Art, again

Went to the Vancouver Art Gallery yesterday to see a temporary exhibit of Takao Tanabe's work. The paintings ranged in date from early 1950's to 2003, and covered an early abstract phase and his very, very lovely landscapes. I'm not so fond of abstract art; I find it difficult to appreciate- I tend to make "like it/hate it" judgements based on the colors or the shapes. Inevitably, I miss the point of the painting. I did however, really like his early work and appreciated the opportunity to see the continuum of his work. Ever the historian, I would have liked a bit more biographical information so that I would place the work in the context of his life.

His prairie landscapes are amazing; the colors are moody thanks to his black wash technique. He has an incredible sense of sky and space; the sky takes up over 60% of the entire canvas on most of his works. They give you the illusion of being in the landscape where all you can see is sky. The real show stopping works however, are the west coast water, beach and mountain images. Some of them have photograph like qualities and others actually make you feel the temperature drop or the moisture in the air. He apparently spends a great deal of time on each one of these giant canvases; given the level of detail in the rocks, waves and sky, it is not hard to believe. Some of the canvases really reminded me of the months I spent in Alert Bay.