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1. The title of this exhibition, ‘Open the World’ takes its name from a piece you completed earlier this year. What is the significance of the title and the particular moment that inspired it?  

The title is a bit multifaceted. Externally it relates to concerns I have regarding the state of current North American and world politics, global warming, and the overall wellness of the planet. Internally as far as humanity goes, it relates to concerns I have about the wellness of humanity.

Sometimes titles come from seemingly unrelated places. This title came as I was looking out my kitchen window at a non-functioning septic tank that sat lifted half way out of the ground. The tank had nothing to do with the content of the painting but 'Open the World' was what I heard when I looked at it and the light fell through the foliage beside that area. 

When something isn't working, I sit with it until it opens and the issue resolves itself inside its own answer. I'm not sure what the answer is for the planet, but I guess I'm at the stage of being open and sitting with it. Listening to the things that aren't functioning and the reality of the direction we are heading in on every level. 

'Open the World,' for me anyway, keeps my mind open and gives my heart hope. I think this is something we (or maybe I) really need.

2. Do you see these new paintings as unique, or a part of a series?

Conceptually, all of my work stems back to my first show which was based on Rewach (Spirit, breath or wind). The focus on this specific quality has been consistent. My interest for each show is in constantly working to improve my craft and ability to paint. The hope is to bring something new to each show. To keep paring down what it is that needs saying at that particular time. Inside the physicality of painting, maybe a few new colours I might be working with, or variations in brushstrokes. But the basis of the work, always, is spirit, breath or wind.

3. You are well-known for your treatment of light. Can you share some observations on the light quality in Vancouver Island versus Vancouver/Lower Mainland?

As I sit here typing, the air quality in my area has been rated 10+ due to the smoke from wildfires. It seems to be the same everywhere in BC at the time this was written and while a lot of the work was being made. I do think the heat, smoke and wildfires have greatly impacted my work and ability to work for this show. I believe this has impacted some change in the work as well in terms of colour mixing choices and some choices made in application.

5. You described media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s thoughts on art “as a distant early warning system”. Could you tell us a little bit about what this means to you and your thoughts on the potential of art for personal or social change? 

I really like a lot of Etienne Zack's work in terms of how it addresses instability and imminent collapse of a structure onto itself. How the networks within the paintings function as a complex maze that draw you in and make it difficult to get out before the whole thing collapses in on you. For me Etienne is a great example of an artist whose work is an early warning system. Collapse of salmon stocks. Collapse of our resident orcas (J-Pod), collapse of the glaciers, bees, all the water that Nestle is taking and selling back to us for massive profit... 

I feel gravely concerned about many of the current issues our world is facing. I also have to create a light-thread of hope through that concern. To illuminate the positive things inside those very real threats.

Somehow I have to make paintings as a physical practice of gratitude. To somehow stand for, insist upon and honour the wellness of the planet. 

Open the World opens on September 8 at Bau-Xi Vancouver

VIEW THE COLLECTION

1. Can you tell us a little bit about your process? What materials do you use to create the rich texture in your work?

Recently I have been creating rough drawings as a starting point for some of my paintings, based on the essence of weathered objects that I have found on beaches or elsewhere. Sometimes an idea for a new painting emerges from a previous painting.

The beginning of each painting tends to be loosely based on a feeling I have in relation to an eroded object or a fragment of nature such as a rock or a withered flower. I start making marks and textures on a canvas based on a shape or colour. Throughout the process, I think about form, texture and colour and apply multiple layers of acrylic paint and various mediums to canvas. Ultimately, the painting dictates its own direction as the process of painting progresses. The layers build to create a sense of depth and dimension, leading to the final patina and structure of each painting.

2. Do you see your works as unique or as part of a series?

While there is definitely continuity in my work as it evolves over time, this series represents a new body of work.



3. Do any particular lived experiences or memories, if any, inform your work?

I don’t rely on specific experiences and memories to inform individual paintings. Cumulative memories of my experiences in nature do play a role, however, I rely more on the objects and fragments of nature that I collect and keep in my studio.

