Current Solo Exhibition
Riviera
Diamonds on a Strand
July 8th - 2oth
Gallery
2nd Floor - 125 Adelaide Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Reception
July 8th, 2010
6:30PM to 10:30PM
Free Admission - Drop in - All Ages
Russ Henry Russ Henry
Winnipeg Artwork Abstract Canada
Henry
More Details
Riviera - Diamonds on a Strand
20 new original artworks - acrylic on canvas
Badlands Gabriel
Acrylic
36 x 30 inches
Bonneville
36 x 24 inches
Argentine
The people that we meet, the places that we visit and the things that we see along the way become our personal memories. Some of these memories are complete and permanent. Others become abstracted by time and distance and by our ability to reflect on them with any degree of distortion. The art peces in this exhibition are reconstructions or abstractions of some of the people, places and things that I have had the blessing to experience so far.
"All of these memories are my diamonds on a strand"
Read an exhibition preview by John Herbert Cunningham
Russ Henry
Russ Henry is a Canadian artist born in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, in 1964.
He works in a variety of media including acrylic, watercolour, charcoal and ink. Russ Henry's work can be found in private collections, in print and in public venues and exhibitions.
Miss Cleveland 19
Bonneville - Acrylic on Canvas - 24" x 36"
Sault St Marie - Acrylic on Canvas - 36" x 36"
Sault St Marie Two - Acrylic on Canvas - 36" x 36"
Scout - Acrylic on Canvas - 36" x 36"
Harbour Court - Acrylic on Canvas - 36" x 36"
Portofino - Acrylic on Canvas - 18" x 36"
Lasne Petrol - Acrylic on Canvas - 18" x 36"
BP Finale - Acrylic on Canvas - 18" x 36"
Argentine - Acrylic on Canvas - 24" x 36"
Riviera - Acrylic on Canvas - 24" x 36"
Miss Teen Chicago
Thursday, July 8th 6:30PM to 10:30PM
Free Admission - Drop in - all ages are welcome
Winnipeg, Manitoba
(across from Canadian Footwear and Red River College Princess St Campus)
Tel: 944-0809
cre8ery gallery website
map to cre8ery gallery
Gallery Hours
Tuesday through Saturday - 12PM to 5PM
Monday and Thursday evenings - 6PM to 10PM
More about the exhibition
Cre8ery Gallery event photos courtesy of Cre8ery
Links
Cre8ery - An artist friendly gallery in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
www.cre8ery.com
Winnipeg Arts Council
Contact
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Russ Henry's Riviera - Diamonds on a Strand
Preview by John Herbert Cunningham
Russ Henry's upcoming show at the Cre8ery Gallery is one of startling abstraction that fuses the art of Benjamin Chee Chee and other aboriginal artists that responded to his direction together with the geometric abstractions of Portuguese artist Nadir Afonso and the abstractions of the French artist Fernand Leger.
Henry explains the title of this show: "I had the good fortune to visit and make friends in the French Riviera when I was 24 years old and it became very special to me. Some people refer to the strip of land along the Mediterranean as a strand and the villages and hotels along the coast as gems on the strand. A Riviere on the other hand is a term for a type of necklace with Diamonds strung along a strand. As you can imagine they can be quite precious and valuable. So I combined these two romantic images."
This also explains the memory fragments that instill his work with the glimmer of diamonds. These can range from deserts to women to gas stations each in Henry's unique style.
The first work of his that I encountered was Badlands Gabriel. The graceful, curving line that runs horizontally through the centre was reminiscent of Chee Chee's work. This was reinforced by the minimalist use of space. But then, the vertical lines that intersect are definitely Afonsos influence. Heres what Henry says about the piece: "I have experienced times when life has looked and felt barren and empty and lonely similar to how I imagine being stranded in the badlands of South Dakota may feel. And during those times, when stranded in those badlands, for whatever reason I have been saved. I hear something to move towards. I liken it to hearing a message. Not a religious message but a spiritual message." Visually the piece shows a barren landscape with the form of perhaps Gabriel's horn close to the horizon delivering a message. However, that blue object occupying the left appears, to me, more like a chalice from which manna is pouring.
Miss St. Charles reminds me of a poster one would see advertising the Folies Bergere. Here is a fusion of all three of the influences spoken of earlier. Similarly is Miss Transcona.
Sault Summer 1 is the most strikingly aboriginal inspired work. Of this influence, Henry says "I was born in 1964 so I think those of us who were aware of art around us while we were growing up in Canada during those years couldn't help but notice [Chee Chees] style of graceful lines and pregnant simplicity. And as a kid, seeing his cool looking birds and animals was memorable. I don't think consciously about his style but it definitely imprinted on me just from growing up in this part of the world." Henry, not being aboriginal, is sensitive to the issue of cultural appropriation. However, what he has achieved is an homage to, not an appropriation of, aboriginal artistic achievement.
One cannot conclude a discussion of Henry's art without mentioning the image that haunts him, one that yields itself to his most aggressive abstractions. This is the auto service station. Lasne Petro and Portofino are two examples. Although Afonsos vertical lines are present, these works are Henry's most distinctive. He expresses his fascination with this image: "The sight of a service station, especially along a lonely road, to me is a very welcome sight. Deep down it represents shelter (safety), fuel (rebirth) and food (comfort) and people (community). The service station provides and represents a lot of the basic needs that we all have in everyday life and they are magnified when alone on the highway. " BP Finale, another in this series, brings to mind an influence from West Coast aboriginal art with its red, black and yellow motif.
Saving the best for last, Bonneville will definitely make an impression. Henry goes back to an earlier period of Leger, the one that was intermediate between his Cubist and his Dadaist periods and showed the influence of Marinetti and the other Italian Futurists. This is greatly infused with Afonso as well as a new influence, Piet Mondrian. This work is stark, dramatic and utterly exceptional.
Words will never bring a work of art alive to the readers mind. Visual art must be seen to be fully appreciated. You should go to the Cre8ery Gallery on July 8 between 6:30 and 10:30 for the opening of an exceptional exhibit.
Copyright Russ Henry 2010 All rights reserved
