Kenneth Lochhead | Post-Painterly Abstractions
UPCOMING EXHIBITION: October 10 - November 28, 2024
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Reception: Saturday, October 26th from 2 – 4 pm
Bau-Xi Gallery is honoured to present Post-Painterly Abstractions, an exhibition by distinguished Canadian painter Kenneth Lochhead (1926–2006). The exhibition showcases paintings created during the early 1960s, a pivotal period in Lochhead’s career as an abstract artist. During this time, Lochhead’s work expanded upon the Colour-Field painting movement, utilizing large areas of flat, solid colour arranged in contemplative formations to foster a dialogue between the composition and the canvas.
Lochhead studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and upon graduation began teaching art at Carleton University in Ottawa. In 1950 he was appointed Director of the School of Art in Regina, Saskatchewan. It was there that he formed the now-famous Emma Lake Artists' Workshops. Lochhead was influential in bringing artists such as Barnett Newman, Jack Shadbolt and Kenneth Noland as well as renowned art critic Clement Greenberg to facilitate these workshops. Lochhead was also a member of the Regina Five, made up of the most well-known Prairie-based painters (Arthur McKay, Douglas Morton, Ted Godwin, and Ronald Bloore) of the 1960s.
In 1964, Clement Greenberg selected Lochhead’s work for his curated exhibition Post-Painterly Abstraction, which also featured artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella, and Kenneth Noland. The show marked a new era of abstraction, characterized by linear forms, minimal detail, and bold colors.
Kenneth Lochhead passed away on July 15, 2006, but his profound influence on Canadian art endures through his paintings and many years of teaching.
"As an eclectic painter I am in love with the nature of form and human innovation. I have learned that plastic form, with its elements of colour, light, line and space, is the essence of coherent visual expression. I suppose my painting is based primarily on the art of painting with the hope that it transcends to the art in painting.
I like to paint and look at paintings that reflect man's convictions, his grace, his sensuousness, his play, his delight, his creativeness, his coherence, his nobility, his spirit and his feeling. I believe in the celebration of life. Through painting I find some love and joy. It is all worthwhile." - Kenneth Lochhead
Quotation Credit: Joanne Lochhead
