Sold for: $11,700

PROVENANCE
Douglas Udell Gallery, Vancouver
Estate of James M. Brickley, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Christopher Pratt: All My Own Work, National Gallery of Canada, 2005, page 91

Christopher Pratt was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and has his studio in St. Mary’s Bay. Pratt is a keen observer of all the aspects of Newfoundland life. As Josée Drouin-Brisebois wrote, his images “are informed by the grand narratives of the place and reflect concern for the kinds of political, social, cultural, and ecological changes that are occurring across the continent.” This drilling site on the Gulf of St. Lawrence recalls the struggle over revenue from Newfoundland’s offshore oil and gas resources, which were supposed to primarily benefit Newfoundland as agreed to in the 1985 Atlantic Accord, thus ending its dependence on federal transfer payments. However, this did not happen, and there was a national uproar in 2004 when the Newfoundland premier ordered that Canadian flags be removed from provincial government buildings. In 2005 the Offshore Arrangement was signed, ending the dispute.

Built environments are one of Pratt’s significant themes, and this industrial scene with its volumetric round towers and attached grid-like structures has a quality of still life. Typical of Pratt’s work, they are without human presence - sentinels standing silently in their monochromatic winter environs; silent, full of portent.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars