"House and Wind"
Steve Coffey, "House and Wind," 2006, 36" x 24", oil on canvas.
STEVE COFFEY, Fall
Kensington Fine Art Gallery, Calgary
October 14 - 28, 2006
Front Gallery, Edmonton
November 15 - 29, 2006
By Dina O'Meara
Not often does an artist release a CD and launch an exhibition at the same time. But Steve Coffey’s paintings and songs spring from the same inspiration – the glorious, spacious prairies. Coffey (whose band is Steve Coffey and the Lokals) imbues his oil on canvas landscapes and his songs with lyrical, poetic elements drawn from vast horizons and wind-swept farms. “I always thought of myself as a conduit,” Coffey says from his home studio in Calgary. “It’s a simple thing.” Born in Manitoba, Coffey reflects the solitude of the prairies with obvious but unsentimental affection. Working from “memory snapshots,” Coffey brings to the canvas the warm light and intricacy of the grasslands using thick, layered brush strokes reminiscent of Group of Seven painter A.Y. Jackson. Although he had been drawing since childhood (and got fired from his first job for doodling all the time), Coffey spent years as a metal sculptor after earning a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Regina. He started painting after running out of studio space, and realized the medium made more sense to him.
Represented by: Kensington Fine Art Gallery, Calgary; Front Gallery, Edmonton; Gust Gallery, Waterton, AB; Avenue Art Gallery, Montreal; Destinations Gallery, Parrsboro, NS.