SHI LE | COLOUR OF FALL
Shi Le | Colour of Fall
October 12-28, 2017
3045 Granville Street - Upper Floor Gallery
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 12th, 6-8 PM
Shi Le’s latest series of paintings, on display in the Upper Gallery from October 12th to 28rd, captures the ever-changing shades of Autumn, as the season transforms dense forests, placid creeks, rustling leaves, still waters and swaying trees. Le’s practice follows the longstanding tradition of seeking enlightenment through the study of nature, evoking collective experiences of natural space with poetic movement, masterful palette knife technique and luminous impasto surfaces.
Sketching from photographs taken on his solitary walks, Le develops his compositions by drawing on deeply resonant imagery, deriving inspiration from an intimate connection with nature. Le depicts the Ontario woodlands with softened focus and hyper-saturated hues, with particular focus on the riotous colours of the burnished landscape, synthesized through the distillation of personal recollection. Reflecting on the changing states of nature and the cyclical pattern of seasons, Le’s layered acrylic daubs describe minute shifts in light, filtered through the canopy to set the undergrowth alight with deep crimsons, burnt oranges and warm ochres. His marking making creates a time-lapse of ephemeral moments —a painting that is both a static image and a temporal document infused with the breath of the sublime.