Greg Pyra, Highways of Alberta, Red Deer

Name: Greg Pyra, Highways of Alberta, Red Deer
Start: 2016-06-20T00:00:00
End: 2016-08-22T00:00:00
Location: Kiwanis Gallery at Red Deer Public Library

Jun 20, 2016 to Aug 21, 2016

Kiwanis Gallery at Red Deer Public Library 4818 49 Street (lower level), Red Deer, Alberta T4N 1T9

July 6, 2016

9:17 PM

Greg Pyra, "Spring Melt," oil on canvas, 2014

Red Deer Arts Council and Red Deer Public Library are pleased to present Highways of Alberta: Paintings by Greg Pyra, which runs in the Kiwanis Gallery from June 20 to August 21, 2016.

Pyra will be in attendance at our First Friday Red Deer, July 8 from 6 to 8 pm. Refreshments served.

For Greg Pyra, driving around Alberta isn’t a journey; it’s his artistic destination. Capturing places of comfort and refuge, like service stations, fast food joints and service vehicles that are disappearing in small towns, allows this Turner Valley artist to discover an inner peace. His stunningly realistic works are not simply landscapes, but images of calm solitude – not still life, but only just moving as a long day winds down.

Greg Pyra, "Dreams and Ambitions," oil, 2008

Greg is fascinated by the evolution of abstraction in Canada. One of the hallmarks of Quebec abstraction is the emphasis on the subconscious; paintings are begun without preconception and the evolution of a work is based on inner drives or impulses.

Greg Pyra, "Mist at Dawn," oil, 2012

With the invasion of Ukraine, Greg began to rediscover his roots in Eastern Europe, particularly with regard to painting of the early 20th Century when artists focused on the spiritual aspects of creative endeavour. This in turn has encouraged Greg to experiment with paintings representing the fourth or spiritual dimensions.

Greg's artist statement integrates his thought process and his paintings:

Travel in our vehicles throughout Alberta is a metaphor for the spiritual journey which we all undertake in life. There is no particular destination for these travels; rather, the journey itself becomes the object of destination. These oil paintings on canvas represent moments of harmony with self and the environment, and a core inner peace. To my mind, the ideal time for these moments is just after sunset when day is not yet complete and night has not yet fallen.

The spiritual journey is part of a magnificent search in our life. It is within. The challenge for me as an artist is to create a metaphor for this journey without creating works which are simply landscapes. Light, in fact, may be the most important expression for me because it alters the environment in significant ways and expresses an inner state of mind. In quiet moments on our journey we have time to appreciate life’s gifts; we also benefit from a lifetime of search and questioning.