Beneath the Long Grass: The Constructed Canvas - Exhibition Description

BENEATH THE LONG GRASS: THE CONSTRUCTED CANVAS: presents an acute awareness of something that lies beneath. My work is supported by strong underlying structures and constructed canvases; I am interested in a clearly evident means of construction. The works contemplate energy and environment using layers, transparencies, and a depth of materials. Encaustic waxes combine with transparent oil paints over an underlying support of specifically woven tapestry or interwoven canvas, burlap, or linen. Layers move on and off the surface, in search of a connection between the way that I sense, and the way that I come to understand the natural energies at play in our environments.


Three themes run through this series of works.
Firstly exploring the idea of “landscape” means tracing the boundary where land meets human. Sometimes only a single warm line of containment, like some contemporary reenactment of 17th century enclosures, jealously guards a place of human presence in the immense natural commons of the prairie. Here, between the flatlands and the mountains there is a unique Albertan identity, possibly even pride. Its basis? Simply our existence in this place.
Secondly, accumulated life experience is related to the material meaning of the land. All materials are physically altered by usage and re-usage; their identity can be reinvented, but no matter how strong and redirected is today’s purpose, it cannot completely obliterate the previous lives of the object.  This accumulation of identities lives like a surface patina where layers of meanings can be read.
And finally there is that slightly contradictory place where clearly remembered experience meets vaguely remembered fact. Remember that day, the one down at the river? The sky was everywhere sunshine, the landscape was immensely wide open, and the river was huge. Priority of memory trumps the geometry of Euclid. The afternoon went on forever, and yet took no time at all; at once solitary and completely engrossing. This doubleness of vision is more the embodiment of a realist’s mindset, than an impossible contradiction.


In my work, I hide things in plain sight. I look to art to be both intelligent and insightful, but also to be accessible. Somewhere within a work that might seem “all spelled out”, I attempt to place a softly spoken something-else, a murmured voice from the back of the room, to raise the suspicion that there may be an intent here that is not immediately identifiable. An unexpected depth; an unexpected connection; that is something I can say that I am excited about.


These are the ways that Beneath the Long Grass: The Constructed Canvas examines what lies beneath my conscious awareness of the land and moreover, what lies beneath a whole romantic conception of nature.  Here is the mindset of a realist, existing in a world filled with energies, both physical and contemplative. Human and natural forces meet with both challenge and synergy and are planted firmly together in the enduring prairie landscape.








Exhibition - Description




Beneath the Long Grass embodies the mass and the meaning of the land in a series of material laden artifacts. Although there is a clear consistency in style and form, the pieces explore a wide range of both size and scope. From the focused 12x12inch found-lumber panels up to the range-of-vision encompassing canvases of 5x6 feet, the pieces challenge the imagination with their variety of purely physical size. The underlying depth of materials in the constructed canvases combine with the imagery to also challenge the intellect:  the clearly evident constructions provide an acute awareness of what lies beneath.


 




A minimalist layout is juxtaposed with the deeply textured, material laden works, in the bright open space of the tower gallery giving impetus for deeper contemplation of the wide open spaces of the Leighton Art Centre environs. The 27-piece installation fills the 654 running feet of the Tower Gallery. Here, one example of the few statement words to be included on the “gallery card” for mounting beside each work:


 


Unlocked, 2013


Bitumen on Waxed Constructed Canvas


An energy, massive but contained
Energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle,


Wrangled, not fully tamed


but not completely unleashed.


 


This series projects the mindset of a realist in a world filled with energies, both physical and contemplative. Where human and natural forces meet there shall be both challenge and synergy planted firmly together in the enduring prairie landscape.


 


“There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made.” WillaCather, MyAntonia, 1918.


After The Deluge: Still Standing - Detail
2015
Bitumen, Encaustic Ricepaper on Cherry Panel
23x32 inches
Iron stained, homey, homely

From The ReSourced Series
In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
After The Deluge: Still Standing - Detail
2015
Bitumen, Encaustic Ricepaper on Cherry Panel
23x32 inches
Well lived-in, well used

From The ReSourced Series
In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
After The Deluge: Still Standing - Detail
2015
Bitumen, Encaustic Ricepaper on Cherry Panel
23x32 inches
Fragile and organic?
That would be those it protects.

From The ReSourced Series
In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
ReSourced: Ripples - Detail
2015
Bitumen and Encaustic on Reclaimed Garage Floorboard
13x12 inches
After the Initial impulse,
All we can do is watch

From the ReSourced Series - In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
ReSourced: Ripples - Detail
2015
Bitumen and Encaustic on Reclaimed Garage Floorboard
13x12 inches
As the waves of consequence expand and disperse

From the ReSourced Series - In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
ReSourced: Unlocked
2013
Bitumen on Waxed Canvas
36x45x2 inches
I was thinking of an energy
Massive but contained
Energy unlocked
Like a tricky puzzle
Wrangled
Not fully tamed but not completely unleashed
ReSourced: HereFordHerd - Detail
2015
Bitumen, Encaustic, Raw Canvas and Kitchen String on Mahogany Panel
60x40 inches
There is a force that keeps them together
There is a force that makes them move.
The driven and the drivers
Harvesting that what they need.


