Jack Leonard Shadbolt was a remarkable figure in the art history of British Columbia. Born in the United Kingdom, Shadbolt came to Canada as a child, settling with his family in Victoria. An accomplished artist from early in his career, Shadbolt taught at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design). Shadbolt was drawn to the natural world but his work was often strongly abstracted. He would begin studies of nature quite directly but as his work developed, the immediate connection to the environment was altered by the artist’s interest in abstraction. Shadbolt was a keen observer of nature and his interest in the butterfly—a creature that undergoes fascinating transformations through its life cycle—was long-standing.

Shadbolt’s vision of the natural world was expansive, and this vision is reflected in the numerous multi-panel works that date from the latter part of his career. These large-scale paintings on conservation mat board, glazed in Plexiglas frames, reflect both the grandeur of Shadbolt’s vision and the impact of his visual statements.

Event on the Rocks is a fine example of Shadbolt’s painting ambition and his willingness to produce images that can be read in a variety of ways. This three-panel work is at once quite clear and distinctly ambiguous. The panels are painted with strength and confidence, and yet the meaning of the image remains opaque.

The title, Event on the Rocks, is descriptive but when we look at the image, the “event” is unclear and, indeed, the rocks themselves are ill defined. Are we meant to read the rocks as being below and behind the two roughly hewn logs that visually link the three panels? The viewpoint upon these logs, which is strongly vertical, seems to suggest otherwise. Obviously, the log forms, each of which spans two panels, provide a visual link but they do not suggest rocks, which remain ill-defined in the image. Similarly, the background forms of the sea and land provide only slight evidence of a craggy landscape, most notably in the central and right panels. All three panels are animated by linear patterns that hint at sandy beaches, but perhaps this reading is too straightforward. While the background of each panel may be read as a patch of sand and the ocean beyond, Shadbolt has been careful not to precisely define any aspect of the backgrounds of the panels.

Our attention is directed to the log and butterfly forms that appear in each panel. Striking as these butterfly forms are, here too Shadbolt has confounded our expectations. Where we expect the butterflies to have similarly patterned wings, Shadbolt has depicted their forms vividly but using varied patterns on each wing. The pattern is more closely matched on the butterfly to the left, but the butterfly on the right panel has distinctly different wings. Both images suggest movement and variety within the natural world, but the central panel is the most unusual image. What do we have here? A butterfly emerging from the chrysalis form or an insect dying? One cannot be sure. The image may depict life or death or a transitionary stage.

What is certain is that this image is one Shadbolt has painted with confidence and skill. The work has a deliberate openness and mystery. Shadbolt, leery of too literal an interpretation, has given the viewer the freedom to interpret his meaning. The mystery of this image brings us back to Shadbolt’s title, Event on the Rocks. It is up to us, as viewers, to engage with the work and to define the meaning of the “event.” This strategy on Shadbolt’s part strongly suggests his belief in the centrality of looking at and meaningfully engaging with art.

We thank Ian M. Thom, Senior Curator—Historical at the Vancouver Art Gallery from 1988 to 2018, for contributing the above essay.

This work is a triptych consisting of three panels each measuring 60 x 40 inches.

For the biography on Dr. Luigi Rossi in PDF format, please click here.