THE CANADIAN LANDSCAPE
Collection
RE: THE CANADIAN LANDSCAPE, a series of acrylic paintings.
Jack Cassady’s “The Canadian Landscape”, is about politics and the art scene, abstraction versus realism, and the joining of the two.
The concept for this series originated in 1991. In the summer of that year there was a controversy over the acquisition of a painting by the American artist, Barnett Newman, by the National Gallery of Canada, for over a million dollars. In Canada and especially in Ottawa everyone had an opinion, from senators saying a two year old could paint just as well, to the educated stating the importance of the acquisition. It was quite amusing to hear all the different views on the matter. Jack was summering in the Kawarthas, which is close to Ottawa and got a kick out of all the feedback, our elected officials getting all steamed up and making themselves look foolish. It seemed like everyone had an opinion, some were for it, some against it, others wanting the gallery to buy Canadian Art (group of seven), others wanting more contemporary art forms…
In this series the artist is bringing the two points of view together. The representational painting of the Northern Ontario rocks, trees, and water, over the abstract colored stripes. The colored stripes representing the American color field style, and the northern landscape representing the Canadian group of seven style.
There are seven paintings in this series, interest has come from a few international groups but nothing has been finalized. The series has been exhibited in Toronto.