4. Upon viewing the work in ‘Nature Transformed’, one is reminded of the Japanese aesthetic principle of wabi-sabi: a worldview that centers on the acceptance of transience, impermanence and imperfection. How consciously are you thinking about this idea of wabi-sabi? Is it an artistic practice as well as a personal or spiritual practice for you, too?

Wabi-sabi values and aesthetic principles resonate strongly with me and have a significant influence on my work. I’m very conscious of these ideas when I am painting and over time I have incorporated them into my way of working and my personal aesthetic.

While this is a predominant perspective for me, I have multiple sources of inspiration and reference for my work, including the work of other abstract painters.

Inside the artist's studio with Eddie the dog

5. Which necessities do you require when making art?

For me, the basic necessities are simply a space to work in, the materials I need, and regular dedicated time.

6. Your previous body of work took some reference from hard edge abstraction with an emphasis on structured linear patterns, why the departure?

I didn’t make a conscious decision to depart from structured linear patterns, the shift flowed naturally through the process of working. My recent paintings still include structured hard-edged forms and I see this change as a transition that evolved, rather than a complete departure from earlier work.

Each of my paintings is, in a sense, an experiment and new ways of working happen both by accident and through purposeful changes to the ways that I apply paint. My current work represents new interpretations of elements of nature with forms in the initial layers that are looser and more spontaneous. I have no way of knowing how my paintings will evolve over time.

VIEW NEW WORK BY GORDON WIENS

Brooklyn-based photography duo Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber meticulously build three-dimensional miniature dioramas by hand, and capture the scenes using a large-format film camera. Read this Q&A session to learn more about their incredible process.

Besides moving into a small apartment, what inspired you to start creating dioramas and photographing them instead of shooting more conventional work?

Lori: We are most comfortable working with our hands. With my background in ceramics and woodwork, and Kathleen’s glass history, we are comfortable building our worlds rather than going out in search of them. Neither of us has had the financial means to travel much beyond the United States. We’ve always used our money to purchase tools and art supplies rather than plane tickets and hotel rooms. We’re happy enough to be armchair travelers, exploring the world through books, magazines, television and the internet. So instead of going out in search of worlds to photograph, we choose to build our own worlds in a much smaller scale.

How do you come up with your ideas? Do you keep a journal? What inspires you?

Lori: I’ve always taken inspiration from my surroundings. I grew up in [...] rural western Kansas. Every season brought with it a new disaster or weather phenomenon. [...] these events brought excitement to a life that by most people's standards was quite dull. I also grew up in the 1970s, when dystopian cinema had it's heyday. I remember being quite young and in the movie theater, completely scared yet excited to watch such movies as Planet of the Apes, Towering Inferno, Airport 76, Earthquake, and Logan's Run. These movies have had a not-too-subtle influence on my photography.

[Kathleen and I ] have lived in New York since 1999. Now the city has become our inspiration. I used get my ideas during the morning commute on the subway ride between Brooklyn and Manhattan. It has to be a combination of still being slightly asleep, the light that hits me when we come out of the tunnel and go over the Manhattan Bridge, and trying to maintain my sense of space while riding in a packed subway car. I kind of just drift off and let my mind wonder. I'm like a tourist in my own city, always looking up at buildings around me. The detail in the architecture is so incredible that I want to recreate it for my work. I have a stack of architecture books next to my desk that I turn to for reference when I'm not walking around the city. I don't keep a journal, but rather a list of potential subjects on my phone. Some ideas I sit on for years, others I like to start immediately. I'm completely fascinated with the apocalypse, the Anthropocene, and our reach into outer space.

Kathleen: I’m also a fan of science fiction, though I came to it later than Lori. The best of it raises questions about how the world and societies function (or don’t function). Or gives you a look at a world you’ve never imagined and it just gets the creative juices stirred up. I’ve also kept a sketchbook for years. I’m not sure it always relates directly, but it’s a valuable way for me to sort my thoughts.

