stories from isolation

Stories from Isolation

During an uncertain time we shared shared stories and inspiration from our gallery artists with the intention of bringing some light into your day and create conversation amongst our online community during a period of self-isolation.

May 13, 2020

Slipstream

The current crisis has created a more focused and productive space for my work. It has granted me the opportunity for more intense soul-searching. This has been a time to reassess the way in which I live and to consider my impact on the planet. This extra time to pause and reflect gave rise to a series of paintings entitled “Slipstream”: a collection addressing our current time by depicting the turbulence felt in the natural world while satisfying a collective desire for peace and stability. I’ve attempted to translate the intense colour and infinite variety of west coast waters onto canvas. AAW

Link to Full Story and Online Exhibition

Thomas Anfield

May 6, 2020

My work has always remained centred around the figure, this obsession has taken me in a lot of different directions from attending dissections at art school in New York to doing Butoh performance where as figure painter I put myself out there, literally.

As this moment in time has caused us all to slow down and reflect I have come to further and deepen my commitment to the figure. My work is about form, I’ve been very influenced by Henri Focillon’s book “The life of forms”, and I attempt to create work with an organic volume and presence.

Thomas Anfield

Link to Full Story and Online Exhibition

April 30, 2020

“In this time of social isolation I look back at the exhibit I did called “Absorbed by the Landscape” and remember the wonderful feeling of being in out of the way places I fell in love with. Ironically in this time when we have to be isolated from others what do we crave or miss? For many it seems to be the gatherings of many and yet when we are involved in our busy lives and hustling city life we yearn for the space to be quiet, alone and somewhere peaceful away from others to just “be” with the earth and our thoughts and daydreams.

“At the Shoreline captures a woman and her faithful companion in tranquil repose in the shadows. No desire for people or interaction…just to be. A lost art at times which we are all trying to achieve right now.” 

Linda Vermeulen

Absorbed by the Landscape – 2017 Capture Festival

April 20, 2020

Human beings are explorers. Always questing and questioning. We thrive on investigating Mystery; we take on extraordinary challenges in the pursuit of knowledge and truth. 

Prometheus, of Greek mythology, whose name means ‘forethought’ molded the first human from clay and was the inventor of the arts. He heroically embraced the unknown when he sought fire, stealing it from the mysterious realm of the gods, gifting it to humankind.

‘Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go’  
– T. S. Eliot

Copyright Petley Jones Gallery
2245 Granville Street Vancouver, BC