Sunday, January 27, 2008

Lawren S. Harris & the Group of Seven

One of the compelling reasons I hate Vancouver winter is its almost deliberately planned downhill slide towards weekend. I have no business with whatever megawatts sunshine from Monday to Friday and when I finally get to walk around on weekends, it promptly starts snowing and raining. GROWL!

Me and Amy visited Vancouver art gallery located in the centre of downtown. Unfortunately only one floor is open and entrance is by donation only. What a tricky word, donation! Not that I'm interested in contributing to native Canadian art community, I paid average ticket price just to ease my conscience. The exhibition is 'Emily Carr and the Group of Seven', a group of artists from the early 90s who focused on local natural landscapes and First Nation heritage.We were on a guided tour which introduced us to the social background of that time and the significance they made.The government criticized them for portraying barren, uninhabitable landscapes which discouraged western European immigrants from coming. I guess you'll have to be born here to truly appreciate the nostalgic transition. I can't relate to it. But I can imagine how I must have felt if looking at my own city now and 10 years ago.

http://www.groupofsevenart.com/

In conclusion, Emily Carr is a female artist who doesn't look female on the photo, who loves morbid green, creepy clouds and totem poles. Two from the Group of Seven died in the same year. Was it 1969? Probably.

You'd think I was so unimpressed and bored. I did take a liking to one artist - Lawren S. Harris. You can easily identify stylistic changes which marked his early, middle and late works. He moved from realistic portraits to more cubic abstractions. The late works weren't even landscapes but geometrical combinations. I love his thick paint and pencil-like tree trunks(Sighs, can't find this one on the web).

Lawren Harris - Afternoon sun Lake Superior


Lawren Harris - Maligne Lake Jasper Park


Lawren Harris - Toronto street winter morning


Lawren Harris - Winter landscape with pink house


Art calendars on sale at $2 each. How obscenely cheap! I bought Dali's but gave it to my landlord who's also a Dali fan.

1 comment:

YayADuCK said...

that's really cheap! buy me one pls!!!