Bob Kebic’s Visual Landscape Poetry

November 24, 2019 By Brett in Art, Ontario Tags: Canada, Canadian Art, Contemporary Art, Group of Seven, Impressionism, Inspiration, Landscape, Outdoors, Painting 67 Comments

Bob Kebic, No. 2136

Visual poetry is what comes to mind as I contemplate the highly saturated colors and rich textures of Bob Kebic’s impressionistic landscape compositions. His paintings are truly exquisite and are reminiscent of the outdoors imagery popularized by certain of the Group of Seven artists, particularly that of Tom Thomson. However, Kebic’s imaginative canvases reflect a contemporary sensibility by incorporating a subtle cubist stylization of distinctive squared-off “blocks” and edges within many of his works.

As this small sampling indicates, Kebic notably only titles his paintings with numbers, an approach that he regards as allowing each viewer to bring their own experiences of nature and landscape scenery to a piece without being overly influenced by a title that is tied to a location or that is otherwise suggestive.

You can see more of Kebic’s inspiring paintings at his official artist site and at the gallery sites for Toronto and Winnipeg’s Mayberry Fine Art and White Rock, B.C.’s White Rock Gallery.

Bob Kebic, No. 2143

Bob Kebic, No. 1028

Bob Kebic, No. 1095

Bob Kebic, No. 2007

(Image credits: Bob Kebic)

Similar Posts on O’Canada:

• Amazing Landscape Artistry of Philip Buytendorp, Jennifer Woodburn and Steve Coffey

• David Pirrie: Mapping Western Terrains and Our Sense of Place

• Robert McAffee — Artist to Appreciate

Sarah Hatton’s Visual Creativity

August 20, 2017 By Brett in Art, Quebec Tags: Canada, Contemporary Art, Honeybees, Inspiration, Mixed Media, Paintings, Sarah Hatton, War, Women Artists 10 Comments

Vimy

Sarah Hatton, Vimy (2015)

I’m always impressed with how a talented creative person can take a concept and come up with an unexpected interpretation that enables others to understand an aspect of that concept from a dramatically different perspective. Such is the case with Sarah Hatton, a contemporary visual artist based in Chelsea, Quebec, who has developed a knack for employing non-traditional materials in service to her artistic vision.

Her “Detachment” series utilizes thousands of brass fastener pins, each originally stamped with a star on its head, salvaged from archival paper records maintained on Canadian soldiers during their WWI service and repurposes these pins to map out constellations of stars matching those that the soldiers would have seen during key battles of the time. This video from her artist site gives a nice overview of this brilliant work.

S. Hatton

Another body of her work seeks to raise awareness about the adverse effects of pesticides on declining honeybee populations. This award-winning work incorporates dead bees into depictions of some of the natural geometric patterns found in the flora pollinated by these indispensable but threatened creatures. Wow!

S. Hatton Circle 1

Sarah Hatton, Circle 1 (2013)

Hatton is also an accomplished painter. Her artist site showcases several series of imaginative paintings that reflect her curiosity about the natural world and individual mortality. I especially like her “Fathom” series, which seems to play with ideas about the vulnerability and comfort that we feel with watery environments.

Fathom 3

Sarah Hatton, Fathom 3 (2014)

I encourage you to view more of Hatton’s excellent work at her artist site here as well as the several galleries that represent her, such as Ottawa’s Galerie St- Laurent-Hill or the James Baird Gallery in Pouch Cove, NL.

(Image Credits: Sarah Hatton)

Robert McAffee — Artist to Appreciate

August 30, 2014 By Brett in Art, History, Ontario Tags: Art, Canada, Contemporary Art, Group of Seven, Inspiration, Landscape, Ontario, Paintings 31 Comments

Robert McAffee, The Foot of the Falls

Toronto-based Robert McAffee’s contemporary landscape art is striking in many ways. His lush scenes of the Canadian wilderness pay homage to the influences of several Group of Seven artists — notably Lawren Harris, Tom Thomson, A.J. Casson and Arthur Lismer. McAffee seems to have internalized aspects of each with a resulting style that is wonderfully distinct from any one of them. More about McAffee’s beautiful artwork and links to galleries that carry his pieces can be found at his website here.

Robert McAffee, The Three Sisters

R. McAffee, Fishing By the Rocks

Robert McAffee, North Shore Twisty

Robert McAffee, Waterfall

(Image credits: Artist’s website)

Similar Posts on O’Canada:

> David Silcox’s Exquisite Book on The Group of Seven

> The Group of Seven’s Landscape Explosion

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Pam Hall’s “Apron Diaries”

May 25, 2014 By Brett in Art, Newfoundland, Ontario, Society Tags: Aprons, Art, Canada, Contemporary Art, Landscape, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Newfoundland, Pam Hall, Photography 21 Comments

Aprons in the Wind, Port Rexton, Newfoundland, From Pam Hall’s “Apron Diaries”

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Pam Hall is among the highly imaginative artists showcased at a current exhibition (through June 1) of contemporary art from the rugged province of Newfoundland at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Ontario.

That exhibition led me to Hall’s “Apron Diaries”, a series of installation works around the Trinity and Bonavista areas of Newfoundland in which she displays collections of aprons at worksites (such as upon fish flakes for drying salted cod or hanging at a local bakery or at a fisheries plant) as a celebration of the often unsung labor of women. Images of wind-fluttered aprons affixed to weathered fish flakes are particularly colorful and moving (literally) tributes to women’s essential work roles in their communities.