Abstraction in art – by removing any context of direct depiction – seeks a visceral response based purely on how shapes, colours and textures work together.
It’s a concept that will investigated and celebrated in Beyond Form: A Collective Abstraction, latest group show coming to the Pop-Uptown Gallery at Central Plaza (15140 North Bluff Rd.) from April 3 to April 28.
The exhibition will feature four professional abstract painters and sculptors presenting new and recent works that explore the expressive possibilities of abstraction.
“Each artist brings a unique visual language,” said White Rock artist David Patterson, one of the four, noting that the works create a “dynamic conversation between color, form, texture, and material.”
Opening reception will be on Friday, April 10, from 6 to 9 p.m., with live music provided by guitarist extraordinaire James Devon.
Opening hours for the exhibit will be Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Beyond Form: A Collective Abstraction is also planned as an event that will add excitement through live and interactive elements, Patterson said.
Several of the artists plan to paint live on-site during the course of the show show, providing visitors a first-hand view of the creative process.
And the show will also include an interactive Community Canvas – a large-scale collaborative artwork that evolves throughout the exhibition as visitors contribute their own marks and gestures.
“Hopefully it all fuses together into a single painting,” Patterson told Peace Arch News.
“We did this in a show I was involved with at the Pop-Uptown Gallery before, and it was actually very successful,” Patterson said.
“Together, these elements transform the exhibition into both a professional showcase and an engaging community experience, inviting participation, dialogue, and a deeper connection to contemporary abstract art.”
As both an artist and musician, Patterson said he is always creating new works. After a career ranging from corporate graphic design to special events and set design, he now devotes his time to fine art and his studio.
His style, based in working with different textures, continues to evolve, but he says of his work that it “always reflects nature and the natural forces in some way.”
Also featured in Beyond Form: A Collective Abstraction are Crescent Beach painter and sculptor Jeanette Jarville; painter Patty Ripley, who divides her time between Saltspring Island and White Rock, and painter Colleen Lumb, a White Rock resident.
While abstract, Jarville’s style is informed by a strong background in classical figure drawing and the oil painting techniques of the old masters, allowing her to combine spontaneous, fluid marks with structured form and composition.
Ripley said that she paints “to express the energy I feel as I experience life,” aiming to create a nurturing experience for the viewer that “enlightens at an emotional level.”
“Painting the essence of how I experience say, a hike along a shore trail or a deep conversation by a rushing river or even a fireplace, and conveying that through paint is deeply satisfying.”
Manitoba-born Lumb came to drawing early on, fascinated by the landscape and the open skies of the farm where she spent the first 19 years of her life.
Still passionate about plein-air painting, she spent as much time as she could painting during a career as a social worker.
Now retired, she has far more time to devote to art and her many travels, and all of her work is an attempt to convey the colours and energy she experiences from each environment.
She says of her abstract “works in color” that they incorporate elements from her previous weaving of fabric, “among them, my use of juicy colour, texture you can reach out and touch, surface design, and marking-making.”
For more information on the artists and their works, visit davidpatterson.com, jjarville.com, pattyripley.com and colleenlumb.com.