Carl White - Art Gallery of Calgary

Pentimento Carl White April 20 - August 25, 2012

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1 1 7 - 8 A V E N U E S . W. C A L G A RY, A L B E R TA , C A N A D A T 2 P 1 B 4 403.770.1350 W W W. A R T G A L L E RY C A L G A RY. O R G Pentimento-Carl White 2012 Catalogue Single Pagers.indd 2

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Pentimento Carl White April 20 - August 25, 2012

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Cover Image:

Pentimento by Carl White Organized by Interim Senior Art Curator, Anne Ewen Exhibition Venue: The Art Gallery of Calgary April 20, 2012 to August 25, 2012 The Art Gallery of Calgary 117 – 8 Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta T2P 1B4 403.770.1350 www.artgallerycalgary.org No part of this publication may be reproduced in any matter whatsoever without permission from The Art Gallery of Calgary.

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CONTENTS 5

CURATOR’S MESSAGE

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PENTIMENTO - CARL WHITE

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LIST OF WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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CURATOR ’S M E S S AG E Pentimento features Calgary based artist Carl White who, over the past 20 years has created a broad series of work revealing his abilities with oil, encaustic, watercolour and print. In this, his first solo exhibition at The Art Gallery of Calgary, are new, unseen works on canvas and paper as well as a series of works dating back to 1996. The exhibition is a magnificent opportunity to view the exemplary ability and deftly honed skills of multi-talented mid-career artist Carl White.

A special thank you is extended to Kayleigh Hall for recommending the exhibition and to the other staff at the Art Gallery of Calgary who work as a team to enable the exhibitions. Their hard work and dedication to the organization is acknowledged and appreciated.

Thank you as well to all our private lenders, our sponsors and visitors.Your continued support of the exhibitions and programs ensure a vibrant and exciting visual experience at The AGC.

Anne Ewen Interim Senior Art Curator The Art Gallery of Calgary

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PENT IME NTO - C A R L W H I T E In Pentimento, mythology and history resonate with Renaissance through Neoclassic to Surrealist sensibilities and are juxtaposed and imprinted by current artistic practice. Richly understated and poignantly represented, White’s extensive knowledge of art history is emulated in form, style and pigmentation. His insatiable intellectual curiousity situates him beyond categorization. Infused with a palette similar in limitation to Rembrandt but particular to White’s creative approach, tonal variations of Alizarin crimson, Ultramarine blue, Ochre’s, raw Siena, Citrine yellow plus burnt and raw Umber are energetically splashed, swept and swirled in synergy with blending, markings and dramatic compositional chiaroscuro. Poetic nuances, poignant words and geographic references are strategically placed infusing the work with further painterly depth and understated innuendo.

As White explains: “In the way that a poet would seek to understand language with the goal of approaching the sublime, I have tried to understand painting with similar purpose. I am painting poems, images that dance between realism and abstraction, text and flesh, with the hope that the viewer experiences rather than views.”

Image Credits

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White’s passion and extensive relationship with art is revealed in realism and abstraction, imparting a textural richness found in art history. He assimilates historic imagery and compositional technique with symbols and motifs that connect to our deepest essence. The journey travels across universal patterns connected by meridian lines and unconscious transmittances. The adventure unfolds, bestowing challenges where the pursuit of knowledge and purity may end in either fiasco or fulfillment. His courage to try prevails.

Pentimento features new, large scale canvases illustrating White’s superb draftsmanship and narrative approach by imparting new imagery layered against themes that reference pre-history and mythology.

The assimilated blend of ancient with modern is presented in classical tradition and monumentally displayed in a fresh contemporary context. The painter’s voyage and life lessons are displayed through metaphor where rich earth tones blend realism and abstraction offering an emotional and visceral experience. Works fresh off the easel are displayed alongside paintings from private collections. When asked to describe his work, the artist responds with understated humour, “classically irreverent”.

In Silke, 2012, oil on canvas, White borrows from Diego Velazquez’s The Surrender of Breda and places in similar position and likeness, battle spears. Images in Ombus, 2012, oil on canvas, evoke Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee. From White’s work up for the finished piece, the evolution and transitory qualities of the painting are apparent; the Pentimento technique resplendently applied.

