Ben Reeves: Yacht Rock

In his latest body of work, Ben Reeves constructs landscapes filled with a sense of leisure found in the Canadian outdoors: windsurfing, paddleboarding, sailing, skiing and skating. His gesturally painted vignettes are perpetually sun-kissed and invite us to recall our own fond memories of similar activities with their intense pink, blue and yellow hues.

The title of the show, Yacht Rock, is derived from the genre of music synonymous with the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Toto and Canada’s own Gordon Lightfoot. Its discography includes much-loved anthems like “Long Train Runnin’” and “Hold the Line”, songs suffused with a 70s-80s ethos of prosperity and escapism. The music that fills a yacht rock playlist is catchy, idyllic, and highly produced.

Essential to yacht rock is the idea of escape. Reeves captures the human urge to get away from the harsh realities of the world by embracing nature. In one of the larger paintings in the exhibition, a windsurfer’s sail partially obscures them from our view. They are adrift alone in a sea of deep blues and purples, above them the sun sets in a canary yellow sky. The work is also an example of Reeves’ impressive facility with oil paint, encouraging it to mimic the object or material it is describing both in rendering and feeling. The sail of the windsurfer is so thinly painted that the texture of the canvas can still be detected, allowing us to believe in its translucency revealing the shadow of a figure behind. The water on the other hand, is painted in thick, impastoed brushstrokes that physically differentiate the surface of the rough water with the smooth sail.