WATCH NOW: METIVIER TALKS | STEVE DRISCOLL & IAN BROWN IN CONVERSATION
Nicholas Metivier Gallery is pleased to announce Since I left, an exhibition of new paintings by Steve Driscoll. The exhibition will open on January 6th and run until January 27th, with an opening day reception on Saturday, January 6th. This is Driscoll's third solo exhibition at the gallery. There will be a talk with award-winning journalist and author Ian Brown and the artist on Saturday, January 6th at 1pm.
Since I left features paintings inspired by Steve Driscoll’s six month stay in British Columbia in early 2023. Driscoll traces the differences between the forests of his home province of Ontario and those out west. Unlike Ontario, British Columbia’s old growth forests are largely monotone and exist against a perpetually overcast sky. Known for his kaleidoscopic works, Driscoll eschews the muted palette of the forests, setting out to paint what his own memories of the forests feel like. Entire panels are covered in gradients of bright pinks and purples or candescent greens and blues, with the hazy sky peeking through gaps in the canopies.
The old growth trees of British Columbia are much taller than those Driscoll typically paints in Ontario. To convey these new heights, Driscoll allows the towering trunks to take up more compositional space in some works, while in others he draws our eyes tunnelling upward to peer directly through the canopy of the trees - shifting our perspective up to the skies and down to the ground simultaneously. The result is a heightened level of contrast and abstraction in the work, alluding to longtime influences in his career including Jack Bush and Paterson Ewen.
