Kevin Sonmor | A Sampling of Personalities

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Kevin Sonmor, "55 Portraits: Bugle," 2022

oil on linen, 72x84 inches. Courtesy of Newzones Gallery, Calgary, Canada.

Exhibition opening on Saturday, March 18th from 2-4pm.

Sonmor’s iconic work pushes the boundaries between the historical conventions of landscape painting and the contemporary aesthetic of the abstracted landscape. An inspired student of Flemish painting, his visions are dark and atmospheric, yet filled with familiar still-life objects. These objects float through Sonmor’s rich, painterly landscapes, creating powerfully intriguing works that hover between contemporary and historic painting traditions.

Of his work, Sonmor states:

"I’m continuing to use images that – in whatever manner they’re presented – may have earned them a place in art history, maybe even cultural history if their positions as icons at various times are recognized. But, as with all my work, it is the paint itself and the activity of painting, along with its attendant research and trials, that dictate the final artwork. A multiplicity of styles and techniques within a particular exhibition, or even within a single painting are where my interest lies and what keeps me experimenting and searching."

Paul Walde on Sonmor:

"Sonmor’s paintings are rich with the language of Western painting, ranging from Dutch still lifes to American Abstract Expressionism and to the structural painting experiments of the French Support Surface group, often in a single work. These histories and styles of course had distinct intentions, and Sonmor’s deft juxtaposition of them conflates the original meanings and readings of these pictorial styles. In doing so, he creates a sense of loss – loss that is tempered with wonder and humour."

Kevin Sonmor has exhibited widely across Canada and the United States for thirty-five years. Sonmor has had solo exhibitions in several public galleries and museums, including the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff, Galerie Bellefeuille in Montreal, the Leo Kamen Gallery in Toronto, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, the Bruck Museum of Cowansville in Quebec, and the Art Gallery of Grand Prairie. Sonmor is a recipient of numerous Quebec Council Grants and his work can be found in many private and public collections including the University of Waterloo, the Toronto Dominion Bank, the Glenbow Museum of Calgary, the Royal Bank of Canada, the Canadian Council Art Bank, and the National Bank.