Solace by the Sea Painting

“Solace by the Sea” was part of a solo exhibition titled “Before the Sun Goes Down” that showed at The Vernon Public Art Gallery (May 27 - July 12, 2019.) “Before the Sun Goes Down” alludes to the period at which the sun crosses the horizon - A magical time of day, when bright unpredictable colours at their height of vibrancy dance with sharply contrasting shadows to create vistas that seem to come alive. With this exhibition, I had likewise endeavoured to capture a heightened sensation of visual acuity. Juxtapositions of hard edged rectangular shapes, imbued with intense unbroken colours, simplify spacial relationships and emphasize the flatness of the pictorial plane. My use of anomalous colours distinguishes adjoined shapes, while arrays of subtly unnatural colour gradations act to deepen the illusion of superimposition. Additionally, by arranging the rectangles slightly askew and distributing them unevenly, a quality of fluidity was added to these open compositions. I’ve expanded the range of curatorial possibilities by using reconfigurable diptychs to offer alternative impressions. In some cases, the pictorial image was transformed into a sculpture like object by stripping away the background, making the stretcher bars conform to the contours of the coloured shapes. Cumulatively, these visual artifices aim to foster an uneasy calmness. My desire is to disrupt the viewer’s inherent paradigms of conditioned thought with works that are lively yet still, bewildering yet comfortable, and simple yet challenging. Associative gaps are created through conflicting dualities. These disconnects encourage the eyes of the viewer to swim about the images, searching for resolution, resulting in the emergence of new perspectives. This painting is acrylic on clear gessoed 12 duck canvas stretched on 3 panels. It's signed on the side and back. This item will be shipped rolled and will require stretching on site for installation. Being that this work is irregular in shape the outside perimeter dimensions occupy an area of 83” high by 214” wide.