Lorenzo Dupuis: A NEW GRAMMAR Reception: Saturday, March 7th, 2pm March 7 – April 2, 2015
Like language, painting exists within a context of definitions and rules, its own unique grammar. Artists have always and will always push against these confines, but even approaches that break all the rules are inextricably tied to them, if only in opposition. Furthermore, like other languages, painting’s “rules” are infinitely malleable; at times galvanized, modified, or abandoned as time and the medium progress.
Thinking about Lorenzo Dupuis’ latest work, language and grammar instantly come to mind. Not only because the repetition of marks has both a scale and chirographic quality that links it to writing, but also because he continues to push towards the dissolution of painting’s grammatical structure. For the most part he now regularly relinquishes the traditional figure-ground relationship that has defined picture making almost from the beginning. This is an especially significant departure given Dupuis’ nearly forty year association with the landscape as subject. At times he holds on to tonal variation, establishing his composition through the patterning of light and dark; at other times he is just as likely to give it up completely, pushing everything towards an all-over field of muted, high-key colour.
The circle is the most prominent motif in Dupuis’ recent works, appearing in a variety of scales and organizational arrangements. He continues to find inspiration in a multitude of sources; shapes, patterns, and compositions culled from hand-woven Vietnamese tapestries and observations of everyday life as well as artists and art movements of the late modern period. Pulling it all together, each picture becomes a serene, meditative object that rewards prolonged, intense viewing.
Lorenzo Dupuis lives and works in Saskatoon. He completed both a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1975 and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1995 at the University of Saskatchewan. He has had over twenty solo exhibitions from Vancouver to Montreal in both public and commercial galleries. Dupuis’ works are found in numerous private and public collections across the country.
Installation images:
|