Gordon Smith | Vancouver Art Gallery
Alumnus Gordon Smith's The Black Paintings opens October 21.
Gordon Smith: The Black Paintings, will be on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery, October 21, 2017 - February 4, 2018.
Beginning in 1990, Gordon Smith began to produce a body of work that has been characterized as dark or black paintings. These highly accomplished and subtle abstractions, often with collaged elements, sometimes refer explicitly to his war time experience. Complex and layered, the works reveal his ongoing interest in how paint looks and feels and how gesture reverberates when expressed in paint.
About Gordon Smith:
Born in 1919 in East Brighton, England, Gordon Smith he has worked continuously to expand the dialogue between abstraction and representation. Smith emigrated to Canada in 1933 where he attended the Winnipeg School of Art. Upon his return from fighting in WWII, he settled with his wife Marion in Vancouver, and graduated from the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design). His many major achievements include the creation of the Gordon and Marion Smith Foundation (2002), Order of Canada (1996), Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts (2007), and the Governor General’s Award in the Visual and Media Arts (2009). Gordon Smith’s work is included in numerous public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Mr. Smith’s work is also featured at the High Commission of Canada (Canada House) at Trafalgar Square in London, UK. Gordon Smith lives and works in West Vancouver, BC.