| |
Watercolors by Micheal Zarowsky |
| |
Home Biography
Gallery Exhibitions
Collections Press
Contact |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Articles
Watercolour
exhibition at the 401 Gallery runs Apr. 24-26
An Exploration
of Light and Colour
 The
401 Gallery will play host to the delicate, inspiring artistry of
Michael Zarowsky by way of a three-day opening night exhibit, Apr.
24 to 26.
Billed as an exploration of harmony
between light and dark, the exhibition will focus on new work from
Venice, Paris and Ontario.
Looking at the paintings makes immediately
clear the emphasis on lighting. A photographer will spend an aching
amount of time trying to get the lighting for a photo just right,
just as it seems Zarowsky must lie in wait, sketchpad in hand, anticipating
patiently to capture some facet of light associated with the scene
he is immersed in
at any given time.
Whether the painting is of a docked
sailboat, half-covered with tarp, oars still lying akimbo, or a
lake awash with swans sunning themselves, light seems to always
play the starring role. Looking at these paintings is like looking
out of a window on a sunny day, or coming out onto the street after
being in a darkened building. You almost want to shield your eyes
from the glare, or fish around in your bag for sunscreen. Light
here is used as a colour in and of itself, amidst the seemingly
infinite palate already utilized by the artist.
 Zarowsky
says his primary interest is light, atmosphere, and transparency
of water, adding, "I find light irresistible. My spirits soar
on a sunny day. I can sit by the water's edge for days and not feel
the need to move."
The paintings themselves depict tangible,
everyday objects and scenes, but there is a dream-like quality to
them, bathed in light and overflowing with colour as if the pictures
themselves have been lifted from that state between dreaming and
wakefulness, when everything is at its brightest and most beautiful.
Choosing his paint is not as important
as the process by which it will be created, he remarks. "The
emphasis is on the process of discovery, of the creative interpretation
of some aspect of the world."
This would explain the sub-reality in which his paintings seem to
exist. For instance, he goes much further than to simply paint that
which he feels is inspiring. Zarowsky seemingly takes it in, and
what appears on the canvas is his own version of what he has seen
and decided to depict. He refers to this as the process of inventiveness,
adding, "In this sense painting is a spiritual process connecting
me to the world."
He speaks of the process of painting
itself as likened to walking a tightrope. Each painting, for him
is a new challenge. He may know what he wants to paint but that
is where the routine of it ceases.
"It [painting] is an open-ended
process in so far that each new work presents new problems,"
he says of his technique - perhaps an insight into why his paintings
look like what they are supposed to in the realist sense, but posses
a much more awe-inspiring and complex quality upon closer inspection.
Zarowsky places a strong emphasis
on "losing himself" as part of the artistic process. In
effect, the more he gives himself over to the actual process of
painting, the more satisfied he will be with the final product.
"Being able to let go comes through
in the painting and is what gives it it's intensity, aliveness,
and energy," he says.
Alive, intense, and energized are
fitting adjectives for Zarowsky's work, and come through immediately
upon viewing it.
By Jessica Padykula |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
 |
|
SOME THOUGHTS ON MY LIFE AS AN ARTIST
Growing up has been but a series of preoccupations
I never had any lack of confidence in my ability
to draw. As just another way to express myself, it started out
as a way to occupy idle time. My first exhibition was of drawings at age eleven.
I studied philosophy and psychology and found I was able to re-organize and
develop my thinking which in
turn opened up the parameters of my world even further.
My return, after university, if it is a return
to painting, is a return to mystery in the sense that losing myself in
the work takes me places as much as I take it. Not knowing any limits, while
searching for a way to express
myself through painting, I experimented and through trial and error, pushed
back the boundaries of what could
be done with the medium. Finding traditional watercolour methods which reduce
everything to a series of
washes confining of my need for continuous progression/growth, it dawned on
me to reverse the process so
that I invent new techniques to express what I see and feel is there, painting
it the way we found it and it
found us.
