Gary Pearson: Short Fictions
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Kelowna Art Gallery 1315 Water St, Kelowna, British Columbia V1Y 9R3
Gary Pearson, "Anna’s Piano Bar and Smoking Room," 2011
oil and oil enamel on canvas, 203 x 193 cm. Collection of the artist.
A tour and talk with the artist will be held on Friday, January 19, 2018, at 6 pm, which will then be followed that same evening by an opening reception, from 7 to 9 pm. This is a free event, open to Gallery members and guests, by invitation.
The exhibition is entitled Short Fictions and the works that comprise the show form a composite portrait of urban living and contemporary society.
Pearson draws his subjects and themes primarily from things he has seen and experienced while travelling. Visitors will encounter a wide cast of characters and scenes in the artist’s paintings and drawings. Urban settings such as cafés, bars, lounges, parks, and hotel lobbies provide the backdrop for Pearson’s observations on the everyday. His works show a strong graphic sensibility and his subjects seem to be deliberately understated, almost like they were simply captured in a casual snapshot. This lends a transient or voyeuristic quality to some of the works and visitors may feel as if they have stepped into the middle of a conversation with strangers.
Gary Pearson was born in a small town in Saskatchewan but grew up in Prince George, BC. He studied art at the University of Victoria and later obtained an MA in Visual Art from the University of Saskatchewan, in Saskatoon. He taught at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, and afterwards at UBC Okanagan. His work has been exhibited widely throughout Canada as well as in a number of countries internationally.
The exhibition is accompanied by a full colour publication with critical examinations of Pearson’s work by Liz Wylie, Ihor Holubizky, Aaron Peck, and Michael Turner.