BCSFA CGP CSPWC OC RCA
1909 - 1998
Canadian
Still Life at the Edge
acrylic on canvas
signed and dated 1989 and on verso titled on the gallery label
60 x 49 in, 152.4 x 124.5 cm
Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CAD
Sold for: $18,750
Preview at: Heffel Calgary - 220 Manning Road NE, Unit 1080
PROVENANCE
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver
Private Collection, Calgary
LITERATURE
Jack Shadbolt: Paintings from Concurrent Exhibitions, Bau-Xi Gallery, 1990, reproduced, unpaginated
EXHIBITED
Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto, Jack Shadbolt: Paintings from Concurrent Exhibitions, February 20 - March 11, 1990
“I realize that although my concern has always been with structuring the configuration of my work, I am an image maker at heart, strung between the impulse to respond intuitively and the need for detached statement. These recent works tend to be more explicit in their imagery — no less enigmatic but more direct in expression. I hope they are still alive with the process of painting itself for I alternate defined with free and improvisational elements, trying as I have tried all my life to reconcile nature with abstraction and deliberation with intuition.” – Jack Shadbolt, in the “Paintings from Concurrent Exhibitions” (1990) catalogue
Over the course of Jack Shadbolt’s long and explorative career, his style evolved from purely representational – he was a trained draftsman – to varying levels of abstraction, informed by motifs from nature, Surrealism and West Coast First Nations culture. Painted in 1989, Still Life at the Edge is a confident later period work by the seasoned artist, a playful interpretation of the traditional still life format. The white table and structure serve as an exaggerated framing device to hold the bouquet, grounding the composition, while the gestural sky is quintessential Shadbolt in its painterly abstraction. The bouquet itself is a fantastical and colourful combination of flowers, fish and forms, striking a delicate balance between chaos and composure. The painting is absolutely a still life, presented to the viewer in traditional, comprehensible visual language - but it is also at the edge of something else entirely.
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