My first evening back in Buffalo, I went with Sally and Ben to see a really cool show at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, celebrating the Canadian school of artists known as
the Automatistes. The group included writers, poets, dancers and filmmamkers, but the primary focus of the exhibition of paintings, and some were quite impressive (the above is one example by Jean Paul Riopelle; below is an image by Paul Emile Borduas)
These reproductions don't really do justice to the amazing physicality of the paintings by these artists-- the swathes of color appear almost as waves on the canvas creating a tangible sense of motion. As you can see, they are clearly in the same ballpark as the abstract expressionists (Pollock, DeKooning, etc.) who emerged more or less at the same time-- mid to late forties-- south of the border in the US. The Automatistes were diligent in promoting their goals, which were geared towards expanding the way people see and think about the world, drawing on the subconscious and building on the surrealism of the previous generation. I was lucky to catch the show on one of its last days, which I hope also means there will be something new mounted there in the next couple of weeks. If the show should come to a gallery near you, I'd recommend checking it out.
My first evening back in Buffalo, I went with Sally and Ben to see a really cool show at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, celebrating the Canadian school of artists known as the Automatistes. The group included writers, poets, dancers and filmmamkers, but the primary focus of the exhibition of paintings, and some were quite impressive (the above is one example by Jean Paul Riopelle; below is an image by Paul Emile Borduas)
These reproductions don't really do justice to the amazing physicality of the paintings by these artists-- the swathes of color appear almost as waves on the canvas creating a tangible sense of motion. As you can see, they are clearly in the same ballpark as the abstract expressionists (Pollock, DeKooning, etc.) who emerged more or less at the same time-- mid to late forties-- south of the border in the US. The Automatistes were diligent in promoting their goals, which were geared towards expanding the way people see and think about the world, drawing on the subconscious and building on the surrealism of the previous generation. I was lucky to catch the show on one of its last days, which I hope also means there will be something new mounted there in the next couple of weeks. If the show should come to a gallery near you, I'd recommend checking it out.
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