This is not to say there is anything wrong with
traditional watercolours methods, rather more of a statement
about my expectation of what a finished work looks and feels like and working
my way – which is the only way
I know how – I can express what I have to get out. It is an open ended
process in so far that each new work
presents new problems needing their own resolutions. Much like reinventing the
wheel each time, we come to
each idea not knowing exactly what and how we will work it through, which joyfully,
is much like walking a
tightrope. This gives me the edge I so desperately need; all focus is on losing
myself in the process; by
maintaining open-mindedness, willingness, and calmness, I in effect open myself
up as a channel. Being able
to let go comes through in the painting and is what gives it it’s intensity,
liveliness, energy…..
The uniqueness and sensibility that the paintings
have, evolves as the elements of the work are continuously
rethought, adjusted, refined, worked reworked re invented/rediscovered anew,
to continue to express what is a
continuing, growing love I have for Wendy, and the ever changing relationships
with growing adjustment not
only to myself, to the world around me, to the ever everyone in our life. Any
realism in the work has more to do
with an attitude than with a style.
The emphasis is on the process of discovery –
of creative interpretation of some aspect of the world – being
coupled with a second process of inventive-ness – the personal expression
of what is discovered.
Painting is a spiritual process connecting me
to the world.
Wendy is an inextricably interwoven part of that
process. Not only can she paint, she is integral to the process,
in that we both go out and explore together, putting together our ideas, working
them through together;
assembling, discussing, pushing and pulling and reinforcing each other in envisioning
what is before us into
something we can express through paint to share with the world. The paintings
are the realization of both of
us.
We both have a similar eye, feel, understanding
and love for nature and the natural, and the civilized places
in-between all of which we lose ourselves in and paint. Again the energy in
the work is an expression, a
confirmation and reaffirmation of the love we have for each other.
Armed with this encouragement and our growing
belief in ourselves, we continue to explore our backyard,
having spent three separate Decembers wandering through Paris.
Our efforts in Ontario have allowed us to develop
our ability to isolate what we feel is the essence of a subject,
and to work out a new way to present that aspect of it which both expresses
and represents the whole. For us
the paintings express the most essential qualities of the experience portrayed
I find light irresistable.
My spirits soar on a sunny day.
I can sit by the water’s edge for days and
not feel the need to move.
Heat and humidity allow me to lose my physical
edges – subzero temperatures merely outline where I end
and the rest of the world begins.
We paint light, atmosphere, the transparency of
water. We think of the work as neo or contemporary
impressionism.
We paint the heat and humidity, which support
all those strong and crazy colours that make up the
Tropics – the Caribbean…and winter, well snow is just water that”s
froze. Winter is a blanket of white and blue
contours of the countryside held seamlessly together
The joyful and continuous response to the paintings
by others, not only gives us contemporality, but also lets
us know we are not alone in how we feel about the world. In 1989 – it
seems so long ago now – we escaped
Ontario for the first time ever; our toes touching the eastern seaboard we fell
hopelessly in love with the
ocean. How uppermost simple – the blue of the sky and the blue of the
water divided by a mere horizon line.
We immediately sold our souls to the keeper of the seas in exchange for the
promise to continue to be able to
return. We’re easy. Every time we go back we find it has an ever expanding
grip on us
In 1990 we crossed the big pond for the first
time and bathed in the buttermilk skies of Paris in December.
Sketching our way through the Dordogne we came back next summer to lose ourselves
in the waterside life in
Venice, exploring the sea and air and light as it continued to work its magic
on the city over the centuries.
Continuing to explore Europe, we pursue our natural
inclination for the hot tropics – developing our personal
vision of the islands by exploring the relationships of heat and humidity to
the strong colours found there
What began as an exploration of light and form
in our own backyard some 30 years ago, has developed, for
us into an ability to capture, share and express our experience / the essential
feel of a place no matter where
it is in the world