Through Silence
Through Silence
48" x 60"
acrylic on canvas
$11,000.
48" x 60"
acrylic on canvas
$11,000.
"While at the cottage, Last paints continuously. Away from the cottage—at her Toronto studio, or elsewhere, when acting as an artist-in-residence—she works in response to that view, painting from memory. Last isn’t the first painter to repeat a scene; Monet completed a series of 30-plus works of the Rouen Cathedral in 1892-93 in order to capture how changing light can significantly alter the experience of a subject…"
""When I ask if she will ever grow tired of painting the same view, Last says, “Never. It never stops changing. I have never observed the same scene twice. If you combine all the elements—sky, water, land—the variables are endless. One can conjure a universe from that view.”"
Alex Newman, Cottage Life Magazine
Over several years Last has returned to the motif of "Through Silence" rendering this nightscape several times.
"Last’s “long-term study of this single place… has facilitated constant formal experimentation and allowed the artist to respond on a visceral level to the ever - changing situations of climate and time of day. From early naturalistic studies her technique has evolved into one that is largely spontaneous and unplanned. Last explains that from the first brush stroke the painting leads her rather than her leading the painting and the results are unexpected combinations of representational and non-objective elements.”
From Edge of Chaos: The Paintings of Rebecca Last
Essay by Kelly McCray
“Through Silence” was painted at Rice Lake on the opposite shore to the Elmhirst’s Resort. There, Rebecca Last’s studio faces into most weather systems crossing the lake with their frequently dramatic and perpetually shifting light conditions.
Beginning a year after arriving at Rice Lake in 2001, the artist started a 2 decade long body of paintings titled “Studies in Light & Energy”. The elemental and turbulent nature of the water, sky and landscape has provided the artist a constant yet moody model to work with. This series was first exhibited in Yorkville’s Edward Day Gallery in 2003 and since has been shown in several galleries in Canada and elsewhere.
“Through Silence” was featured on the cover of SLATE Gallery Guide and in 2013 it was included in the documentary film on Climate Change presented to the United Nations Delegation in Warsaw.
Although Last’s technique often employs a deep layering of colours, “Through Silence” explores the dominant use of grayscale and pulled back use of pigments to evoke unknown spaces where the evening pushes our imagination and the unconscious touches the conscious.
Beginning a year after arriving at Rice Lake in 2001, the artist started a 2 decade long body of paintings titled “Studies in Light & Energy”. The elemental and turbulent nature of the water, sky and landscape has provided the artist a constant yet moody model to work with. This series was first exhibited in Yorkville’s Edward Day Gallery in 2003 and since has been shown in several galleries in Canada and elsewhere.
“Through Silence” was featured on the cover of SLATE Gallery Guide and in 2013 it was included in the documentary film on Climate Change presented to the United Nations Delegation in Warsaw.
Although Last’s technique often employs a deep layering of colours, “Through Silence” explores the dominant use of grayscale and pulled back use of pigments to evoke unknown spaces where the evening pushes our imagination and the unconscious touches the conscious.