Are there any art periods or styles that have influenced you? And how would you describe your own style? 

L: We are greatly influenced by landscape painting, particularly the Hudson River School of Painting which included the artists Thomas Cole, Asher Brown Durand, Frederich Edwin Church, Martin Johnson Heade, and the Romantic painter Casper David Friedrich. Each of these painters possessed characteristics of romanticism and the Sublime and it's ability to create a state of mind and express intense emotions either through beauty or horror. Eighteenth century philosophers such as Burke and Kant wrote of phenomena that could excite sublime feelings when considering natural settings, dangerous situations, the unknown, and anything else that can threaten us or our belief that we live in a friendly and predictable universe that is under our control. The Sublime as a school of thought came to full force in the eighteenth century and was illustrated by these painters' grandiose landscapes.

In our own work, Kathleen and I are interested in depicting danger and disaster, but temper this with a touch of humor. My childhood was spent in a rural part of the United States that is known more for it's natural disasters than anything else. I was born in a small town in western Kansas, and each passing season brought it's own drama, from winter snowstorms, spring floods and tornados to summer insect infestations and drought. Whereas most adults viewed these seasonal disruptions with angst, for a child it was considered euphoric. Downed trees, mud, even grass fires brought excitement to daily, mundane life. [...]  For the series "The City," I have imagined a city of our future, where something either natural or as the result of mankind, has emptied the city of it's human inhabitants. Art museums, Broadway theaters, laundromats and bars no longer function. The walls are deteriorating, the ceilings are falling in, and the structures barely stand; yet Mother Nature is slowly taking them over. These spaces are filled with flora, fauna and insects, reclaiming what was theirs before man's encroachment. I am afraid of what the future holds if we do not change our ways regarding the climate, but at the same time I am fascinated by what a changing world can bring.

Do your pieces have messages for on-lookers? Is there any modern day issues or causes that you try to raise awareness to in your work (In reference to your current work in The City) or is it just to excite the imagination?

K: We do not strictly define what has taken place in the photographs. Clearly, we have a general theme - something catastrophic has happened, mankind is gone, all that is left are empty buildings and abandoned landscapes - but the details as to what actually occurred are purposely left fuzzy. That allows the viewer to bring in their own ideas (or fears) as to what happened. The fact that it is an image of a model and not a real place, can make it easier for viewers to place themselves into the scene and imagine what may have led up to this point.

Your work is labor intensive. Talk me through the creative process and techniques that go into making one of your projects.

K: Because we have been working together for 18+ year now, we each have different roles in the creation of the work. Lori is the architect and I am the sculptor. Lori is responsible for hard surfaces such as walls, floors, furniture, buildings etc. I take care of the detail items such as paint finishes, small props, and generally distress everything. If it takes patience, I’m going to do it. If it involves a ruler and a table saw, then it falls to Lori. In “Anatomy Classroom” I sculpted the anatomy models and skulls out of polymer clay. I created all the specimen jars, the posters and the overhead projector. Lori built the cabinets, chairs, laid in the floors and put up the walls. I then distressed and partially destroyed the scene, readying it for the camera. When my part is done, Lori sets up the camera, lights, the background scenery and begins the process of capturing the final image.

A diorama can take anywhere from three to seven months, but a few have taken as long as fifteen months. We work on two and three at a time. Most of the fabrication takes place in our apartment because that where all the power tools, spray booth, paints and supplies are located. When the work is close to being finished, we pack up the parts and pieces of the diorama and transfer it to our outside studio where there’s more space and where we keep the lighting equipment. When we install the scene out here, it’s usually the first time we see it as a whole. And when we see it all together, there’s usually something amiss and we need to add more detail or more background to a scene.

What advice would you give a young artist that is just starting out?

L: I took the long path to get to where I am today. I started applying to juried shows, then to non-profit shows. I also applied for programs such as the Artist in the Marketplace through the Bronx Museum of Arts, another artist network. As I built up my resume and got a little press recognition, I started to approach commercial galleries. As I had more shows, my work began to spread. It's very important to have a good website. I can't stress this enough.

