Exhibitions
May, June and July
William Brayley
From May 15 to July 31
RIOPELLE v. POLLOCK
Jean Paul Riopelle and Jackson Pollock.
Goliaths of modern art. Respectively the de
facto leaders of the automatistes and
abstract expressionists, two of the most
important schools in the
history of painting that stood to change the
practice forever. From the cave walls of the
pre-historic era to ancient Greece, the
Renaissance schools of Italy and then for a
century in Paris
before finally landing in Montreal and New
York City, with these two artists and their
compatriots, the great tradition had for the
first time found itself centered in North
America. It was the 1950’s and there was a
yearning to break away from old ideas and
traditional practices in all realms of culture.
Art painters played a major role in shaping
this new world, as they always had, by
producing material objects that aimed to
embody the philosophies of a post
modern era. And while the mould for
canonical painting had been evolving slowly
through the generations with groups like
the impressionists, cubists and surrealists,
it was perhaps the automatistes and
abstract expressionists who came along to
shatter it once and for all. Their massive
canvases and unorthodox techniques
diverged from the conventions of
traditional schools of painting entirely.
With layer upon layer of texture and colour
the paintings were non-
representational and void of obvious
meaning. Instead, the works aimed to draw
from the deep well of the subconscious to
express raw emotion while showcasing the
fundamental nature of paint itself. Yet
Riopelle and Pollock took very different
approaches to their art forms. Riopelle,
using palette knives almost exclusively to
create his famous mosaic-like abstracts, taking a more traditional stance in front of
the canvas, while Pollock, standing over his
surfaces, poured and splashed paint to
achieve a sense of harmonious disarray in
his renowned drip paintings. The works of
these artists were also, perhaps, echoes of
the medium’s final evolution. The 1960’s
saw the art world explode into an era of
popular culture fueled by mass
reproduction and digital arts. Today, the
new school of painting lives in the oeuvre of
Graffiti artists whose works in many ways
are suggestive of an age that has banished
traditional painting to the realm of the
decorative. At the same time, Graffiti art
has not changed the most fundamental
principles of painting. With Jean Paul
Riopelle and Jackson Pollock, it was the
first time that paintings existed simply for
the rich colours, textures and forms of
paint, for its unpredictable, dynamic and
fluid nature. Where else could it go from
there? These two works, “Title Card #1”
and “Wrestle Mania”, attempt to imitate the
painting techniques used by Riopelle and
Pollock in the 1950’s, one completed with
palette knives, the other by dripping and
pouring paint. Together they aim to
consider whether this generation of
painters had truly reached the final stage of
the medium’s evolution with their
monumental compositions. And to ponder
what the artist’s themselves might say on the topic.
