RICHARD GORENKO, "Always Returning," May 26 — June 17, 2006, Nouveau Gallery, Regina

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"Spring Break"

Richard Gorenko, "Spring Break," 2006, acrylic and oil on wood panel, 8 x 32 inches. Photo: Todd Mintz.

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"Graphic Landscape"

Richard Gorenko, "Graphic Landscape," 2006, acrylic and oil on wood panel, 24 x 39 inches. Photo: Todd Mintz.

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"Spring Break"

Richard Gorenko, "Spring Break," 2006, acrylic and oil on wood panel, 8 x 32 inches. Photo: Todd Mintz.

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RICHARD GORENKO, Always Returning

Nouveau Gallery, Regina

May 26 — June 17, 2006

By David Garneau

Richard Gorenko's small paintings are a species of cartoon. The backgrounds are rendered in eye-pleasing blended pastels and the figures, thickly outlined and handcarved into MDF panel, suggest a relationship to folk art. As paintings, Gorenko's imagery ranges from jokey animals somewhat reminiscent of Matt Groening and Keith Haring drawings to New Yorker-style puzzlers, making it difficult to tell if he is being serious.

Although Gorenko's paintings are fun and simple, they often conceal deeper thoughts. One comic series features the recurring characters of a rabbit, a bear, and a wolf who wax philosophic under the prairie sky: "'Our bodies are made of stardust, from stars that died billions of years ago . . . ,' said the bear." Another panel with these characters sitting in a canoe is sillier. Its title: "'Sure is hot,' the wolf remarked. 'Yes indeedy,' agreed the bear. 'Say fellas,' the rabbit interjected, 'where are the paddles . . . and what's that roaring, swooshing sound I hear just ahead?'"

Gorenko was born in Canora, Saskatchewan, and most of his paintings are inspired by the real and imagined prairie. On the documentary side, there are long horizontal paintings of windbreaks, those rhythmical rows of trees that farmers plant to reduce soil erosion. These are not picturesque postcards but elegiac poems that quietly call attention to one form of human intervention on the environment. It is a stunning fact that there is very little nature in southern Saskatchewan. Nearly the whole place is cultivated. On one hand, Gorenko's windbreaks simply record a common prairie feature. On the other hand, he reveals their ubiquity as introduced Minimalist landscaping.

Gorenko is not a naturalist, or even a critic; he is an observer taking notes. He has an eye for the ironic, but apparently lacks enthusiasm for social action. His paintings are sober reflections rather than didactic instructions. One of the windbreak series depicts a long stand of palm trees. Titled Spring Break, it's a lame joke, and an indicator that Gorenko is more interested in visual puns and word play than pushing some grand idea.

Other series in this exhibition also employ prairie scenery, but with a surreal comic twist. One group features a rural home with satellite dish. In one scene the house and dish are set on a huge tree limb. In another, they are aboard a boat surrounded by sharks. The paintings are playful and fun, and suggestive that many rural homes are now unmoored from the land, their inhabitants cocooned indoors watching television rather than their once productive fields.

Richard Gorenko's paintings are easy on the eyes and don't tax the mind; however, they occasionally reveal an existentialist prairie attitude leavened by absurdist humour and Who Has Seen the Wind? poignancy. As an artist's observations, they rewind our recollections of travelling across southern Saskatchewan.