The only difficult thing about meeting fabulous people who live in different places is that you one day have to leave them and go and live far away from them. I once lived in a purple house with the artist and instructor, Luke Painter.
Woodlot Mansion, India ink on paper, 48″x60″, 2008, by Luke Painter
I am very fond of Luke Painter. Everyone who meets Luke knows about his great sense of humour and his willingness to help everyone around him has made him a bit of a legend. To those of us who are lucky enough to have known him over the years, we have seen great growth in his work and a variation and maturity in his art and professional practices. He works really hard. Luke makes things happen. Did I mention that he is funny and helpful? The following is an interview with Canadian aritst, Luke Painter.
Zoe Pawlak: In all the recent works we see a merging of new and old, the antiquated and that which has the appearance of being futuristic. How does the convergence of past and future imagery play into your work?
Luke Painter: Over the past few years I have been working on large-scale paintings rendered with India ink and brush on paper that utilize disparate elements within figures and landscapes to create a sense of historical ambiguity. These works are intentionally mimetic of traditional printmaking techniques (woodcut, engraving) and composite methods used in digital media (Photoshop), but the end result is a singular work on paper.
I am interested in combining older forms of ornamentation and patterning with contemporary subject matter and/or modern looking individuals.
ZP: You have lived in both Montreal and Toronto. Having grown up in Toronto and now living there as an adult and an artist, what influences are you taking most from the city itself?
The Harbour Malting, India ink on paper, 48″x60″, 2008
LP: I am deeply affected by the city I live in and I often incorporate aspects of my surroundings into my work. In one of my drawings titled, The Harbour (Malting), I have used an old grain silo as a reference for this particular work. This grain silo is located on Queens Quay near Bathurst St in Toronto and is one of two remaining silos originally built in 1928 that was used to store malt. Built from concrete, the stripped-down and unadorned functionalism of the building was a precursor to modernist trends in architecture. It has been unused since the 1980’s and there has been debate about how the site should be utilized, with talk of a museum or theme park. I grew up in this neighborhood, which has been quickly developed into a condo landscape. Canada Malting has now become an interesting anomaly in the midst of accelerated development. My own interest in the building comes from a desire to reformulate the material of the building back to wood, in which they were originally built (they were changed to concrete to avoid burning down). I decided to take the concept one step further by rendering the surrounding area in wood to amplify the once natural surroundings that populated this area around Lake Ontario. I imagine Canada Malting to be an eyesore for many of the new condo residents, but it continues to hold a personal resonance with me as I grew up nearby.
Plume 2, India ink on paper, 13″x20″, 2008
ZP: Toronto has really been gaining international attention for events like Nuit Blanche and the TIAF. What should we expect from the city of Toronto in the next few years?
LP: With a recession looming I think that you will see a slump in growth. Queen West has grown very quickly into a cultural and entertainment hub of Toronto and I am not sure that it can sustain that growth in the next few years. It has been nice to see Nuit Blanche as a successful cultural event in Toronto. The majority of it has been installation and performative-based work that seems to really connect with a large audience.
ZP: How exciting has it been to have your piece featured in CB2 in 2008??? What a great accomplishment. What has this meant to you?
Carte Blanche 2- Painting
LP: It is really nice to be included with your peers and people that you have looked up to for a long time. In 10 years, a book like this may be seen as a time capsule of specific trends in Canada and abroad and it will be nice to look back at it.
ZP: You have worked in so many mediums. Is the medium decided upon before the work begins or do think of a series and then determine which medium you should use for that particular venture?
Victorian Bust 2, India ink on paper, 48″x60″, 2008
LP: Sometimes I think of the medium first and then try to negotiate the content of the work, but often I get an idea and the medium is inherent within it. This often means that the content is complimentary to the medium or vice versa.
ZP: What does the New Year hold for you??
This year I am showing drawings and an installation-based work at Pulse New York, an art fair that runs at the same time as the Armoury show at the beginning of March. I am also in a two person exhibition at Angell Gallery in June and having a solo exhibition of my work at Bonneau-Samames Art Contemporain in Marseille, France.
Zoe Pawlak is a painter based in Vancouver, B.C. and a writer for Farmboy as well as co-creator of Loaded Bow
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During the dark winter months in rainy Vancouver, Canada , it’s easy for us artsy types to lock ourselves away in our studios and isolate ourselves from the rest of the world that lives beyond our creative bubbles. Apparently we’re not the only ones reflecting and processing behind closed doors. Through thier interactive piece we feel fine, Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar break through to this isolated emotional mulling by collecting blog posts and visualizing them in a collective flurry.
The concept is not new, but each yearly re-incarnation of the Ice Hotel in Quebec always has me shivering just looking at the photos. It is fascinating to see that you can sculpt almost anything from real life out of ice. Not my personal idea of a relaxing winter vacation getaway, but definitely interesting.
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