Celebrating paint: A long overdue show looks at painting in Calgary.
by Jennifer McVeigh
For the Calgary Herald - Saturday, February 25, 2006

Review
About Time: Contemporary Painting in Calgary on view at the Nickle Arts Museum, University of Calgary, through March 31.

About Time provides a new perspective on current painting practices in Calgary, a perspective that's evident as soon as you step into the Nickle Arts Museum. The cavernous gallery is broken up by long white walls that form three big spaces you can see into from the entrance. The paintings that inhabit them are not overwhelmed. They are square and solid; they stake their claim.

Curator Christine Sowiak describes the work in the show as "present, resolved and strong. They're all confident -- they say 'Here I am. I'm painting.' "

Indeed, these are not delicate, unassuming works, but paintings that revel in their chosen medium. Painters who clearly love paint, these 10 artists - Chris Cran, Richard Edwards, John Eisler, Barry Lorne, Susan Menzies, Mark Mullin, Conrad Ouchi, Bill Rodgers, Laurel Smith and Mary Shannon Will - are dedicated to exploring the sheer physicality of the substance.

Then there is the sheer square footage of exhibition space at the Nickle, which has allowed the curator to include a significant sample of work from each artist, illustrating the depth of each individual practice.One of the first groups of paintings is by Mark Mullin, a 2004 nominee in the RBC New Painting Competition and instructor at the Alberta College of Art and Design. His canvases are luscious collections of colour and texture. The hues are those of the body -- deep reds, pinks, browns, yellow ochre and burnt umber. Mullin has created a unique sense of space within each composition. The far background consists of smooth washes of flat, rich colour. Precise silhouettes of cartoon bubbles made with thick, opaque paint occupy the middle ground. But the most detailed layer is the foreground, where Mullin explores tangled, intestine-like forms, as well as patches of thick, glossy, basket weave brushstrokes.

By working and reworking a limited set of elements, Mullin has created a unique visual language -- a strange, organic, childlike universe. Because seven of the artist's recent paintings are shown, the development of this language is clear to the viewer.

The advantage of space is especially useful to the serial work of Barry Lorne. Over a set of birch panels, Lorne has created a rich personal mythology. A young boy in short pants sitting on a wooden chair swings his legs nonchalantly; in the background, a large, bald man with a golden halo gazes into the distance. An old man wearing a fedora squints as a dog floats suspended in space. The soft wood grain of the birch is used as a background on which the figures are beautifully drawn. Some are defined by a clear stain slightly darker than the natural wood and by subtle shading, while others are rendered with deep blue and metallic gold pigments. Incorporating elements of both children's book illustration and classical painting, each composition is simultaneously innocent and sinister.

Lorne attributes this imagery to his background as an immigrant. Having left Lancaster, England at the age of 12, the artist found that his personal history could not be located in either England or Canada, but in his own subjective memories. The characters are representations of those from the council estate of his childhood.

John Eisler, another RBC New Painting Competition nominee, has also developed a distinct visual language. Often described as a visual DJ, the artist works on several paintings at once. Using handmade tools like modified trowels, squeegees and rollers to spread, scrape and spray, Eisler creates endless layers of colour and texture. Each composition is infused with rhythm and movement, influenced by the saturated colours and
slick surfaces of the urban environment. Despite the improvised, energetic nature of his process, Eisler incorporates small moments of restraint, achieving an intriguing depth and complexity.

One of Calgary's best known contemporary painters, Chris Cran, is represented by a sampling of works from various stages in his career. The earliest piece is from 1984 -- a portrait of the runner Steve Fonyo, who lost a leg to cancer, which had hung in the Tom Baker Cancer Centre for many years. The canvas was recently bought at auction by a friend of Cran's, along with about a dozen other paintings, for $100. Intrigued by what might happen to a work over its life span, Cran gave it new life as a
part of this exhibition.

Cran's contribution also includes several of the screen paintings for which he is best known. While it seems that the artist is masking one subtle, monochromatic image with a screen of very brightly coloured stripes, the more subtle image is actually on the top layer of the painting. The neon stripes moving across the painted surface compete with the image, challenging viewers' perceptions.

In Turn (2006), the canvas is covered in one hue of metallic paint, and a brush is dragged through it to create waves of texture. The texture, which seem like satin under the gallery lights, changes with the viewer's movement in front of the painting. Cran combined this technique with a screen of neon stripes in a painting of 2005, but his most recent work shows him exploring this subtle texture alone.

Another artist who plays with visual perception is Laurel Smith, also an RBC competition nominee. Her paintings are made with an unusual combination of materials -- acrylic paint on plexiglas panels. Up to 20 layers of colour are spread thinly onto the plastic, producing a smooth, shiny surface of saturated colour. The varied hues of the coats underneath are just visible at the edges of the panels -- making it seem as if each rectangle glows from within. This effect is heightened by the way Smith constructs the bases of each piece. The plexiglas panels are mounted on wooden blocks painted with bright neon colours. Reflected on the white gallery walls, colour spreads beside and underneath each work like a colourful shadow. Gradating from orange to pink and red, as well as earthy grey to charcoal black, Smith's work luxuriates in the sensuousness of paint.

According to curator Sowiak, About Time was a "lucky break." An exhibition about the tombs of Peru was unexpectedly delayed, and a gap suddenly appeared in the museum's schedule. "I was given a gift of time and space," says Sowiak.

While the curator conducts ongoing studio visits with local artists, putting a large exhibition together in three months was challenging. "I discovered that the art community is very generous" Sowiak says. "Each artist I mentioned the show to would send me to another painter." The show grew organically and Sowiak made her selections intuitively. "I've worked at the Nickle for 10 years . . . I could visualize the works in the space
together."

According to Sowiak, "the work led the show rather than anything else" and the exhibition was never intended to be an exhaustive survey.

The title About Time has dual meaning for her. The first is about the time it takes to look properly at a painting. In Sowiak's opinion, each piece in the exhibition is capable of "visual entrapment" -- the rigour involved in each painting demands time and attention. The second meaning is more immediate, but no less important. "It's about time we had a show like this" says Sowiak. The Calgary art community does not often have a chance to reflect on the work that happens here. The time and space provided by this exhibition allows for a significant number of works by diverse artists -- both emerging and established -- to be seen side by side.

While About Time is far from a complete portrait of painting in Calgary, the perspective it provides allows comparisons and connections to be made. About Time is a rare treat for Calgary.