Good projects take time to develop. Do not be in a great hurry to start and finish a body of work.

Be sure to have a day job. Surviving on art work alone is a rare feat.

Your friends are your greatest source of information sharing. They are the ones who will help out your career the most with gallery connections, inclusions into exhibitions, and spreading your name around to their friends. I am indebted to a lot of my friends for getting my career to where it is today.

Visit Bau-Xi Photo at 350 Dundas Street West to see Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber's solo exhibition, The Empire, The City. Click here to read about this show, which has been selected as a Featured Exhibition for the annual Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.

For the month of May, Bau-Xi Vancouver is pleased to present an exhibition of Canadian photographer Joshua Jensen-Nagle's acclaimed series Endless Summer. We recently asked the artist about how this ongoing body of work has evolved and what his process looks like behind-the-scenes.

1) This body of work prominently features beach scenes, what inspires your continued exploration of this recurring motif, what qualities do you seek when scouting your next location and what distinguishes the destinations you’ve photographed from one another?

The beach work is inspired from my childhood.  I would spend summers at my grandfather's beach house in Mantoloking, New Jersey and have fond memories jumping waves, surfing with my father and basking in the sun.  Those memories have been the driving force behind the work.   

I try and find interesting locations with dramatic elements.  Every location has its own distinct look and feel.  Whether it's the colour of umbrellas, water and sand, every beach seems to carry its own personality.  If there a reef in the water, or it's a rock versus sand.  All these elements bring together a unique composition.

2) Your practice has evolved through a gradual elevation of the lens, from high-angle shots to bird’s-eye view, what prompted these shifts in perspective and how does your approach and relation to subject matter and composition change as you photograph from varying proximity and new vantage points?

I’ve been photographing beaches for nearly twenty years and I was trying to find a new perspective of the subject which led me to aerial work.  I had found myself climbing cliffs with all of my gear, more often, and now working from a helicopter, my approach has changed drastically.  I have a very limited amount of time to get the image, so I coordinate with the pilot on altitude, speed, distance and maneuvers, which makes everything more challenging. 

3) How has technological advancement in digital photography affected your practice over time? Is this rapid change difficult or challenging to keep up with? What about the potential of this medium do you find exciting or daunting?

Technology has allowed me to transition into shooting aerial work.  It is a challenge, but I waited a while until the technology was more advanced and precise.  It’s exciting because of the possibilities it possesses and it is daunting because it is very expensive.  In my early years, I travelled with a few SX-70 Polaroid cameras and a bunch of film in my backpack.  Now, I have multiple high-end digital cameras, lenses, a gyroscope and a 14ft tripod for the locations I can't source a helicopter in.  Customs takes longer travelling internationally with all of this equipment.

4) Having practiced in the field of contemporary photography for many years now, what continues to be the most challenging aspect of the artistic process for you and what surprises you most when you’re shooting?

The most challenging aspect is the travel. From the outside, it looks fantastic, but when you are doing it for work and lugging a ton of gear in and out of countries with different customs requirements, it is very challenging and often stressful.   Flying across the world to photograph is a gamble when you're not sure the weather will cooperate or if the location is what you expected. You never know what you are going to get until you arrive and that can be frustrating.
 

5) Besides photography, what else do you get up to on your travels?

When I’m shooting the winter work I get to snowboard which is nice but I’m riding with gear looking for something to photograph. When shooting the beaches I try and get a swim in at the end of the day but I’m usually on the move a lot. My wife travels with me on a lot of shoots, and we get to enjoy some of the local restaurants after long days, or find some fun spots in between driving from beach to beach each day. In Hawaii, we spotted a 5 mile long sandbar in the middle of the ocean from the helicopter.  I shot it, and the next day weather didn't allow for us to get back up to shoot more work. So instead, we drove around the island, found a park with some kayaks for rent, and kayaked out to the sandbar at low-tide. It's moments like this, that makes it all worth it.  Seeing this sandbar from both perspectives was a highlight of mine for that trip.
  

