in Vancouver, hasten to see this show. The  exhibition is very short – just 10 days in all, and it’s taken almost 20 years since the last retrospective of Koerner’s work.  It’s an opportunity not to be missed. It’s located at 258 East 1st Avenue, just one block east of Main and one north of Great Northern Way.

Check out the the Elliott Louis Gallery web-site. Lots of the Koerner images are there – but you will want to see the real thing. They are very tasty!

http://www.elliottlouis.com/

Dressage is a sport and dressage is an art. In this, Susan Falk straddles both worlds. In her latest exhibition in May at the Fort Gallery, she brought her lively paintings of horses away from the stables and onto our exhibition walls.

The interesting thing about Falk’s work is the directness with which she paints, as if drawing rather than painting, but using colour and a brush to do so.

Here’s what she was showing at the Fort Gallery:

Susan Falk, Oil on Canvas

Susan Falk, Oil on Canvas

To see these (and several others) all in one gallery space is to feel the excitement and movement of these powerful yet controlled animals.

Congratulations Susan,

See more at    http://www.susanfalk.ca/statement.html