From the ReSourced Series - In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.

ReSourced: HereFordHerd - Detail
2015
Bitumen, Encaustic, Raw Canvas and Kitchen String on Mahogany Panel
60x40 inches
There is a force that keeps them together
There is a force that makes them move.
The driven and the drivers
Harvesting that what they need.


From the ReSourced Series - In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
ReSourced: HereFordHerd - Detail
2015
Bitumen, Encaustic, Raw Canvas and Kitchen String on Mahogany Panel
60x40 inches
There is a force that keeps them together
There is a force that makes them move.
The driven and the drivers
Harvesting that what they need.


From the ReSourced Series - In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
ReSourced: HereFordHerd - Detail
2015
Bitumen, Encaustic, Raw Canvas and Kitchen String on Mahogany Panel
60x40 inches
There is a force that keeps them together
There is a force that makes them move.
The driven and the drivers
Harvesting that what they need.


From the ReSourced Series - In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
ReSourced: HereFordHerd - Detail
2015
Bitumen, Encaustic, Raw Canvas and Kitchen String on Mahogany Panel
60x40 inches
There is a force that keeps them together
There is a force that makes them move.
The driven and the drivers
Harvesting that what they need.


From the ReSourced Series - In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
Resourced: Cultivated - detail
2015
Bitumen, Canvas, Kitchen String and Encaustic on Reclaimed Garage Floorboard
12x12 inches
A storm approaches,

From the ReSourced Series - In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
Resourced: Cultivated - detail
2015
Bitumen, Canvas, Kitchen String and Encaustic on Reclaimed Garage Floorboard
12x12 inches
Foreboding shadows lengthen, stretching that line

From the ReSourced Series - In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
Resourced: Cultivated
2015
Bitumen, Canvas, Kitchen String and Encaustic on Reclaimed Garage Floorboard
12x12 inches
A storm approaches,
Foreboding shadows lengthen, stretching that line
The one between needed precipitation and destruction
However, the alternative is dust.

From the ReSourced Series - In the ReSourced Series, I was thinking of an energy, massive but contained. An energy unlocked, like a tricky puzzle. Wrangled, not fully tamed but not completely unleashed.
ExKathedra: Impression Sunrise - Detail
2015
Oil and Encaustic on Reclaimed Garage Floorboard
12x12 inches
ExKathedra: Impression Sunrise
2015
Oil and Encaustic on Reclaimed Garage Floorboard
12x12 inches
ExKathedra: Impression Sunrise - Detail
2015
Oil and Encaustic on Reclaimed Garage Floorboard
12x12 inches
ExKathedra: Impression Sunrise
2015
Oil and Encaustic on Reclaimed Garage Floorboard
12x12 inches
Fairly Odd Landscapes: Avalanche! - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Natural Inclusions on Birch Panel
17x38 inches
Fairly Odd Landscapes: Avalanche! - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Natural Inclusions on Birch Panel
17x38 inches
Fairly Odd Landscapes: Avalanche! - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Natural Inclusions on Birch Panel
17x38 inches
Fairly Odd Landscapes: Avalanche! - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Natural Inclusions on Birch Panel
17x38 inches
Fairly Odd Landscapes: Avalanche! - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Natural Inclusions on Birch Panel
17x38 inches
Fairly Odd Landscapes: Avalanche! - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Natural Inclusions on Birch Panel
17x38 inches
Fairly Odd Landscapes: Avalanche! - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Natural Inclusions on Birch Panel
17x38 inches
Fairly Odd Landscapes: Avalanche! - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Natural Inclusions on Birch Panel
17x38 inches
ExKathedra: Invitation - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Raw Canvas on Mahogany Panel
14x44 inches
ExKathedra: Invitation - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Raw Canvas on Mahogany Panel
14x44 inches
ExKathedra: Invitation - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Raw Canvas on Mahogany Panel
14x44 inches
ExKathedra: Invitation - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Raw Canvas on Mahogany Panel
14x44 inches
ExKathedra: Invitation - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Raw Canvas on Mahogany Panel
14x44 inches
ExKathedra: Invitation - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Raw Canvas on Mahogany Panel
14x44 inches
ExKathedra: Invitation - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Raw Canvas on Mahogany Panel
14x44 inches
ExKathedra: Invitation - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Raw Canvas on Mahogany Panel
14x44 inches
ExKathedra: Invitation - Detail
2015
Oil, Encaustic and Raw Canvas on Mahogany Panel
14x44 inches
Westwind: Winter Is Coming - Detail
2015
Encaustic on Panel
30x40 inches
Westwind: Winter Is Coming - Detail
2015
Encaustic on Panel
30x40 inches
Westwind: Winter Is Coming - Detail
2015
Encaustic on Panel
30x40 inches
Westwind: Winter Is Coming - Detail
2015
Encaustic on Panel
30x40 inches
Westwind: Winter Is Coming - Detail
2015
Encaustic on Panel
30x40 inches
Westwind: Winter Is Coming - Detail
2015
Encaustic on Panel
30x40 inches
Westwind: Winter Is Coming - Detail
2015
Encaustic on Panel
30x40 inches
Westwind: Winter Is Coming - Detail
2015
Encaustic on Panel
30x40 inches
Westwind: Winter Is Coming - Detail
2015
Encaustic on Panel
30x40 inches
Westwind: Westwind
2013
Oil and Encaustic on Oak Panel
18x26x2
Yup, its pretty much blown away.

