Richard Alm asks WHY DO PAINTINGS HAVE TO BE FLAT?

My TOSH exhibition May 27 - June 22 is a 17 year retrospective of transitioning into retirement and the start of my final career as a maker of art. The first few years were spent re-learning the craft of fine art painting, left over from university days. My career trajectory also helped in the transition. I had, over time, invented 4 different commercial products which were all visually appealing, working pieces of art.

After completing about 120 paintings of various sizes, I was juried in as an active member of The Federation of Canadian Artists. It gave me an opportunity to be critiqued by Robert Genn at the Granville Island FCA Gallery. He challenged me to "purchase 300 - 11" x 14"canvases, go to my "room" (studio) and paint them. He said "when you finish those, you will have a style people will recognize" We kept in touch. He was right! When I finished #178 years later he wrote one of his newsletters about my work and said they were leaping off the canvas and to go larger. Most of the 11" x 14" in this show were from that period. See if you can notice the various styles that emerged. As a clue the "Lionsgate Bridge" was my first painting in 34 years.

However, just prior to the Genn episode, with my background in sculpture and product design, I had begun to question the age old tradition of painting on a two dimensional flat surface. Canvas can be stretched many ways. Stretcher bars don't have to be straight! I tested an idea!

I began by fabricating new structured stretcher bars in washboard or angled shapes top and bottom only and measured the space between the curves or angles. I transferred the measurements of the multi shaped surfaces to a flat stretched canvas. I then created a grid, painted the canvas and stretched it vertically only.

Neo-Spatialist#4

The piece shown here is Neo-Spatialist#4 and joins 9 other structured pieces which are my focal point of this show. All of them require the individual to actively participate in viewing the work by walking past slowly and looking at it from both sides.

The closest thing I could find to these structured canvas creations was a movement in the late 1940's called the Spatialists. They stated "we refuse to accept science and art as two distinct phenomena". So, with respect, I refer to these pieces as my renaissance of Neo Spatialism. I look forward to seeing other artists expand on the process. Why does canvas have to be flat?

Enjoy the viewing experience as I've enjoyed the creative journey.