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Serafinos, 2012, oil on canvas, reveals baroque arches heralding the majestic pose of a powerful steed and a male figure contrapposto. A Barcelona chair is countered by a classically styled checkerboard floor. Metaphoric and symbolic references co-exist with modern day orientations reminding the viewer of civilizations past and cultures current.

The wings in Calyx and Calyx II, 2012, oil on Arches paper, conjure Giovanni Baglione’s Sacred Love and Profane Love. An emblematic relationship with intuition is boldly introduced. Aegius, 2012, oil on canvas is the last canvas painted in the Pentimento series. It features a naked male rider astride an athletic white horse. Gazing skyward at helium filled missile shaped zeppelins, the man is flanked by tattered tents at the rear and in front by a Victoria era wrought iron gate and ornate fountain. Together they symbolize a non ideal past transitioning to an imperfect future. Loosely structured on Giovanni Antonio Canal’s (Canaletto) Venus:The Feast Day of Roch, White’s Aegius addresses the shift in history as the old world looks through to the new.

In the survey portion of the exhibition, White blends historic references and innuendo with contemporary nuances and applications. His early success is observed in two portraits, Jacob and

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Untitled both completed in 1996. In them deliberate markings of umber and ochre are contrasted against ultramarine and alizarin; colours that have become fundamental to his palette and recognizable in his work. As his work matured brush strokes became smoother; resonating with confidence and purpose.

Proficient in oil, chalk, graphite and conté and adept on paper and canvas surfaces, White’s quest for an alternate experience led him, in 2004 to the challenging qualities of encaustic; a mixture of beeswax and pigment applied to a wood or canvas surface. As the combination is applied, each brush stroke or mark remains visible creating a surface flawed and scarred yet glowing with energy and life. In Sam, 2006, the sitter’s personality blossoms with youthful expectancy and innocent charm confirming the artist’s mastery of the medium and later in Angel 16 from the 2010 series Tristeza’s Crown.

White’s fearless approach to his art practice is best articulated in I Will Choke until I Swallow, 2005 where a private message and firm nudge to self is embodied in the title. This self portrait along with another humorously entitled Idiot reflect his pivotal decision that life as a full time artist was the only choice and that being slotted into one category of art making was not an option. For the work to be honest, an exploration of multiple entities was required. 2005 was also a somber year. A brother-in-law Image Credits Pentimento-Carl White 2012 Catalogue Single Pagers.indd 11

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and a dear friend both died tragically. My Quiet friend you have come to me Bleeding was a memorial piece completed during a residency at the Banff Centre. The title is a variation from a line in a poem by famed Spanish poet and play write Federico García Lorca.

Mark 1, conté, graphite and gesso on paper and Nonsense Improv, mixed media on paper both from 2006 are examples of his growing confidence in multiple mediums.

From the 2007 series bearing the same name, Ganymede, with its vibrant blast of cadmiums provides a powerful foreground assertion and illustrates the artist’s acquired bravado. Ganymede combines the scientific discovery by Galileo in 1610 of the four moons of Jupiter with the myth of a beautiful Trojan youth kidnapped by Jupiter. In this series the artist attempts to understand humankind’s enduring historical and artistic pursuit of bliss. In the 2008 series The Falls, White examines the Jungian archetype of rebirth. In the 2009 series Mille Fiori, meaning a Thousand Flowers, it also references the glass technique of the same name and a superb liqueur introduced to the artist by his father-in-law.

Neil Young’s, Rockin’ In The Free World and the Christian Gnostic belief that females gives birth to light in the sky are all metaphorically infused and compiled to form the content. Much of the series is accentuated by citron and cadmium yellows and balanced by arresting applications mixed from a rich, hot palette. Ramo, the Spanish word for bouquet, is an eye-catching example. Tristeza’s Crown, 2010 was titled before the artist chanced upon the post rock band Tristeza formed in San Diego, California

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in 1997. Meaning sadness in Portuguese and Spanish, the term was coined by South American farmers after the devastation caused to the Citrus trees by the citrus tristeza virus (CTV) in the 1930’s.

The term also articulated the subconscious instrumental foreboding related to the band’s music and White’s method of painting.

