Victoria Wonnacott - "Works of Paper"

VICTORIA WONNACOTT “WORKS OF PAPER”

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VICTORIA WONNACOTT

‘WORKS OF PAPER’

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WONNACOTT’S STUDIO, 2020 4

VICTORIA WONNACOTT La collection actuelle de peintures par Victoria Wonnacott combine un réalisme intime avec un côté abstrait. Les tableaux « Notes », sont présentés comme des natures mortes par lesquelles les blocsnotes jaunes ont été manipulés et interprétés dans de nombreux rôles et formes. Leur beauté séduisante et contextes curieux englobent une vision personnelle qui interpelle le spectateur sur plusieurs plans. Entre le réalisme et l’abstraction, son travail cherche à créer un aréna d’inspirations silencieuses qui influence le spectateur à venir combler l’espace entre les lignes. Les papiers jaunes continuent à alimenter les perspectives ludiques de Wonnacott sur la représentation de la couleur, de la lumière et de l’expérience personnelle dans son œuvre.

La série « Notes » fut inspirée par un projet de performance de galerie et le« InBox », un cube en acier scellé avec une fente mince qui a été conçu pour la collecte de pensées anonymes et privées écrites sur des blocs-notes lignés jaunes. L'artiste et de nombreuses autres personnes ont contribué à la boîte de notes « InBox ». Beaucoup de notes restent encore à être rédigées.

Les travaux de Wonnacott ont été exposés à Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Miami, Oregon USA, ainsi qu’en Corée du Sud. Ils se retrouvent aussi dans des collections privées, incluant la Collection LotoQuébec, Canada Council Art Bank, La Fondation de la Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur et The Colart Collection.

The current collection of paintings by Victoria Wonnacott merges an intimate realism with an abstract edge. The ‘Notes’ paintings serve as still life works, where the yellow notepapers have been manipulated and cast in many roles and forms. Their alluring beauty and curious contexts embody a personal vision that engages the viewer on many levels. In between high realism and abstraction, this work seeks to create an arena of quiet aspirations and compels the viewer to fill in the space between the lines. The yellow papers continue to nourish Wonnacott's playful perspectives on the representation of colour, light and personal experience in her painting.

The ‘Notes’ series found inspiration from a performance gallery project and the ‘InBox’, a sealed steel cube with a thin slot, designed for collecting anonymous and private reflections written on classic yellow lined note pads. The artist and many others have contributed notes to the InBox, and there are many more to be written.

Works by Wonnacott have been exhibited in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Miami, Oregon USA and South Korea and can be found in public and private collections including the Canada Council Art Bank, The Colart Collection, Collection Loto-Québec, and the Fondation de la Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur.

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A CONVERSATION WITH THE ARTIST…..

1) The show is called ‘Works of Paper’? How and when did you decide to start painting paper as your main subject matter?

Painting paper as a subject began in 2013 with a thematic gallery project called ’Elephant in the Room’.

Artists were asked to step out of their comfort zone and to create their work/s privately on-site over a three day period. For this project I commissioned an 18’’ steel cube with a slot which I call the Inbox. My creation time was spent writing notes, intimate and reflective stuff, ramblings, raves, prayers and questions that would be never answered, it didn’t matter. At the end of my residency, I collected the yellow notes strewn about and slipped them into the box. The Inbox cannot be opened, the notes will never be read, this felt like a new beginning.

2) Do you see yourself painting Paper for the unforeseeable future?

I have been using lined stationary paper as a subject and material for some time and I imagine that it will continue to satisfy my needs. It’s liberating to use such a simple, relatable and flat material that I can easily manipulate and cast in different roles. My paper paintings have evolved from personal notes, to notes about things, to note papers becoming things. This direction takes a playful approach to explore traditional painting themes such as still-lifes, florals and landscapes. Using only lined paper and natural light , the options seem endless. The paper forms, lines and details anchor the work in realism while misleading the imagination. I enjoy the interplay of realism and surrealism.

3) How did you learn to paint? Did you have formal training?

