Colour and Ice

By Gilbert Bouchard

A WALK ON THE ARTISTIC WILD SIDE: WASYLYNCHUK PAINTS LANDSCAPES FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

A passionate hiker and nature lover, Arlene Wasylynchuk is trying to capture a larger truth about the great Alberta outdoors in her vividly-coloured landscapes.

"I'm trying to fracture the landscape, getting beneath and beyond appearances," says the Edmonton-based painter.

Long known for a body of composite vistas that sits in an interesting space between abstraction and naturalism, Wasylynchuk sees herself creating work that captures the intangible and profound emotions evoked by her tramps through the wilds of Central Alberta.

"I'm not giving you only a single point of view because no one ever has only a single perspective," she says.

Wasylynchuk's work is display at the Scott Gallery from February 10th to 27th.

ABSTRACT PAINTER GIUSEPPE ALBI IS THINKING OUTSIDE THE CANVAS WITH HIS GLOSSY ACRYLIC EXPERIMENTS

Abstract painter Giuseppe Albi is so dedicated to experimentation that he's given up painting on canvas.

"I'm painting directly on polystyrene squares, and am just letting the paint just flow off the edges," he says.

Once dried, Albi peels off his free-floating, high-gloss paintings from his studio counter-tops and mounts the highly colourful and playful images on coated aluminum sheets, which are then framed in a conventional manner.

"I have a new artistic challenge here: producing a new kind of work with a new take on colour," he says, adding that he's working with an innovative kind of acrylic paint that can be applied in extra thin, transparent layers.

Albi's show is on display at the Peter Robertson Gallery in February.

THIRD WAVE INUIT ARTISTS SMASH ILLUSIONS AND DOCUMENT RAW SIDE OF ARCTIC LIFE

Art fans looking for romantic images of magic animals and bucolic dog sled journeys are in for a shock when they visit the Art Gallery of Alberta's "ASHOONA: Third Wave" Inuit art exhibit.

This ground-breaking show boasts a series of cutting-edge drawings by three younger Inuit artists - Shuvinai Ashoona, Siassie Kenneally and Annie Pootoogook - who take a no-holds-barred attitude towards the documentation of northern life.

In particular, 2006 Sobey Prize winner Annie Pootoogook has raised eyebrows drawing herself smashing the booze bottles of her alcoholic parents or depicting her younger self being abused.

"This (show) isn't pictures of dancing bears or an idyllic view of the North," says exhibit curator Nancy Campbell.

"ASHOONA: Third Wave" is showing at the Art Gallery of Alberta until March 25th.

Gilbert A. Bouchard is a Edmonton-based freelance journalist, cultural correspondent and broadcaster. For the past seven years, Bouchard has covered visual arts for a variety of publications including CBC Radio, the Globe and Mail, Canadian Art Magazine and the Edmonton Journal.

EDITOR'S CHOICE

ART THAT'S DEFINITELY NOT FOR THE BIRDS: METIS ARTIST TURNS TO POWERFUL TRICKSTER FIGURE FOR INSPIRATION

Artistic inspiration is a mysterious thing. Multimedia artist Aaron Paquette, for example, can't explain why he's painting all these big, black birds.

"Everything I'm painting of late has a raven in it. It's almost like I'm compelled to paint these," says the Metis painter.

"The raven has loads of attributes in all these cultures as well as being a very contradictory bird. On the one hand it's a scavenger bird that will eat anything, on the other hand it's a very noble and intelligent creature that represents life itself."

Known for hybrid work that includes both acrylic- and oil-based medium, the artist is also experimenting with encaustic, pastels, found objects and gold leaf in his Bearclaw Gallery exhibit on display February 24th to March 8th.