RANDOLPH PARKER, "Brushstrokes," opens Aug 4, 2007, Pegasus Gallery, Salt Spring Island

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RANDOLPH PARKER, Brushstrokes

Pegasus Gallery, Salt Spring Island

Opens Aug 4, 2007

By Kimberly Croswell

Not since Ivan Eyre has a Canadian artist developed the art of panoramic landscape painting as effectively as Randolph Parker. Brushstrokes captures the grandeur of bioregions across Canada, and it includes Parker’s trademark horizontal canvases, as well as new formats to capture his sublime vistas. The newest experiments incorporate multiple vanishing-point perspectives in vertical and square formats. Throughout, one theme is significant: the viewer peering into the artwork sees in all directions — left, right as well as up and down — creating a subtle vertigo effect. While comparison with Ivan Eyre is appropriate — both artists compose imaginary landscapes to communicate a memory of a region’s ambiance — there are also significant differences in style. Eyre utilizes pointillism on dark backgrounds to activate the negative space. Parker draws his inspiration from Impressionist techniques, brushstrokes build up the objects he represents. Facing these brushstrokes up close, they appear to be nothing more than spots of colour, but when seen from a distance they become the painting’s imagined reality. As such, Parker’s brushwork allows him great freedom and spontaneity to create, and his painterly gestures become “a window into a world of thought and creativity.”

Represented by: Pegasus Gallery, Salt Spring Island; Winchester Galleries, Victoria, Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver; Master’s Gallery, Calgary; Mayberry Gallery, Winnipeg.