Hyacinths and Certitude by Otto Donald Rogers

Provenance:
Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto/Calgary
Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto/Vancouver
Private Collection, Calgary

Literature:
George Moppett and Norman Zepp, Otto Rogers: A Survey 1973-1982, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, 1982, pages 4-8
Ken Carpenter, “Otto Rogers and a Life in Art”, Canadian Art, April 28, 2014

In 1963, Clement Greenberg singled out Otto Rogers as the only “big attack” painter in Saskatoon, one with a “fullness of inspiration.” He soon became a recognized national art figure, and by the 1970s, Rogers was exhibiting in Toronto, Montreal, Paris and Milan. He was one of the first artists in Canada to make welded-steel sculpture, and served as a guest leader on the subject, along with Caro, Bentham, and Terry Fenton, at the 1977 Emma Lake Artists’ Workshop. “Hyacinths and Certitude” also makes reference to steel sculpture in its crisp metallic grey colour palette. Otto Rogers exhibited his sculpture sporadically in the 1960s and 70s, and was invited by Caro to participate in workshops in New York in 1984 and subsequently Barcelona in 1987.