CANADIAN POST~WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART - Heffel

HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE 41
30 JACK LEONARD SHADBOLT
BCSFA CGP CSPWC OC RCA 1909 ~ 1998
Storm Warning
acrylic on paper board triptych, signed and dated 1984
and on verso signed, titled and dated
60 x 120 in, 152.4 x 304.8 cm
PROVENANCE:
Bau~Xi Gallery, Vancouver
Private Collection, Vancouver
LITERATURE:
Scott Watson, Jack Shadbolt, 1990, page 193
The core of Jack Shadbolt’s painting springs from the rich imagery of West
Coast nature, based on abstracted biomorphic forms. Storm Warning is a
strong example of his painting of the early 1980s, with its dense patches
of colour which create depth through contrasts of receding dark and
advancing light hues. Organic shapes rise, twist, undulate and float across
the surface of the work, as if rushing in reaction to an impeding event.
Also emerging are emblematic forms ~ Shadbolt was fascinated with
heraldry, banners and flags ~ and their more geometric and linear
elements provide a dynamic contrast with organic forms. Colour shapes
were seen as “tugging free of the pictorial matrix toward a psychological
freedom of their own identities ~ a pure primordial urge.” The struggle for
freedom of these elements was most likely a reflection of Shadbolt’s own
striving for liberation and identity, and of his modernist, intellectual
concerns vying with emotional and unconscious urges. Because of this,
Shadbolt’s work was never static, but always evolving. Storm Warning
exudes vitality and a sense of urgency ~ a painting in the midst of a
spontaneous, living process.
ESTIMATE: $25,000 ~ 35,000
30