"Super"
Bryce Erickson, "Super," oil on panel, 1994, 16" X 22".
BRYCE ERICKSON
February to March, 2010, The Stall Gallery, Saskatoon
BY: Patricia Dawn Robertson
Don’t call Bryce Erickson a photorealist. The Saskatoon painter’s depictions of his environment may dazzle viewers with their precision and clarity, but his unique version of painterly reality is still, in his own opinion, abstract and impressionistic. It’s also firmly based in narrative. Erickson has 40 years logged at his easel, so this retrospective solo show spans a lifetime of seeing and portraying his environment. He retired from his day job in 2000. “I decided I’m going to go to my studio to paint while I still have my wits about me,” he says with a laugh. When he chooses subject matter, Erickson rejects the “picturesque” and is not interested in doing calendar work. Instead his haunting and honest paintings encompass autobiographical memories. “There are images that keep coming back to me so I like to paint them,” he says. “Why was this important to me? Why is this still important to me?” Always, a sense of place remains central to the painter’s life and work. “West central Saskatchewan is like my Back 40.”