Collection of the artist
Acquired directly from the artist
By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto
Exhibited
Tom Hodgson, the Lynnwood Arts Centre, Simcoe, Ontario, travelling to Koffler Gallery, Toronto; Art Gallery of Peterborough; Oakville Galleries; Brampton Public Library & Art Gallery; Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa; Rodman Hall Arts Centre, St. Catharines; Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound; and Grimsby Public Art Gallery, November 1988 - December 1989, no. 18
Literature
David G. Taylor, Tom Hodgson, exhibition catalogue, November 1988 - December 1989, reproduced page 45
Iris Nowell, Painters Eleven: The Wild Ones of Canadian Art, Vancouver/Toronto, 2010, pages 10-11
Tom Hodgson had one of the most enduring careers in abstract expressionism within Canada. A member of the Painter’s Eleven, the artist’s dynamic and bold abstract works helped change and shape the landscape of painting within Canada. Often favouring bright bold contrasting colour palettes which emphasized the energy and movement of form and medium, Hodgson experimented throughout his career with various art movements while maintaining his signature energy and movement on the canvas.
During the 1970s and 80s, Hodgson took a step back from the art world. Though still producing large works and experimenting, the artist retreated from the hectic environment of the art ecosystem. “Two x Red + Yellow” exhibits Tom Hodgson’s later approach to abstraction with large strokes of paint on the canvas anchored at the corners of the composition. The watery aqua blue background contrasts with the bright pops of fuchsia and marigold with various palette knives and brushstrokes used to build up raised textures and reliefs. There appears to be a sort of sculptural element in play with these later works as the artist’s moves into his late career phase of production.
Exhibiting with the then-new Christopher Cutts Gallery in 1990, art critic Christopher Hume noted on these works from the late 1980s: “The pieces are large-format and tremendously self-assured. As abstract as they get, they remain remarkable and obvious examples of the craft of painting. The way this man moves and mixes acrylics is sheer bravura.”
