THE GREEN SERIES

RE: THE GREEN SERIES, a series of acrylic paintings.

Jack Cassady’s “The Green Series”, is about progress versus nature.

The concept for this series originated in the autumn of 1990.  In Toronto a building boom started in the 80’s and continued into the early part of the 90’s.   During this time a public awareness was building concerning the environment, the ecological effects of acid rain, waste disposal, air and water pollution, recycling and global warming (the greenhouse effect); thus starting the green movement.

In this series the artist deals with nature and progress, the past and the future, conservation and economics.  The tranquility of nature, plus the action of construction.

Jack is a cyclist and on his trips around the city it seemed that everywhere he looked there was a high rise tower under construction.  An important part of the construction was the building crane at the top of the building.  It appeared to be watching over the city; wherever you looked there they were working or resting on top of the city.  In the summer of that year Jack rented a cottage on a bay that was filled with lily pads.  Sitting in the canoe in the middle of these lily pads it came to him that the two seemed to fit together and contradict at the same time.  Something the artist can’t pass up.  There is also the humorous side to it, the crane in the lily pads.

There are seven paintings in the series.  In 1992 the painting “Green Series#2” was exhibited in “Art Contemporain du Canada”, in Paris, France.  The series has also been exhibited in Toronto.