Catalogue available with text and interview by Robert Enright
Artist talk: Saturday, December 1st, 2 pm
Nicholas Metivier Gallery is pleased to announce Place, Story & Memory, an exhibition of new paintings by John Hartman. The exhibition will open on November 8 and will be on view through December 15 with a reception for the artist on Thursday, November 8 from 6– 8 PM.
John Hartman’s latest body of work features watercolour and oil paintings of Georgian Bay, Nova Scotia and New Orleans. Painted from his signature aerial perspective, Hartman populates the landscapes with ‘drawings’ that commemorate the heroes and legends of these places. While the illustrations recall Hartman’s earlier narrative paintings of the Georgian Bay area, this exhibition represents some of his most energized and unmediated paintings to date.
Hartman credits his recent watercolours for the reappearance of narrative in his work. He developed a new technique that took advantage of the medium’s versatility, working on both wet and dry surfaces and then re-soaking the paper. The detail and layering that he was able to achieve through this process encouraged the illustrations. In addition, Hartman was inspired by how the transparent medium mimicked the watery topography of the locations he was painting.
In a recent interview with Robert Enright, Hartman speaks about the connection between the three places.
When you get out to these more remote locations the people and the landscape are one and the same thing. In a way, they create each other. Certainly the people are influenced by the place. But I think the way we see the place is tied up with the people that live there. I always come back to landscapes that combine stories and people. It’s almost as if the landscapes don’t exist unless people are telling stories about them.
John Hartman’s work is held in many collections including, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; British Museum, London; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Winnipeg Art Gallery.
