Daily Studio Photograph. June 5, 2012.

June 5, 2012.

Reading, reading, reading! But what am I reading, and what is it about? Have you read this book, and if so, what did you think?

Daily Studio Photograph. June 3, 2012.

June 3, 2012.

So in keeping with my theme for this months photograph I am reading another book. What can you tell me about this book? Also what do you think of my new shirt? My wife thinks it’s a bit loud.

Long Series #1058.

#1058.

I used a silver gouache over a smear of white in this Long Series painting, and I like the veil like quality it created. I’ve been using images from a book about the circus, and there is an almost tragic quality to the photos. The circus is the old days really did seem like a place people ran away to.

Abstract Painting In Canada. An Artist’s Bookshelf Review.

I’ve had a long love of books, and some of my most prized books are art books. This is a review of books from my collection that can be found on shelves in my studio. I will provide links when possible.

Abstract Painting In Canada.

If I had to recommend the one essential book about painting of any kind in Canada it would be Abstract Painting in Canada by Roald Nasgaard. This great resource is published by Douglas & McIntyre and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. It is an in-depth history of Canadian abstract painting from the 1920s to the turn of the millennium. Covering the many regional variations, schools, movements, and players in abstract painting in Canada, from the Automatistes of Montreal, to the east coast conceptual scene, to the west coast lyrical abstraction, to Toronto’s Painters Eleven.

European art movements such as surrealism played a role in shaping the careers of many Canadian abstract artists, and many artists looked to Paris as well as New York as the centre of the art world. While artists such as Jean-Paul Riopelle, and Paul-Emile Borduas, and Jean McEwen lived and worked in Paris, some such as William Ronald moved to New York. Still many more such as Painters Eleven remained in Canada, determined to create opportunities to exhibit their work and break away from the overbearing shadow of the Group of Seven and Canadian artistic conservatism.

Today there are many interesting painters working in all regions of Canada. But sadly it’s still hard to see their work. Canada is a huge, thinly populated country, and though there are many great galleries and museums, cuts by the Conservative government to museum exhibit transportation services means it is very costly to ship exhibitions from city to city let alone coast to coast. Add to this very little media coverage and only a handful of arts publications, and we end up with isolated groups even within our larger centres such as Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Canadian abstraction differs from American abstraction most obviously in scale, and while early Canadian abstract painters did work on a large scale it was never as massive as most American painters. The use of materials and finish is also very different. While American artists used industrial materials such as household paint or enamels and took pride in a workman-like, expressive handling of the paintings surface, Canadian painters tended to use traditional artist oil paint and worked their canvases to high degree of finish in a European manner.

Of the artists in the book whose work I admire I would list Jean-Paul Riopelle, Paul-Emile Borduas, Francoise Sullivan, Jack Bush, Jean McEwen, Claude Tousignant, Ron Shuebrook, Otto Rogers, Betty Goodwin, and Francois Lacasse.

It is a large book of 432 pages, with 200 fine colour illustrations that present the colour and texture of the paintings well, though as with all book illustrations it is hard to get a good impression of the scale.

An Artist’s Bookshelf Review. Peter Doig.

I’ve had a long love of books, and some of my most prized books are art books. This is a review of books from my collection that can be found on shelves in my studio. I will provide links when possible.

Peter Doig.

Peter Doig is an artist that may not be well known in Canada, but in my opinion should to be considered a Canadian painter. He was born in Scotland in 1959, and in 1962 he and his family moved to Trinidad, and then in 1966 moved to Canada. In 1979 he went to study in London, and in the mid-1980s he lived and worked in Montreal. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1994. Doig’s painting White Canoe sold at Sotheby’s in 2007 for $11.3 million, and at the time it was a record for a living European artist. He currently lives in Trinidad.

Phaidon has included him in their contemporary artist series, and it is an interesting and beautiful book with essays by Adrian Searle, Kitty Scott, and Catherine Grenier.

I consider Doig to be a Canadian artist partly because the influence of Canada runs strong in his work. I see Canadian influences in his subject matter and in the way he handles paint. The Canadian painter David Milne and the Group of Seven are obvious influences, and so is the Canadian landscape, both urban and rural. Many of his paintings include snow, and the canoe is a recurring motif.

David Milne.

Peter Doig.

If you are interested in the work of Peter Doig this publication would be a great addition to your library. It’s an in depth record of his work, and influences and has numerous colour illustrations that give a good sense of his use of line, colour and composition.