"End of Time"

The Trianon Gallery announces a new exhibition of digital-hybrid paintings, 3D and graphics opening Friday, December 7. "End of Time" features the recent work of three Alberta College of Art alumni of the 1960’s -- Robert Webb (Lethbridge), Dana Bentley (Toronto) and Eric Fisher (Vancouver). The three, all recipients of scholarships at what was then the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, were part of an era remembered for its experimentation, alternative philosophies and radical change.

"These were years when we tested our artistic powers, became significant friends, joined forces, revealed our individual achievements and discovered ourselves," says Bentley.

In this week’s opening that will be attended by the artists, Webb, known locally for his figurative work, returns to his colorist roots, painting nature-based images of southern Alberta. The Burmis Tree, a dead limber pine and icon of the Crowsnest Pass, is a subject. Other works examine the show of color in trees as winter nears.

Bentley, a proponent of the experimental “remix” of contemporary culture, brings a dozen large paintings to the Trianon that have both a “personal” and a “documentary” claim to meaning. He adds his signature to an array of disparate imagery. His preliminary work is drawn from digital layers of film, stills, drawings, photography, random manipulations, reproductions and improvised markings-- a "random collage" that in the end share in the creation of the finished paintings.

Fisher’s ink jet prints bring his life-long interests in 3D and boxing to the fore as he explores the territory between figurative realism and abstraction.

End of Time salutes the predicted "end of the world" according to the Mayan calendar as well as the apocalyptic subtext of contemporary life. It also celebrates the sustaining energy of long term friendships.