BRENT LAYCOCK, April 21 – May 4, 2007, Wallace Galleries, Calgary

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"Moment of Passion"

Brent Laycock, "Moment of Passion," 2006, acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48".

BRENT LAYCOCK

Wallace Galleries, Calgary

April 21 – May 4, 2007

By Lorne Roberts

Over a long career, Brent Laycock’s paintings have appeared on two Canadian postage stamps and the cover of Reader’s Digest, and been presented to the queen of Denmark. Mostly landscape-based, his art has always straddled the border between reality and abstraction, and in his upcoming exhibit, Laycock looks for the place where these seemingly opposed styles of art come together. “My work comes from observation of the world around me, but reality itself can become a study in abstract composition,” he says. The latest exhibition from this Calgary-based artist features 25 colourful acrylic and watercolour paintings of regional flowers, and depicts the subjects so close up that their recognizable forms blur into semi-abstraction. Laycock, whose numerous honours include a Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) designation, finds inspiration in music as much as in other visual art. “Music helps me to understand abstract composition,” he says. “Melody, motion, repetition, rhythm—those concepts apply in most art forms.” He also draws inspiration from his sense of wonder at the beauty of the Alberta landscape. “Part of the reason I make art is to try to communicate that feeling to other people,” he says.

Represented by: Wallace Galleries, Calgary; West End Gallery, Edmonton and Victoria; Assiniboia Gallery, Regina; Gust Gallery, Waterton, AB; Mountain Galleries at Jasper Park Lodge and Chateau Whistler; Art and Soul Gallery, High River, AB.