Quick Pick - Les Graff at Bugera Matheson

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Les Graff, “Seeing all things Equally,” oil on canvas, 44" x 56" (courtesy of Bugera Matheson Gallery)

It took 29 years before painter Les Graff could work full-time as an artist. He graduated from what was then called the Alberta College of Art (now Alberta University of the Arts) in in 1959 at age 23. Then, three years later, he had his first solo exhibition at the Edmonton Art Gallery.

But, with a wife and four children, cats, dogs and a house, art had to take a back seat to real life for a few decades. “I’d done farming, logging, construction, the oil rigs,” he told The Globe and Mail in 1994. Graff needed steady income, so setting his painting aside, he took a job working as the Government of Alberta's director of arts and crafts for Alberta Culture. In 1991, he resigned to paint full-time.

His latest solo exhibition is on view now at Bugera Matheson until Nov. 9.

Graff's contributions to the visual arts scene in Alberta are extensive. In addition to a painting career that spans more than 5,500 works over 60 years, he has supported the careers of many others across the province, too. 

“The establishment of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts can be attributed to Graff’s vision to institute a public foundation and to attain a provincial art collection, ”according to Bugera Matheson. An inductee into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA), Graff has also been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Alberta Centennial Medal, plus honours from the Alberta University of the Arts. ■

Les Graff's latest solo exhibition is on view now at Bugera Matheson until Nov. 9

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