Double Negative: Transparency | 1997 | oil on canvas, 46 x 61 cm
View V | 1992 | oil on plywood, 100 x 110 cm
View II | 1992 | oil on plywood, 100 x 110 cm
These paintings of close-cropped views of the world globe collapse two historical paradigm shifts— the first, that of Copernicus and Galileo, whose visualization of the world as a sphere (with the globe as a model) replaced the conventional belief that the earth was flat— the second, involved the spectacular re-visualization of the planet Earth that entered the public imagination with the exploration of space in the latter half of the 20th C. On one hand, it amused me to think that oil painting as a medium was first adopted at roughly the same time as the globe was first conceived. On the other hand, the new visualization of earth from space that these paintings mimic can only be associated with the recent present.
Peripherum View I | 1996 | oil on canvas diptych, 115 x 253 cm (each)
Peripherum View | no details
Peripherum View III | 1997 | oil on canvas diptych, 229 x 203 cm (each)
Public art commission | installation view, Simcoe Place, Toronto
Five Oceans A | 1996 | oil on canvas, 38 x 54 cm
Five Oceans | 1996 | installation view
Five Oceans C | 1996 | oil on canvas, 38 x 54 cm
Road near Virden | 1997 | oil over silver acrylic ground on canvas, 91.5 x 226 cm
Road near Collins Bay | 1997 | oil over silver acrylic ground on canvas, 61 x 89 cm
Road near Glenora | 1997 | oil over silver acrylic ground on canvas, 61 x 89 cm
Viewing the landscape while travelling in a car involves alternating glimpses to the left and to the right of the road. The vanishing point perspective directs us to our destination in the distance before us, always out of sight nevertheless in the gap between the parted diptych of the montage.
Road near Glenora | 1998 | oil on canvas diptych, 46 x 66 cm each
Road near Glenora (autumn) | 1998 | oil on canvas diptych, 46 x 66 cm each
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Road near Carrying Place | 1998 | oil on canvas diptych, 46 x 66 cm each
March | 2002 | oil on canvas, 66 cm tondo
Red Roses and Blue Vase | 2005 | oil on canvas, 183 x 152.5 cm
Blue and White Irises and Glass Vase | 2005 | oil on canvas, 185.5 x 117 cm
Pink Peonies and White Vase | 2005 | oil on canvas, 106 x 122 cm
Flowers are customarily given at times of joy and times of sorrow— either may bring tears to our eyes. The paintings above proposed to visualize this blurred vision through tears. They also, of course, depict the blurred vision of the camera as it fails to clearly capture a sudden event.