 VIEW JOSHUA JENSEN-NAGLE'S COLLECTION
 

Bau-Xi Gallery is excited to present Dreams and Journeys, a new series by acclaimed photographer, Joshua Jensen-Nagle. We sat down with the artist to ask him about his latest series and learn about his ever-evolving process.

Bau-Xi Gallery: Ten years later, you are returning to photograph sites from your first architectural series. Tell us about your interest in revisiting these locations.

Joshua Jensen-Nagle: My work has evolved over the years. I wanted to bring a new life to the subject and add a fresh look and feel to the work. Originally, I photographed most of these locations in SX-70 Polaroid. The imagery was soft, blurry--all veiled by a dream-like haze. In revisiting the sites, I used the latest in digital cameras and have created crisp imagery, so that the viewer is able to walk right into the photographs as if they were there themselves. 

BX: Past European images were “smokey” in their finish, as though we viewed the scenes through a fog—what has changed about your interpretation of these places that demands this new, “sharper” image?

JJN: In revisiting my early polaroid series, which evoked a distinctly nostalgic feeling, I wanted to approach this new body of work with a more modern perspective, to parallel working with a digital format camera. Everything is brighter, crisper and fresher. I intentionally over exposed most of the images to give a euphoric feel.

BX: What are the conditions of your ideal shots? 

JJN: The ideal condition for these shoots are midday, when the shadows are minimal. 

BX: This series features iconic sites of worship such as the Pantheon, the Western Wall and the Notre-Dame Cathedral. What do you find inspiring about these sites?

JJN: Each and every site has its own history and attracts people for different reasons. Whether it be to pray, to marvel at its architecture, or even its existence. The human interaction is what interests and inspires me to photograph these sites. 

BX: Which aspects of your practice do you feel have evolved the most noticeably over the last 10 years?

JJN: I would say almost every aspect has evolved in the work that I make today. For me, the most noticeable shift is that I used to be able to travel with a backpack, carrying a few Polaroid cameras and film. I could walk around easily, taking photographs in any location at my own will. Now I have a 14ft tripod, and heavy digital camera gear. I need to secure permits for each location, months in advance. The whole production has become much more intricate. 

Dreams and Journeys will be on view at Bau-Xi Photo (350 Dundas St West, Toronto) from April 14-28. Join us to celebrate the opening of the exhibition on Saturday, April 14 form 2-4pm. 

VIEW THE COLLECTION

1) Your practice is primarily focused on floral painting, what about this subject matter, if anything, draws you to it and continues to inspire abstraction and formal experimentation?

Their variety of shape and colour, fragility and emphemerality.

2) What prompted the introduction of negative space and white ground in your paintings? How does it inform your work and what is its significance?

My brushwork tends to be impulsive and full of energy and which can lead to overcrowded paintings with nowhere for the eye to rest so space can be a place for the viewer to rest and to exercise one's own imagination. I love to look at Chinese landscape paintings where brush marks often hang suspended in white. A slightly under painted piece can be better than one which has been “finished off".

3) Could you enlighten us about how your compositions start, how many iterations they go through before they’re considered ‘finished’ (i.e. flipping the canvas, erasing, painting over, overpainting etc.)?

My compositions start in all kinds of ways, I don’t have a set method. Some paintings, the lucky ones, come right away and are finished in a couple of sessions. But this is rare. Often I paint right over a previous painting which is kind of like some sort of seeking revenge. A painting I’m not satisfied with will sit in my studio until I feel sufficiently removed from it to attack it again, often upside down which is especially freeing. Destruction, which is both satisfying and frightening, can play as big a part in a painting as creation. Many paintings never see the light of day.

4) Over the course of your career, you’ve transitioned from painting from still life arrangements to painting from photographs, how do you find these two approaches differ?

When I work from photos I don’t have to hurry up and get the thing done before the petals fall off and I have all the time I want I can take more liberties with the composition. The one step remove that a photo gives means I can better see the shapes and colours as an abstraction. I can also meld subject matter from several photos into one canvas.

