Process

Four artists create contemplative works using minimalist techniques.

by

Process, a four-person exhibition at the Paul Kuhn Gallery in Calgary until April 17, lives up to its title – all the works, while visually engaging, also entice through different process-oriented techniques. They are also connected by a contemplative quality that invites you to study and absorb them.

Montreal-based Robbin Deyo’s drawing Les Petits boulversements de la vie, a 60-inch by 60-inch pencil crayon drawing was created using a 1967 Deluxe Spirograph. It consists of hundreds of razor-thin lines that create a series of blue waves, evoking the essence of endless sky or sea.

If you stare at Deyo’s smaller red drawings, they seem to vibrate because the colour is so intense and the lines so precise. They evoke aspects of Op Art with the flair of fashion design.

Calgary artist Cassie Suche’s Resonance 15, with its blurry, earthy, sensual, X-ray-like wavy lines, is the antithesis of Deyo’s pieces. It was created by applying bleach and dye to a trowel or similar tool and then dragging or dabbing it on linen. The work engages viewers from a distance, while encouraging a closer look. Suche’s work seems more organic, evanescent and mysterious than Deyo’s precise waves. 

American artist Tanja Rector sews together textile fragments and then stretches them over canvas to create what looks, at first, like a painting. 

Little Orange Triangle reminds me of Matisse’s cut-outs with its assemblage of hard-edge quirky shapes in orange, blue, black and white, although it is less decorative. Rector’s skilful manipulation of positive and negative space makes for a playful piece that excites the eyes as they jump back and forth.

Her other pieces are composed of similarly quirky flat shapes, but in earth tones. These works remind me of Alberta artist Marion Nicoll’s abstract landscape paintings. Rector’s work is a hybrid of painting with fabric and quilting. 

British artist Eleanor Wood’s complex and delicate works, all titled Accumulations, combine elements from the processes of the other three artists in the show. She uses delicate lines, staining and the play of positive and negative space.

Her works have the most involved process as she starts with six to eight layers of stain and watercolour and then adds narrow strips of wax, along with razor-thin pencil lines and rows of holes poked in from the back so they read like the heads of tiny pins.

From a distance, her works remind me of computer chips. Up close, they are an enchanting accumulation of delicate lines, textures, colours and holes that suggest sewing. 

Process art refers to work where the fabrication methods are not hidden but remain a prominent aspect of the finished product. It became popular in the late 1960s and can be traced back to Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings and the colour-field paintings of Morris Louis. In this show, the processes are more subtle than obvious. 

In group exhibitions, the work of one artist often jumps out while other pieces fade into the background. But in Process, all the artists make strong visual statements. ■ 

Process at the Paul Kuhn Gallery in Calgary from Feb. 27 to April 17, 2021.

PS: Worried you missed something? See previous Galleries West stories here or sign up for our free biweekly newsletter.

Paul Kuhn Gallery logo

Paul Kuhn Gallery

724 11 Ave SW, Calgary, Alberta T2R 0E4

403-263-1162

please enable javascript to view

Visit Website

Open Tues to Sat 10 am - 5:30 pm.