WATCH | THE EXHIBITION WALKTHROUGH
Nicholas Metivier Gallery is pleased to announce Northern Cathedral, an exhibition of new paintings by Greg Hardy. The exhibition will open on February 4th and run until February 27th. This is Hardy’s 7th exhibition at the gallery.
Greg Hardy is one of Canada’s preeminent artists associated with the school of Western Canadian landscape painting. His work depicts the prairie parklands surrounding his Saskatoon studio as well as Lac La Ronge in Northern Saskatchewan. Hardy makes drawings directly from nature, often in his kayak and canoe, carefully observing subtle changes in weather and how these affect the landscape around him. He revisits the sketches in his studio, allowing them to trigger his memory and interpret a specific moment using colour to depict light.
Lac La Ronge has been a primary source of inspiration to Hardy for over a decade. The lake, populated with islands and surrounded by boreal forest, is reminiscent of scenes in northern Ontario but with dominant skies, impressive in their scale and intensity, that are unique to the Canadian prairies. Last summer, Hardy was aware of particularly dramatic weather on Lac La Ronge. This is reflected in his recent paintings, their expressive cloud formations suggesting either a passing or imminent storm. Colour, perhaps Hardy’s greatest strength as a painter, is largely intuitive. For the last few years, Hardy has focused on how impossible colour can evoke the poetry of a place more so than the specific rendering of space. His mastery of colour as a device engages all the senses, transporting the viewer to the remote landscape. Heightening this experience is Hardy’s intimate vantage point, sitting on top of the water.
"There seemed to be far more days of cloud formations building in height and shape that were perceptibly different from other years. There were also more days of calm, glassy water. The motif for me became a natural cathedral - the water like polished floors and the sky and clouds the walls and ceiling, opulent with stained glass windows."
- GREG HARDY
To watch a short film on Greg Hardy, click here.
To view the virtual exhibition walkthrough, click here.
