Sight Reading by David Bolduc

Provenance:
Circle Arts International, Toronto.
The Collection of Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc.

Literature:
Roald Nasgaard, “Abstract Painting in Canada”, Vancouver/Toronto, 2007, pages 251 and 253.

By the mid-1970s, Bolduc had developed his signature central imagery abstracts. These canvases incorporated a bold central image which, at times, was repeated across the canvas. The main motif, described by Bolduc as a “carrier for colour”, was rendered in vivid colours and set upon a textured backdrop in an unexpected hue. In “Sight Reading”, the vibrant green diamond shape found within the centre image is cleverly echoed in the green of the surrounding “frame-within-the-frame”. Bolduc remarked on his use of colour: “I'm interested in taking a nothing colour and giving it some bite to make it warmer. I'm not trying to be innovative. I'm trying to make an object you haven't seen before. Colour is all that I am working with.” His cleverly arranged central motif, resembling ribbons, is captured in vibrant impasto colours which seem to come directly from the paint tube onto the canvas, creating a forceful illustration of the very process of painting.