5) Along the lines of the previous question: you often paint multiple paintings from the same photograph, could you describe how each piece and the experience of painting each piece is related or distinct from one another?

Each time I paint another piece from the same photo I need to find something new in it and to explore the possibilities for abstraction more and more. Since I am seldom if ever perfectly satisfied with a painting I often want to have another go. Riffing off the same subject again and again and getting to know its possibilities better is satisfying.

6) What kind of material properties have you observed through the act of painting? How does your handling of paint or your perception of form change as you paint? 

Material properties…..hmmm. Gravity and drips, gloopiness, butteriness?  A comforting smell.  The more I paint the more I am possessed by the qualities of the paint.  

7) This new work demonstrates some new palettes for you—are there particular pigments   or contrasts that are exciting you these days?

The Unforeseeable Fuschia which I always thought was a cheap trick.  I love the aubergine colour that the shrieky pthalo green can create with Alizarin Crimson. 

8) How would you say your work has developed in the past ten years and how do you see it evolving in the future?

The gesture is getting more and more important in the work and I seem to be getting up closer and closer to the flowers. Also I like to paint bigger and bigger. Like most artists I have no clue as to where I am going. Painting is a leap into the unknown.

VIEW NEW WORKS BY JAMIE EVRARD

1) What intangible or immaterial moments are you most interested in representing through your work?

I am interested in painting a visual and materially formed record of time. This record of time is created by way of a visual methodology of paint application and reactive decision making. 

Meditation and contemplation are part of my toolkit. I seek to evoke an internal state where a passage of time is experienced, and physically recorded by a calendar of sorts - the grid created by painted layered impasto lines. 

I like the analogy of duplicity and what it reveals: what we first see and know, and what light and shade reveal to us from different vantage points and at different times.  I find that transitory passage inspiring and poetic, like watching the day`s light fade into evening.  Those are the moments that I want to integrate into my work.

2) What kind of material properties have you observed through the act of painting? How does colour or your perception of colour change as you apply paint layer upon layer? 

The invisible painting layer is the shadow cast by light reflecting off the depth and accumulation of paint.  This is often more apparent in the white grid paintings but the coloured grids also have a directional quality and optical play between the colored impasto lines which have a similar intent.

Within the White Shade grids, the relationship between the form and shadow is depicted in a subtle way.  There is often two works in simultaneous production, one at times invisible. 

3) Your work uncovers the fundamental properties of paint and is often read as drawing, painting and sculpture all in one. Do you see it this way? Do you consider it more like one than the other(s)?

This current body of work has become bas-relief sculptures made by accumulated lines drawn with paint.  Paint, and its properties as a medium, historical references and traditions from different cultures inspire me as do handiwork and textiles. I consider myself a painter who is exploring the visual vocabulary of painting within in a personal experiential framework.

4) Your work appears to be very process-driven. Could you lend a little insight into your process? How does chance play a role in your work, if at all?

The grid for me is a point of departure.  I like its simplicity and perfection when I begin, but it`s the curious imperfection of my mark-making that moves me forward.  Each painting is, although often only subtly different, solved by a visual and emotive reaction unique to each piece.

5) You have spoken of the many skilled artisans in your life, most of whom are women who have worked in textile (knitting, weaving, sewing, embroidering) who have inspired you and your work through the years. What role does craft, and/or these women play in your work?

Generations of women in my family have been skilled in these traditions.  Often out of necessity, they sewed and wove their cloths and linens.

There's always been a skilled beauty to their designs which I've long admired. At first I did not even notice how it was influencing me and my work.  I was always consciously making and seeing patterns in nature and in architecture.  I think the dedication and pride of their skilled production was imprinted on me at a young age.

I have never acknowledged the elitist distinction between so-called “women’s work” and high art. Content and intention of the craft form is what makes it art. I like how both traditions have a voice in my work and together create an equilibrium – I appreciate them both.

