Fore, 1966

Mazelow Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto

Iris Nowell, “Painters Eleven: The Wild Ones of Canadian Art”, Vancouver/Toronto, 2010, page 166 Gerta Moray, “Harold Town, Life & Work” (online publication), Art Canada Institute, Toronto, 2014, page 64

By the mid-1960s, Town was an incredibly popular artist with multiple solo and group exhibitions within Canada and abroad. Iris Nowell writes: “In 1966 alone Town appeared in seventy-two articles in the three Toronto daily newspapers, was mentioned and/or profiled in twelve articles in Canadian Art, in addition to appearing on countless radio and television shows.” The artist's grandiose personality was echoed in his art practice which diligently explored a great variety of media and motifs. “Fore” points to the extraordinary plurality of this practice. Gerta Moray describes how Town used masking tape as a tool to “set up a counterpoint between straight lines and organic, irregular components. With contrasts of light and dark, and with variations in the size of pattern units, he created shifting illusory spaces that exist in tension with a respect for the flatness of the canvas.” His title “Fore” is a clever play on the homophone four, a number which can be deciphered in the thick white lines of the composition. Also when considering Town's title, the viewer may perceive that he has scrupulously outlined the various paths of a golf ball, curving at high speeds with a shouted warning, “Fore!”