Carroll Taylor Lindoe

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Carroll Taylor Lindoe, “Inch, Foot, Yard, Mile,” 2001

oil on canvas, 54" x 70” (courtesy the artist and TrépanierBaer Gallery, Calgary)

Those who doubt whether geometric abstraction can offer a poetic and moving experience should visit Carroll Taylor Lindoe’s exhibition, Inch, Foot, Yard, Mile, at the TrépanierBaer Gallery in Calgary. 

This eloquent assembly of drawings, paintings and sculptures created between 1981 and 2001 highlights her conceptual and formal explorations through recurring themes of figuration, landscape and architecture. 

Running until Oct. 10, it is Taylor Lindoe’s first solo exhibition in Canada in two decades. On view for the first time are selected works from the Savage Paintings series, sculptures from the Little Haven/Lizard  series, the Beautiful Paintings and more.

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Carroll Taylor Lindoe, “Inch, Foot, Yard, Mile,” 2020, installation view at TrépanierBaer Gallery, Calgary

Taylor Lindoe’s practice spans more than four decades. Born in Calgary in 1948 to artists Luke and Vivian Lindoe, she studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design and the Instituto de Allende in Mexico.

Her work has been exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions across Canada and is in many public and private collections. She now lives on Denman Island, off the coast of Vancouver Island. 

Since the ’80s, Taylor Lindoe has shifted between paintings on canvas, charcoal drawings and assemblage sculptures using wood, plaster, wax and paint. Emerging from her wide-ranging practice is a personal vocabulary rooted in formal composition and her intense sensorial relationship with the natural environment. 

She creates works simultaneously gleaned from geometrical, natural and architectural references while staying acutely focused on form, composition and the manipulation of perceptual space.

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Carroll Taylor Lindoe, “Little Haven/Lizard #7,” 1980

painted wood, 3.5” x 4” x 5” (courtesy the artist and TrépanierBaer Gallery, Calgary)

In a 1981 drawing, Untitled A, we seemingly peer down on an architectural form rendered precisely in charcoal and graphite on paper. While the form is hard-edged, it sits on a charcoal plane that moves from dense black in the foreground to soft edges accentuated by smudge marks and pencil lines in the background. This powerful yet poetic illusion opens a window into her process. 

Her sculptures, although originating from different series, can be linked easily to other works as you move through the gallery. For instance, she uses black in most pieces. It’s a powerful colour, but can also help frame or stabilize more subdued or vibrant hues.

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Carroll Taylor Lindoe, “Savage Painting #2,” 1991

oil and graphite on canvas, 31" x 77" (courtesy the artist and TrépanierBaer Gallery, Calgary)

In two paintings from the Savage Paintings series, she uses black to create perceptual shifts in space by juxtaposing it against lighter or brighter colours. 

Savage Painting #2, for example, plays with a visual triptych. The first square on the left is a confrontational black void. It’s juxtaposed with a central square composed of a white staircase that floats in front of a dripping blue waterfall. On the right is a black architectural form that frames a view into a vast and serene landscape. The perceptual shifts this painting evokes are both alluring  and jarring. 

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Carroll Taylor Lindoe, “Cross/Hand #5,” 1980

Hydrocal and wood, 16” x 9” x 15.5” (courtesy the artist and TrépanierBaer Gallery, Calgary)

Taylor Lindoe’s perceptual triggers and architectural elements are mirrored in other works, including Cross/Hand #5 and her Little Haven/Lizard series. While these sculptures initially appear minimalistic, their compositional structures are thoughtfully and meticulously constructed.

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Carroll Taylor Lindoe, “Image Poem,” 1985

ink on Mylar and watercolour on paper, 16 works 12” x 9.5” each (courtesy the artist and TrépanierBaer Gallery, Calgary)

Her interest in composition and geometric forms is further highlighted in the patterns used to create two charcoal drawings, Untitled #6 and Untitled #4, and a later work, Image Poem. The figurative elements introduced in Image Poem inform her later works, including Inch, Foot, Yard, Mile, but can also be linked to sculptures in which the boundaries between painting and sculpture, as well as landscape and architecture, are skilfully blurred.

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Caroll Taylor Lindoe, “Tripper (monument),” 1984

painted wood, 14” x 14.5” x 10” (courtesy the artist and TrépanierBaer Gallery, Calgary)

These sculptures, which include works like Tripper (monument) and Light, Landscape in Yellow and Pink, introduce curvature and expressionistic paint strokes onto and into geometric structures. In reducing landscape and cityscape to their most basic forms – lines, tones, colours and shapes – Taylor Lindoe creates miniature monuments to the environment. These sculptural assemblages, viewable from multiple perspectives, mimic what we might experience during a walk or from a height. 

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Carroll Taylor Lindoe, “Beautiful Paintings,” 1991

oil on canvas, 12.5” x 10” each (courtesy the artist and TrépanierBaer Gallery, Calgary)

While initially flummoxed by the inclusion of the Beautiful Paintings series, I realized upon more contemplation that they further reveal Taylor Lindoe’s interest in exploring the perception of space, whether through geometric form, composition or pure colour.

Overall, the show is quietly powerful, geometric in all the right ways, and wilfully poetic. ■ 

Inch, Foot, Yard, Mile at the TrépanierBaer Gallery in Calgary from Sept. 11 to Oct. 10, 2020.

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