6) Looking at your work, one is reminded of the minimalist artist Agnes Martin whose work also had a lot to do with line and repetition. Your work, like Martin’s, demands intimate viewing and quiet contemplation. Martin has remarked about her work: “My paintings are about merging, about formlessness ... A world without objects, without interruption.”  Does this statement resonate with you? If so, how?

Agnes Martin’s work resonates with me in the same way Mondrian does.  When you see how both artists have abstracted reality down to an elemental purity such as line, it’s really quite incredible.  Finding the inner bones, the essence of an object was both their intent and their spiritual experience.  I have a lot to learn from these artists as they continue to inspire me.

VIEW NEW WORK BY VICKY CHRISTOU

1) Could you lend some insight into the tongue-in-cheek title of your exhibition 'Girls Gone Wild'?

With this body of work, I found I had the chance to really show my own experience. I'm out in nature doing all the same wilderness activities that are still thought of as a male pursuit. All the female figures in my work are participating in their surroundings, they don't stand outside of them. They’re not merely passive still-life objects like in other landscape paintings, they're building fires, climbing fences, hiking, paddling, etc. 

2) How long have you been developing this body of work?

I think this body of work has been coming together for a while. I've always been interested in landscape and the history of Canadian painting. To gather my research and find inspiration, I trek into the woods during the summer on backcountry adventures, lugging canoes through swamps crawling with leeches, collecting and chopping wood for campfires and fighting off blackflies, horseflies and every other type of biting critter out there; because of this I've always felt a little at odds with the traditions of landscape painting. It's dominated by male painters and often women are still used as part of the scenery.

3) From which artistic sources do you find inspiration?

Social media platforms, especially Instagram have influenced my work through their set colour schemes and filters. I also find myself often drawing colour inspiration from current fashion trends. I think that love of colour is the biggest factor in every painting that I do. I tend to get obsessive about colour. My canoe is this really lovely shade of soft robins-egg blue and I've used that shade for the under-paintings in at least half of this body of work. Emerald green also really got under my skin over the past couple months and came out in a lot of these paintings.

I think Kim Dorland’s work has brought new life to landscape and brought it into the contemporary art realm. He's a major source of inspiration along with Peter Doig (perhaps my favourite artist of all), Wanda Koop. I find Christopher Pratt’s use of physical space as its own subject really interesting. I also think that Thrush Holmes neon lines may be subconsciously influencing elements of my work. 

4) How long does it take to complete a painting from conception to final execution?

My process tends to be a fairly long one. I work from photos most often, but what most people don't know is that I rarely use photos that aren't at least a year or two old. Any photos I take from research trips or vacations, I will put away. I will usually forget about them, and wait until those photos aren't photos to me anymore, but instead they've become reminders of specific memories. I need to have an emotional response to an image to make it interesting enough for me to paint. It normally takes a year or two for that to happen. I remember a moment or a feeling that held significance for me and then I go back through my files to try and find the photo that matches that moment. 

After I've decided on an idea, I do a couple sketches in watercolour/pastel/ink/pencil before reverse-engineering that composition with oil paint. In watercolour I work from lightest to darkest, and in oil paint I work from darkest to lightest. This process gives me enough space from the representational image to enjoy the more meditative and intuitive aspects of painting. 

5) Your paintings appear to be highly pre-planned. What kind of techniques are you experimenting with?

In terms of technique, I've been really enjoying the physicality of pushing paint around on canvas and working with oil paint in all sorts of different forms. From working with it almost like watercolour and diluting it to let it drip and mix and flow to sculpting the paint up in different areas to drawing with it on the canvas; mark-making has become a huge part of my process.  

6) Tell us something we wouldn’t guess from your work.

I often add in little objects, almost like Easter eggs. I think that people miss these, so it's always worth taking a second look just in case. There’s a little portage sign in the distance in Forest Through the Trees, and a couple of crushed empty beer cans in Rainy Daze and Delays. The cans are actually a representation of my favourite beer, Wellington SPA from my hometown of Guelph.

VIEW NEW WORK BY MEL GAUSDEN