Room #902

Complexity. Oil on canvas. 84” x 60”

Video link to idea and painting in progress: https://youtu.be/cgI_m1nO8-Y

Website link for Death Mask: https://leannemchristie.com/deathmask/

Latitude and Longitude: 49.277232, -123.099322 (approx)

The little story:

‘Complexity’ is the first painting in the body of works that uses the Vancouver Viaducts as their subject. This body of works is the death mask of these monuments in a city void of strong political statues that are homages to a particular worldview and they are a deep dive into complexity and what this means in the context of painting.

‘Complexity’ is the view west as you stand in the middle of these urban canyons. Here, a small human being in the large Urban Landscape, you feel dwarfed and awed. The hard granite surface, the power of the form, the concrete aged with time, the stereo roar of the traffic and the magnetic force of the city as the viaducts suck and spit you out of her core.

Complexity in the context of painting is to harness time as an active and passive participant to change the flavour of the painting in the same way that time changes the urban landscape and introduces complexity. ‘Complexity’ was the first successful painting to achieve this. Passive time or the idea of change that is brought about by the simple passing of time was naturally harnessed by using one of the distinctive properties of oils – their long drying time.

The painting is built to a point of completion and then intentionally broken down back to the canvas. This process was done over and over again with the painting achieving multiple beginnings and multiple endings. The final result is a painting with a rich surface texture that feels like the concrete corridor and a looping and folding of time as a result of the layers that have captured different moments in one 2d surface.

David Bowie died while ‘Complexity’ was being painted and because of the above process, some areas are the original-now-stained canvas that is part of a world when Bowie was alive and other areas are thick with paint that was part of a world after Bowie.

Invigorated by Spring. Oil on canvas. 30” x 48”

Latitude and Longitude: 49.269172, -123.205869 (Approx)

The little story:

Spring in Vancouver is noisy with memories and people when the streets are transformed into places.

You are standing on Trimble Street just north of it’s junction with 4^th Ave, a neighbourhood street metamorphosed into a place to linger and enjoy the spring fragrances, to listen to the sounds and to awaken your senses and optimism after a long, cold winter.

The power of this painting comes from the excitement that you feel as she entices you to have a relationship with her. ‘Invigorated by Spring’ offers you enough representation to provoke your understanding of the subject but she invites you to engage through her quiet colours and suggestive brushstrokes. The brushstrokes and the chosen areas of strong white, describe the feeling of the subjects and move you through the painting at a rhythmic, languid pace.

The painting becomes a place as the space of the street does when the blossoms create another room in the city.

Even as the world grows bigger. Oil on canvas. 24” x 24”

Latitude and Longitude: 49.266870, -123.205971 (approx)

The little story:

Deeply personal moments happen on the streets of a neighbourhood as the life unfolds. At times I am fortunate enough to be invited into the memories of a family and we create a significant painting which carries with it the story of their lives. “Even as the world grows bigger” was one of the special paintings whose story is intertwined with a family who allowed me in for a moment.

You feel the transience of time in this painting through the loose, evocative brushwork and the soft colours. White was particularly effective in this painting to capture the feeling of the morning and a street close to the ocean and also as an invitation to your recollections.

East from Point Grey. Oil on canvas. 30” x 30”

Latitude and Longitude: 49.270880, -123.214483 (Approx)

The little story:

The alleys of Vancouver are full of delight. These personal spaces share more about the people who live alongside you than the other outward facing thoroughfares in the city. To travel along these secondary roads is to gain a slow understanding of the urban with uncomposed snippets of daily life adjusting your perceptions on the rhythm of the city. History chatters in these gently used spaces because time is layered in the street fixtures, the structures and in the pavement itself.

The alleys always finish with something at their ends, a window to another place or a view of a city that is constantly changing and that takes your thoughts to the future.

Perambulating. Oil on canvas. 42” x 46”

Latitude and Longitude: 49.273806, -123.214900 (Approx)

The little story:

Sharing the stories and the experiences of people who live in the city is something that I treasure about being the painter of our urban environment. I always feel privileged when someone invites me into their lives and their routine, to share something that is special to them. This view of Belmont Ave and the city skyline paused in time has forever changed because it is not just a space anymore, it has become a place with the memories that it now reignites.

You may be interested in these smaller pieces and if you are and you would like the locations, please let me know