BCSFA CGP CPE OC RCA
1919 - 2020
Canadian
L.II
acrylic on canvas
signed and on verso titled and dated 1984 on the gallery label
46 x 55 in, 116.8 x 139.7 cm
Estimate: $15,000 - $20,000 CAD
Sold for: $26,325
Preview at: Heffel Vancouver
PROVENANCE
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver
Private Collection, Vancouver
LITERATURE
Ian M. Thom and Andrew Hunter, Gordon Smith: The Act of Painting, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1997, page 42
In the mid-1970s, Gordon Smith began a series of paintings in which the landscape was distilled into horizontal planes. More strongly defined and separated in the beginning, by the end of this series, as in L.II, the edges of these planes had softened. This struggle between looseness and tension has often recurred in Smith’s work, and art critic Joan Lowndes commented, “As he feels his structure becoming too tight he loosens it; as he feels his color becoming too lush he restrains it; and as he feels he is adhering too closely to reality he becomes more abstract.” The consummate modernist, Smith’s career has been a constant process of evolution. Works such as L.II were primarily about brushwork and colour; the landscape reference is more general – thus the title, which does not reveal any specific location. The work does however, have a feeling of the West Coast with its predominantly blue palette, dissolving edges and misty atmosphere, suggestive of watery planes. Smith balances this blue with contrasting pink, green, yellow and mauve, making L.II a sublime study in light and colour.
Estimate: $15,000 - $20,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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