John
Kissick: A Survey of Recent Painting
September
30 to November 7, 2004
“Clearly
on the verge of fraying into pure chromatic bliss – all this sublime,
colouristic chorale-making is so aggressively hedonistic you tend to simply
brace yourself and let the whole miasma wash over you like a big wave.”
Gary Michael Dault, Canadian Art Magazine (2001)
Images: Left: No. 4 (2004), Right: No. 5 (2004)
With
this exhibition, the Art Centre presented recent work by Elora artist John
Kissick. In his latest paintings, Kissick explored the conventions of
abstraction while examining and deconstructing the highly influential work of
European and American abstract expressionists.
The resulting collision of modernist and contemporary tropes provides the
foundation for a variety of personal explorations. The Art Centre also announced
the acquisition of a major painting by Kissick which is a gift of the artist to
the University of Guelph collection. Kissick
is the Director of the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph.
His book Art, Context, and Criticism (Brown and Benchmark, 1992)
is now in its second edition.
The
exhibition was supported by the University of Guelph
Research Enhancement Fund,
the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
The exhibition catalogue contains an essay by
guest writer Liz Wylie.
The Opening Reception took place on Thursday, September 30 at
7:30 p.m. with introductory comments by Director/Curator Judith Nasby and
remarks by artist John Kissick.
On October 20-21, the symposium Paint! was presented jointly by the School of Fine Art and Music, University of Guelph and the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre with keynote address by leading American critic James Elkins. Participants included John Bentley Mays, Robert Enright, Christian Giroux, John Kissick, Judith Nasby, Monica Tap, David Urban, and Liz Wylie.