I’m still learning how to paint, every day. My first memories of learning are from my childhood TV hero and audio-visual educator, Jon Gnagy. He sported a beret, goatee, plaid shirt and his manifesto ´I Believe´ and I believed too that I could be an artist. His televised teachings focused on light, shadows, form, and perspective as tools to express oneself. He was self-taught. The learning process never ends and is always evolving. I am grateful to have learned about materials and techniques through educators, experimentation, different employments, knowledge sharing, and practice. Skills are invaluable but paintings are built from dreams and actualizing those can be a learning experience every time.

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4) Which painters do you admire and draw inspiration from?

I admire many painters. I admire realist painters for their discipline, perceptiveness, and their dedication to detail to make the magic happen. I admire abstract painters for their intuitive acts that reach our souls. I admire technical/crafty painters who creatively wed their materials and personal vision. I draw inspiration from these different styles and hope to bring those qualities to my work.

5) With a large shift into selling works online due to the global pandemic, do you still find that there is importance in solo exhibitions in galleries?

Yes! Solo gallery shows are great. They give the artist the opportunity to nicely showcase and promote a body of work and offers a space to highlight an artist’s focus or direction in their practice. Solo gallery exhibitions are important and I’m hopeful that galleries will find new ways to continue to make art accessible, in person, in the future.

6) You show works with other artists that you call The Something Group? Can you explain how this group of artists first came together?

The Something Group” was conceived in fertile arty conversations in 2014. The group’s desire was to present an eclectic spectrum of artistic visions cohesively and as a collective. The group shows give artists the opportunity to explore different niches in their art practice and to present annually. The shows are unpredictable, exciting and ultimately they coalesce beautifully. It’s great. “The Something Group” will once again create a show with works by Wonnacott, François Arès, Douglas Scholes, and Kevin Thomson in Montreal, November 2020.

EXHIBITION STATEMENT:

“Blank note papers are painted into landscapes and floral arrangements becoming home to the imagination, a place for ideas and the stage for thoughts to play out. Carefully crumpled paper with the lines painted in precision stand out from the meticulously layered colours of minuet brush stokes which are used to render the forms that our mind’s eye recognizes as something we’ve seen before. As real as the imagination we are asked to use, these note paper paintings rely on the recognition of the familiar shapes that lie within the abstracted form. Painted to imitate the carefully staged still life that Wonnacott sets up in her studio, the compositions with their play of natural light move us through the important realist techniques to a place of our own creation.” - Douglas Scholes 7

Tuxedo Night, 2019. Acrylique sur panneau / Acrylic on panel, 25” x 38” 8

Mirage, 2020. Acrylique sur toile / Acrylic on canvas, 24” x 24” 9

Ocean View, 2020. Acrylique sur toile / Acrylic on canvas, 24” x 30” 10

Morning, 2018. Acrylique sur panneau / Acrylic on panel, 33” x 23” 11

Sun Shower, 2019. Acrylique sur toile / Acrylic on canvas, 21.5” x 31.75” 12

Speechless, 2017 Acrylique, graphite sur panneau / Acrylic, graphite on panel, 18” x 18” 13

Accommodation, 2018

White, 2016

Acrylique sur panneau / Acrylic on panel.

12” x 12”

Acrylique sur panneau / Acrylic on panel.

12” x 12”

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Flower Box, 2018 Acrylique sur panneau / Acrylic on panel.

12” x 12”

Sky Target, 2017 Acrylique sur panneau / Acrylic on panel.

13” x 13”

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Pink Cameo, 2019. Acrylique sur panneau / Acrylic on panel, 24” x 40” 16

The Celebration, 2019. Acrylique sur toile / Acrylic on canvas, 44” x 36” 17

Flower Power, 2018. Acrylique sur toile / Acrylic on canvas, 66” (d) 18

Lunar Target, 2018. Acrylique sur toile / Acrylic on canvas, 66� (d) 19

New Beginnings, 2018 Acrylique sur panneau / Acrylic on panel 30” x 18”

Sunflower, 2017 Acrylique sur panneau / Acrylic on panel 24” x 24”

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Paper Floral 2, 2017 Acrylique, graphite sur panneau / Acrylic, graphite on panel, 24” x 12” 21

Published by DURAN | MASHAAL www.duranmashaalgallery.com 22