Roald Nasgaard, “Abstract Painting in Canada”, Vancouver/Toronto, 2007, pages 174-177
Roald Nasgaard and Ray Ellenwood, “The Automatiste Revolution”, Markham, 2009, pages 82-85
A member of the Non-Figurative Artists' Association of Montreal, McEwen is known for his strategic layered application of paint and experimentation with the transparency and sensuality of material. Painting in Montreal, the artist was influenced by the Automatiste painters, especially Paul-Émile Borduas, with non-figurative all-over abstraction. Working with watercolour, the artist uses similar layering techniques in “Abstract Composition” as he employed in his large oil paintings. Building up colour, varying between hues of green, yellow, grey and red, McEwen creates veils of translucent colour of varying opacity. Hints of base pigments are revealed through applied sheets of contrasting colours creating the illusion of depth on the flat surface of the paper. Here, the artist is able to create a trompe l'oeil perception of depth with watery washes of colour in a similar manner as his application of layered and built up oil paint. The work holds testament to McEwen's devotion to testing the limitations of the medium, focusing on the reduction of painting to the importance of the material over figurative subject matter.
Jean Albert McEwen - Abstract Composition | Cowley Abbott