The Island/Westwind pairing
speaks of a prevailing wind;
and not necessarily meaning
an air movement
in a specific direction.

This landscape speaks,
not of a place but a time;
of global uncertainty,
questioning previously unshakeable ground
that we once thought we stood upon,
when we stood upon the earth.
Accumulated Landscape: This Huge Small World That I Survey
2012
Watercolour and Ink Wash on Paper with Okumi Mahogany
48x65x1 inches
Remember that day, the one down at the river?
The sky was everywhere sunshine,
the landscape was immensely wide open,
and the river was Huge.
The afternoon went on forever,
and yet took no time at all.

The vivid colours of childhood
meet vague but ever-present
Calgary colours of Buckskin and Blue.
Scale conforms to the priority of memory
rather than the geometry of Euclid.

Clearly remembered experience
meets vaguely remembered fact.
Solitary and completely engrossing
this small huge world that I survey
One Warm Line: Highway
2012
Oil and Encaustic on Linen, Canvas and Burlap
24x72x2 inches
One Warm Line
thin,
distinct,
a single warm trace of human activity


At this time of year
frigid brittle asphalt
is a welcome sign.
If you can see the yellow line,
you're probably going to make it
to your distant warm, safe destination.
If not...


Here,
between the flatlands and the mountains
a unique Albertan identity,
possibly even pride.
Its basis,simply our existence in this place.
One Warm Line: FenceLines
2012
Oil and Encaustic on Linen, Canvas and Burlap
48x60x2 inches
One Warm Line is rooted in the barely-realized, sublime landscapes of the mid-19th century.

Texo Vitae: Marco - detail
Fairly Odd Landscapes: Beneath the Long Grass
2014
Oil, Encaustic and Tapestry on Cherry Panel
48x60x2 inches
Beneath the Long Grass
The mass and the meaning of the land
in a material laden artifact.
Accumulated interwoven layers
secured to the cherry panel with
encaustic medium and oil paint.

A mindset of a realist in
a world filled with energies,
both physical and contemplative.

Where human and natural forces meet
there shall be challenge and synergy
all planted firmly together
in the enduring prairie landscape,
ExKathedra: Impression Sunrise
2012
Oil and Encaustic on Found Lumber
12x11x2 inches
Impression Sunrise - how little alteration of a 2x12 piece of lumber does it take for me to read it? A pinch of cerulean pigment in beeswax and one white line. How quickly it impresses landscape into my consciousness
ExKathedra: Treewrap
2012
Oil, Burlap, encaustic, lumber stamp exposure on found lumber
12x11x2 inches
Burlap in encaustic, oil paint, lumber stamp exposure, painted encaustic texture on found lumber

12x11inches

From art school artist statement.....
I hide things in plain sight. -
My goal, if anything is to create a scenario
where something does seem to have been made
with a specific purpose;
something that seems like it is all spelled out.

But somewhere within the work I attempt to place
a softly spoken something-else,
a murmured voice from the back of the room,
to raise the suspicion that there may be
an intent here that is not immediately identifiable.

An unexpected depth;
an unexpected connection;
that is something I can say that I am excited about.
ExKathedra: Venetian Plaster, Between the Writing and The Wall
2013
Oil and Ink on Venetian Plaster and Found Lumber
12x13x2 inches
the writing is somewhere
within the writing
on the wall
ExKathedra: Moored
2012
Oil and Encaustic on Plaster and Board
11x11x2 inches
Moored
Organic oil
binding, seeping,
anchoring itself
through the crisp granular structure
of the wall plaster.
ExKathedra: Midnight
2013
Oil, Encaustic on Burlap/Linen/Canvas
72x30x2 inches
Contemplating energy and environment

Layers, transparencies, and a depth of materials.
Encaustic waxes combine with transparent oil paints.
An underlying support of canvas, burlap, and linen interwoven through the work.
Gradually layers move on and off the surface,

In search of a connection between
the way that I sense, and
the way that I come to understand
the natural energies at play in our environments.

Abstracted use of material in layers.
Active grounds interwoven between
surface and substrate.
Centered on a suggestion of landscape or environment

A codependent interchange of energy
between material layers and surface imagery.