Victor Proulx

( 大器晚成 Tao 41)
My paintings are events of paint, no meaning on an intellectual plain, nothing to “understand.” Worth looking at as one might look at a cut diamond, or polished turquoise. One looks for the occurrence of various kinds of junctures made up of colors, shapes, and line, within the painting. I want my painting to be interesting for a long period of time. Hence, the complexity of edge. I come back to these paintings and see painterly events I had not noticed before. A kind of play. Figure ground ambiguity is a major vehicle for me, to paint a kind of visual confusion. A way to shift - ever so slightly - ones paradigm. This newness, this exotic, is what I want to find in my painting. Therefore, I must paint far beyond my preconception, and hence the Abstract Expressionist accidents, the drip, the almost uncontrolled brush, the strokes, etc. found mostly in the first coat. Edge is fruitful. There one can see into the first coat, the under painting, action painting.

Art is a mechanism of civilization used to replace certain ecstatic primal experiences that language has dysfunctioned.

Painting is an aperture to the here and now.


“There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the ...

Summers 61 & 62, apprentice under Bill Longley, Denver. 1965 to 1968 The Colorado College, teachers were Bernard Arnest, Herman Snyder, et al. Art history teachers included Frans Schultz (Summer school) et al. Fall 1967, Whitney Fellow in American art, Joseph Raffael was my tutor. 68' 69 school year, Forth Year Study, School of Visual Arts. Teachers Joseph Raffael, Malcolm Morley, Robert Mangold, Mel Bochner, and Paul Waldman et al. William Agee, art criticism and modern American art history. 1970 to turn of the century, confused, though intense periods of painting and drawing. 1999 to 2013 spent seeking a spiritual anchor, learning contemplation etc. A few realistic paintings for money. Some non-objective drawing. In the fall of 2013 I became re-drawn to painting. Painting is my path to the awareness of the here and now, and to minimizing ego. Using 12” x 16” canvas board, starting with the color field painters popular when I was in New York, I sought a stile. About 50 paintings later, I arrived painting much as I was in the late 80s and early 90s. I felt comfortable in painting larger. (48” x 64”) Thought I upped the size four, I only doubled the brush from 6 to 12, and indeed, I am now painting the 48” x 64” with size ...

Pirate: Contemporary Art 2018 juried art exhibition. July 2018. "Suzi's Step" Juried by Michael Paglia, writer.

SYNC10 - A Juried Art Exhibit. Mid May to mid June 2019 "Study for Time and Again II" Juried by Louise Martorano, executive director of RedLine Contemporary Art Center

Spark Gallery's "Blue/Green Art and Environment, June 13 - 19, 2019 "Passacagila" Juried by Cecily Cullen, Director and Curator of The Center for the Visual Arts at Metropolitan State University.

RedLine’s Annual Juried Exhibition 2019 August 10 - September 9, 2019 Ivar Zeile juror. "Aufhebung "
Ivar Zeile Juror, a curator specializing in Digital Animation and Contemporary Art.

R Gallery, Boulder CO. "Lines," A Juried exhibition. July 30, to August 30, 2019

Core New Art Space, The Red Show 2019. November 15, 2019 to December 1, 2019, Juried by Michael Paglia,

I have two drawings in Spark’s COLORADO DRAWS show.
Spark Gallery proudly presents COLORADO DRAWS, a Juried Exhibition, open to Colorado artists who work with drawing in any medium.
The juror is Louise Martorano, award-winning Executive Director of RedLine, Denver.
Exhibit Dates: Jan. 8 - Feb. 28, 2021

"Study in Green I," has been chosen for Core New Art Space's "The Green Show," Jul...