Doug Rowed | Susan Loudon | Spring Show
Artem Exhibits 3605 Commercial Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V5N 4E9
Open Saturdays, 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm.
Faces and Places
Doug Rowed, "Make Me Forget" late 90s, green in pen on paper, 10.75"x 13"
An extensive show of 80 pieces fills the gallery, with the main space occupied with works by Doug Rowed. His drawings with their deliberate simple outlines give characters a sense of existing at another point in time, or perhaps as a memory, as we can see when figures are repeated in the drawings in descending sizes. Looking close brings evocative details and often first missed stories, as seen in # 50, ‘Make Me Forget’ a classic portrait of a refined lady with a hairlip, but on closer inspection you see that her mouth is the image of a pleading lady , ‘asking to forget’. His colourful , dynamic enigmatic canvas paintings are alluring compositions that energize the show.
Doug Rowed, "Snake," 1986, acrylic on canvas, 22.5" x 9.5"
Artist's Statement from Doug Rowed: The drawings and paintings of the figures and faces are amalgamated fictitious conceptions of people I have known, crossed paths, or took an interest in visually. Lives are real in the moment for better or worse, and the story of the day by day becomes part of a larger living myth. I’ve tried to reflect that in these works.
The larger paintings are essentially landscapes. The landscape is a backdrop for anything goes, Natural, SuperNatural, Harmony, Balance, Disruption.
Doug Rowed, "Untitled," late 90s, pencil crayon on paper, 10"x 11.5"
Doug Rowed, "Untitled," 1996, black pen on paper, 13.5"x 16"
Doug Rowed, "Untitled," late 80s, ink on paper, 11"x 13"
White Rabbit Room
Susan Loudon, "Untitled," 2007, acrylic on paper, 47.75" x 33.5"
A large painting by Susan Loudon invites the viewer into an absorbing world where a coiled ‘zipper’ becomes a conduit between temporal and heavenly realms and dimensions . The grounded organic space of misty twigs and fog exudes tranquility and intrigue.
There are also two paintings that are expressive renditions of a gold filtered forest, one that shows golden hues and shimmering waters, the other obscuring a vibrant and distant dreamy time and place.
In contrast, outside the White Rabbit Room, there is a wall of breezy colourful abstractions that read like a pleasant summer day.