By Land, Air and Sea, an exhibition of paintings by Vancouver artist Jeff Wilson, opens at the Salmon Arm Art Gallery this Friday.
“The movement and perspective of the heavy machinery blends, through vibrant colour, with the spectacular B.C. landscape,” says art gallery curator Tracey Kutschker, noting the exhibition features 10 large-scale paintings of the busy port activity of Canada’s West Coast. “From the iconic bright yellow Flying Beaver to the reassuring blue of the hardy tugboat, Jeff’s use of light and texture is a bold recognition of the vibrancy of the harbour.”
Based in Vancouver, Wilson works within the Scottish tradition of realist painting that was established by the Glasgow Boys in the late 19th Century, and remained at the heart of Scottish painting through the 20th.
Wilson explains that Glasgow was one of the major industrial centres of the 19th century.
“Industrialists were making a lot of money and decided to become patrons of the arts and support local artists,” he says, noting that at the time of the great impressionists of France, Scotland turned toward more realistic art, describing rural and urban Scottish themes.
“It’s a very traditional view of the late 19th century, an industrial kind of realism,” he says. “I wanted to be a bit more realistic in contemporary Scottish themes, the same as what underlined Canada’s Group of Seven.”
Wilson says the colours on the Coast are very similar to those in Scotland, something he refers to as a temperate, high latitude palette.
“The things I do are rural and urban landscapes, portraits of animals, heavy industry, mining themes, signage – in Canada or elsewhere in Scotland,” he says.
On his webpage, Wilson notes that he likes to paint subjects that are distinctive or idiosyncratic to a given place.
“I like to try to capture unusual perspectives, so my compositions are dominantly cropped and asymmetric,” he says. “Acrylic paints allow me to work quickly with a wide variety of colours, and the resulting palette is rich and vivid.”
Wilson recently did a one-year art residency in Scotland, including a month in the Shetland Islands, northeast of Scotland, an area subject to what the artist describes as dramatic weather.
The work he accomplished there was featured in a Maple Ridge show this winter, and Wilson says his upcoming exhibition at the Salmon Arm Art Gallery is his first show outside of the Lower Mainland.
“It’s a great opportunity,” he says. “It’s a pretty prestigious gallery so I am honoured to be showing there.”
The opening reception is at 7 p.m. Friday, April 3 and features live music and refreshments.
While in the Interior, Wilson will be offering demonstrations at Opus Kelowna on Saturday, April 4. Check the Opus website for more details.
Salmon Arm Art Gallery is located at 70 Hudson Avenue NE. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Family Saturdays take place from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Coffee Break and Artist Talk are on Thursday, April 16 from 2 to 4 p.m.
