On the Wind

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Matt Bahen, “A Sign of What is to Come,” 2020

oil on canvas, 48" x 54" (courtesy of artist and Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton)

There’s an undercurrent of mystery in Matt Bahen’s paintings that’s not visible at a glance. When I first saw Bahen’s work online – his show, On the Wind, is at the Peter Robertson Gallery in Edmonton until May 31 – it seemed to fit squarely into the Western genre of painting. I almost moved on, clicking to other exhibitions.

Perhaps it was the evocative titles, or something confounding in Bahen’s rural scenes, that arrested me. Viewing the show in person only intensified the enigma. The paintings changed depending on where I stood. Photorealistic at a distance, on closer inspection they dissolved into abstract splotches of colour.

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Matt Bahen, “He Did Talk to Him and He Didn’t Forget,” 2018

oil on canvas, 36" x 36" (courtesy of artist and Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton)

My conversation with the artist proved what had already become clear: there’s nothing obvious or superficial about these works. For Bahen, it comes down to the distinction between photography and painting.

“Photography is tethered to the idea of journalistic truth,” he says. “Painting traditionally was always allegory. The heavy paint is signalling that this is a painting and has to be read like a painting.”

For instance, A Sign of What is To Come depicts an ordinary rural scene. A distant herd of horses ambles away from the viewer. But something isn’t quite right. These horses are trudging through mud, heading away from verdant pastures into a wintry landscape. A frigid white sky hovers above them.

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Matt Bahen, “Sometimes Comes the Mother, Sometimes Comes the Wolf,” 2016

oil on canvas, 60" x 60" (courtesy of artist and Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton)

A sense of foreboding lurks behind ordinary events in Bahen’s work. His painting from an earlier series, Sometimes Comes the Mother, Sometimes Comes the Wolf, depicts a pack of stray dogs scavenging in a pile of garbage. Dogs, symbols of unconditional love and devotion, turn paradoxical. Would they bare their teeth? Attack? You can’t help but wonder.

Bahen is keenly aware of life’s dangers. He grew up in rural Ontario and worked on farms, including one where a previous employee had been kicked by a horse, shattering his arm. In Toronto, where he now lives, he has worked outdoors, including a job as a street outreach worker. “You never knew what you were going to come across,” he says, adding that working with the homeless was chaos and calamity steeped in empathy.

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Matt Bahen, “The Four Horses,” 2020

oil on canvas, 60" x 66" (courtesy of artist and Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton)

His personal sources of inspiration are buttressed by literary influences, and he often listens to audiobooks while painting. One of his favourite authors, Cormac McCarthy – known for Westerns and post-apocalyptic novels – depicts violence as so commonplace that it becomes ordinary, even banal. Similarly, in Bahen’s paintings, hints of calamity form an ever-present backdrop to tranquil scenes.

The writings of Joseph Campbell – a scholar of comparative mythology – add another layer of meaning. In Campbell’s writings, animals in myths and dreams are symbols that help us make sense of the world. For both author and artist, they become avatars for the figure. “When we use an animal (in art) it can be anyone,” says Bahen. “It’s not gendered, we read ourselves into them.”

The scenes in Bahen’s paintings echo the stories, myths and legends they reference. The longer we search, the more cues appear. Meaning unfolds like petals in spring. It’s a deeply satisfying experience. As Bahen notes at the conclusion of our conversation: “There is a comfort in the sense of (the) meaning of things.” ■ 

Matt Bahen: On the Wind at the Peter Robertson Gallery in Edmonton from April 24 to May 31, 2021.

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