Performance Works Gallery on Vancouver’s Granville Island is the location for an upcoming solo show by Forest Grove realist/impressionist artist Neil Pinkett.
It runs from Aug. 28 to Oct. 8, with an artist’s reception on Aug. 29, from 8 to 10 p.m. at the gallery.
Pinkett is best known locally for his mural art, which can be found on various outdoor walls in 100 Mile. The scope of his talent, however, goes far beyond the concrete canvas and focuses on oil painting and the interpretation of how light plays off different subjects.
It’s the nucleus of his new show he calls, “Fragments of Light,” and is the inspiration for the 15 new and not-so-new pieces in the collection.
Pinkett says the show title is actually descriptive of the way he paints.
“I tend to paint in a fragmentary fashion. I’m attracted to foliage and water that kind of fragment light.”
This will be the fifth solo show for Pinkett, and the first one since 2008. His other major shows have all been in Alberta, with two in Calgary and one each in Lethbridge and Vulcan.
He’s looking forward to breaking into the Vancouver scene.
“This should be good. It’s a smaller show than usual, but it’s pretty exciting to be on Granville Island. I’m hoping it will open some doors.”
The gallery is located in the foyer of Performance Works Theatre and Pinkett says he feels honoured to have been chosen over several other artists who were competing for the same slot on the venue’s show calendar.
Most recently, Pinkett has been working on a couple of pieces that will be featured in Scottish magazines. Originally from Great Britain, he’s spent a lot of time in Scotland, interpreting its scenery through paint and canvas. Pieces from that collection have been a regular attraction at the Calgary Highland Games for several years now.
In the past two years, he’s completed four local murals, including a piece on the front of the 100 Mile Curling Club that was completed for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Another, on the wall of the South Cariboo Theatre, tells the story of Charlie Reed who was the stationmaster for the old Lone Butte train station in the 1930s.
A couple of businesses in 100 Mile House also display his mural work inside and outside their buildings.
Many of Pinkett’s paintings can be viewed on his website, which can be found at www.foliate face.ca. It’s a site that he shares with his equally gifted wife, Krista Reich, who specializes in creating historical clothing.
