Exhibition Info
ABSTRACTLAND
Abstractland features a selection of twenty oil paintings by Les Graff, and spans four decades of the artist’s prolific career. The paintings, which he refers to as “oil studies,” were produced on location in various settings around Alberta: mountains, prairies, lakes and farmland. His spontaneous and intuitive approach produces abstract works that “intensify the real by defamiliarizing it,” (1) a fundamental quality of abstract expressionism. The results convey characteristics of nature, such as the light over a farm field at sunset or the silence of the boreal forests in winter. They are both aggressively and thoughtfully rendered, evoking the power and beauty of our natural world.
Beyond interpreting the observed world, artists who create abstract works “search for essence, for some central meaning in what is seen, for a distillation of the character, mood or spirit of nature’s aspects” (2). In a 1984 interview with George Moppett, Graff explains his intimate relationship with nature: “It seemed people could come and go, but the prairie grass would continue blowing and changing with the seasons. It was there before we came; I twill be there after. One becomes very much aware of the fleeting aspect of one’s own existence” (3). In the book Abstract Painting in Canada, Roald Nasgaard describes the conceptual basis of abstract painting: “the painter [takes] something away from the world in order to generalize it, distort it, intensify it” (4). For the last fifty-five years, Graff has done just that. He personifies the meaning of artist, creating raw expressions of vulnerability: instinctive and unassuming.
Before his interest in landscape developed, Graff focused on drawing and painting buffalo bones he had found around lakes near Edmonton. But a need for content sparked a shift, which led to an interest in landscape forms. “The organic bone forms dictated the need for content (environment) and by 1970 I was focused on landscape concepts – apprenticing to the outdoor location painting process.” The oil studies were initially a jumping-off point for creating larger works in the studio, but were considered “an end in themselves.” When painting on location, Graff focuses on colour and shape relationships, and descriptive details are kept to a minimum with an aim of achieving overall simplicity. Since 1959, Graff has kept a meticulous inventory of all works produced up to the present day, 2016. He has executed 5, 181 paintings, half of those produced on location in the natural world.
Abstractland was curated by Xanthe Isbister, Manger/Curator, Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre, Region 4 of the AFA Travelling Exhibition Program (TREX).
1. Nasgaard, Roald, Abstract Painting in Canada (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 2007).
2. Baur, John I.H,., Nature in Abstraction, (New York: the Macmillan Company, 1958).
3. Brennan, Brian, “Les Graff – Homage,” Galleries West, April 30, 2007.
4. Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada.
