Steve Mennie

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Steve Mennie, “Untitled,” 2018

mixed media on paper, 37” x 28”

There’s no line in the sand between representational painting and abstraction for Steve Mennie. His latest exhibition, at Wallace Galleries in Calgary from May 4 to May 22, includes some of both.

The show’s title, Reasonable Facsimiles & Unintended Consequences, reflects this dualism. Its first part refers to his realist bent, manifested in images like Pedestrian Terrain, an intriguing landscape featuring the shadow of a bridge and a yellow traffic sign. The title’s second half points to his abstract works, which involve collage and paint, often difficult to tell apart, applied and reworked in an ongoing process.

“I would say the fundamental difference between completing a realist or figurative image and an abstract or non-figurative image is one of construction versus manifestation, problem solving versus running out of options,” says Mennie.

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Steve Mennie, “Pedestrian Terrian,” 2018

acrylic on wood panel, 36” x 48”

Now 74, Mennie has been painting for decades. He started as a realist, then moved to abstraction. Now, he switches back and forth as the mood strikes him. He says he doesn’t see a lot of difference because representing a multi-dimensional world on a flat plane is a form of abstraction.

He has lost some steam for making art of late. “I’m a little bit passionless about it,” he says. “We live in such a strange and frightening time.”

He’s talking about politics, of course, and global warming, environmental degradation and any number of the world’s other great challenges.

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Steve Mennie, “Untitled,” 2018

mixed media on rag paper, 36” x 24”

Painting is largely play for him. “It’s hard to play,” he says, “when the house is on fire.”

Mennie, who lives on a rural property near Salmon Arm, in the British Columbia Interior, was born an hour or so down the highway in Revelstoke.

He studied at what was then the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and worked as a freelance editorial illustrator before returning to B.C. in 1970. His work is in many private collections and he has been commissioned twice by Canada Post to design commemorative stamps.

He’s not one to wax eloquent about the meaning behind his art.

“I’ve never been completely successful in determining just what got me started,” he says. “And further, just what it is that I’m up to.” ■

Reasonable Facsimiles & Unintended Consequences is on view at Wallace Galleries in Calgary from May 4 to May 22, 2019.