INTERVIEW - ARTIST
Manny Neubacher
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Artist - Gallery Director
ased in Toronto, Manny Neubacher has been a respected tour-de-force on the Canadian art scene. His work can be found in hundreds of collections (including Elle Macpherson’s) and ranges from painted canvases richly inspired by the Canadian North to outdoor installations. His first large exhibit took place in the Barbara Frum Atrium at the CBC and invited over 600 participants to slice up a year’s worth of art and then reconstruct the pieces to form a new 12’ x 32’ canvas. To add to that, he was then commissioned by Absolut Vodka who requested that he explore the same technique once again using their colour palette, and the resulting piece shares the same wall as a Warhol in their collection. Currently, Manny enjoys his post as co-founder of the Neubacher Shor Company (co-founded with Anya Shor), one of Canada’s leading contemporary art galleries and cultural centers, where he continues to nurture and develop new talent. www.neubachershor.com
A Far Rush of Wind
What does the word ‘artist’ mean to you? Someone who has a tremendous love of all forms of expression, devours it and digests it, and then uses this knowledge to add something to the world. You have worked with many different mediums; is there one in particular you are always drawn to? Painting has a strong effect on me. There is something about holding a brush and standing in front of a large canvas, listening to music and being transported to another place by the act of painting. I love everything about it, including the smell of oil [paint] and turpentine. What drew you to painting the Canadian North in your series “New Crop”? It came naturally after setting up a studio in a barn from 1910, which I use in the summer in Halliburton. The sunlight streaming through the cracks, the nearby lakes and the sounds of summer surrounded me. I wanted to capture what I was feeling at the time, the freedom, the romance, and the power of the Canadian North.
Describe the moment you first realized that you wanted to be an artist. It was during a summer in Florence at SACI (Studio Art Centers International). I took figure drawing and Italian Renaissance courses; I realized then, sketching during one of our many field trips around the city, that it was going to be my great love. Upon returning to university in the fall, I switched into the Arts program and never looked back.
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When you have described “New Crop,” you talked about a longing for the past; is this a recurring source of inspiration for you? I think painting this series in the middle of all that land, in that historic Canadian barn did make me long for a simpler time. It was so wonderful to be surrounded by so much of the past and it is hard not to get nostalgic painting in that particular setting.
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