Furthering his inquiry of the human figure, White expresses the 2011 series Istoria in multiple mediums composed of oil, chalk and graphite on paper handmade by the artist. An avid reader, White’s curiousity about history, science, legend and myth play out in Istoria. Each work references an event or a myth. Problem #9, a number randomly selected by the artist, references Leon Foucault and his pendulum of perpetual motion. The numeric choice assumes consideration of previous and future problems has occurred. Charlemagne in Las Condes alludes to the famous King’s many reforms and campaigns as well as the Chilean city, its history and the early origins of crimson. Parsifal contends with the Arthurian knight and his quest for the Holy Grail, Robert Wagner’s three part opera and Joseph Campbell’s novel: “Hero with a Thousand Faces”. Istoria set the tone for White’s current series Pentimento.

Born in Liverpool, England in 1969, Carl White’s early awareness of history and passion for art was fueled by books and nourished by frequent outings to British museums and art institutions. After immigrating and settling in Calgary, White studied Design and Communications at the Alberta College of Art + Design (1989-1992) where his response to assignments were tailored by painting. While there, White learned about the broad fundamentals of the creative process which later became Image Credits Pentimento-Carl White 2012 Catalogue Single Pagers.indd 13

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integral to his artistic development. His “walk before you run” philosophy has resulted in a tool box containing a lifetime of study, training, practice, reflection, refinement, success and error; skills and qualities required by him for a fluent, informed and adept approach to his trade.

White’s paintings and drawings have been featured in many solo and group exhibitions across Canada and are included in numerous private collections nationally and internationally. His public commissions include the National Press building in Washington, D.C., the Marriott Hotel in North Bethesda, Maryland and the Hyatt Regency Resort in Cambridge, Maryland. In Canada his work is included in the collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and EnCana. He lives and works in Calgary where he is exceedingly active in the community.

Carl White is represented in Canada by Jarvis Hall Fine Art, Calgary; Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton and Galerie D’Avignon, Montreal.

Anne Ewen, Interim Senior Art Curator

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List of works in the exhibition Malksin 2012 Oil on board 16” x 20” Collection of the artist

2012 Sinfos Oil on canvas 72” x 72” Collection of the artist

Mexes 2012 Oil on board 16” x 20” Collection of the artist

Silke 2012 Oil on canvas 72” x 72” Collection of the artist

Xylinina 2012 Oil on board 16” x 20” Collection of the artists

Serafinos 2012 Oil on canvas 72” x 96” Collection of the artist

2012 Caylx Oil on Arches watercolour paper 40” x 65” Collection of the artist

Halosima 2012 Oil on Arches watercolour paper 40” x 65” Collection of the artist

Ombus 2012 Oil on canvas 72” x 96” Collection of the artist

Caylx II 2012 Oil on Arches watercolour paper Collection of the artist

Apollo 2010 Encaustic, ink, graphite on inkjet paper 8” x 10” Collection of the artist

Aegius 2012 Oil on canvas 114” x 96” Collection of the artist

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Artemis 2010 Encaustic, ink, graphite on inkjet paper 8” x 10” Collection of the artist Daphne 2010 Encaustic, ink graphite on inkjet paper 8” x 10” Collection of the artist Ramo 2009 Oil on canvas 36” x 36” Collection of Jarvis Hall Fine Art Ganymede 2007 Oil on canvas 72” x 72” Collection of Dean Turner Mark I 2006 Conte, graphite, gesso on Canson paper 30” x 43” Collection of Jarvis Hall Fine Art Nonsense Improv 2006 Oil, chalk, graphite, gesso on Stonehenge 19” x 24 ½” Collection of Jarvis Hall Fine Art

My Quiet Friend You Come To Me Bleeding 2005 Encaustic, pigment, book on canvas 48” x 72” Private Collection Untitled 2004 3 oil on canvas 60” x 20” Private collection I Will Choke Until I Swallow 2003 Oil on canvas 20 ½” x 27” Collection of Tabatha Greco A Man of Letters 2002 Oil on canvas 30” x 24” Collection of Arvid Wangen Weather Vane 1999 Oil on canvas 9” x 12” Private Collection A Summer Tempest of Tears 1997 Oil on canvas 40” x 42” Collection of Donna Chyz

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Jacob 1996 Oil on canvas 36” x 72” Collection of Mario and Martha Sarro Untitled 1996 Oil on canvas 32” x 54” Collection of Jarvis Hall Fine Art

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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