The West Coast in the Seventies

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Michael Kluckner, “The Rooming House in Kitsilano,” 1975

2021, ink on paper, 9.5”x 7.5”

The Youngbloods, Steppenwolf, David Bowie and other boomer favourites were just the ticket to kick off the opening reception to The West Coast in the Seventies, a collection of prints and paintings from Vancouver artist and writer Michael Kluckner on view until June 16 at the Petley Jones Gallery. The opening coincided with the launch of Kluckner’s new illustrated novel, The Rooming House, an ode to hippy Vancouver as seen through the eyes of eight 20-somethings who meet at a midtown rooming house in the 1970s.    

The book is part fiction and part autobiography. Like his characters, Kluckner floated around Canada and California for a while, and although details differ, he says “that drifting quality just coming out of university is very much me.” In addition to writing the story, Kluckner populated it with some 130 illustrations.

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Michael Kluckner, “Two Solitudes,” 2020

oil on canvas, 48” x 36”

Alas, no bell bottoms, psychedelic posters or hash brownies were in sight at the reception, although the chocolate-chip cookies were tasty. Kluckner is showing watercolours and oil paintings, including Two Solitudes and Old Vancouver, as well as black-and-white originals, including The Rooming House in Kitsilano.

Kluckner is the prolific author and illustrator of 22 books, many of them dealing with the changing urban landscape and its impact on city life. They include Vanishing Vancouver and Paving Paradise, and have won numerous prizes, such as the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award and the City of Vancouver Book Award

Kluckner studied architectural history at UBC – although his bachelor’s degree is in mathematics – and refined his childhood interest in drawing by taking studio courses. He spent his youth, he says, “trying to copy the wonderful artists” of Mad magazine. After graduation, he worked as a newspaper cartoonist at the Vancouver Sun and The Province and taught himself watercolour painting to illustrate his first book. 

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Michael Kluckner, “Crisis, What Crisis?” 2020

oil on canvas, 24” x 36”

Best known as an incessant but knowledgeable critic of rampant development, Kluckner considers himself a chronic memoirist and says The Rooming House came about while reflecting on how the issues he confronted in his youth – political action, unemployment and the environment – compare and differ from those facing youth today. They’re similar concerns, he says, but are now coloured by the growing influence of technology and materialism.

Unlike his three previous graphic novels, in which the story is told in panels, The Rooming House is written in the first person as diary entries from the lead protagonists, Justin and Mary. Each page is highlighted by a stark, woodcut-like illustration, an effect Kluckner achieves with two squirrel-hair brushes broad enough to wash a large area with ink yet supple enough to come to a fine point for details. 

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Michael Kluckner, “August 7, 1971, The Gastown Smoke-In,” 2021

ink on paper, 9” x 7.5”

“I like the way space is defined by shadows and by how much can you leave out in a drawing,” he says of pieces like The Gastown Smoke-In. “You really need your brain to put the thing together.” 

The book is peppered with song titles. For instance, he suggests listening to River by Joni Mitchell or the Rolling Stones’ Tumbling Dice to set the mood. Hence, the boomer playlist at the show’s opening.

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Michael Kluckner, “Finally on the road with my own wheels and a place to sleep...,” 2021

ink on paper, 6” x 7.5”

Although the book tells how Justin and Mary find clarity and purpose, The Rooming House is actually a love story with a happy ending. Sort of. Kluckner welcomes interpretations.  

“I have the motivation to write books,” he says. “I have the motivation to paint. If I had one wish it would be that I could look at my own work through somebody else’s eyes. What is it that you’re seeing? Please tell me. I just want to know what works for other people.” ■

Michael Kluckner, The West Coast in the Seventies, at Petley Jones Gallery in Vancouver from June 2 to June 16, 2022.

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