Artwork by Joseph Drapell,  Life Fulfilled

Joseph Drapell
Life Fulfilled

acrylic on canvas
signed, titled and dated 1988 on the reverse
71 x 78 ins ( 180.3 x 198.1 cms ) ( overall (polygonal shape) )

Auction Estimate: $3,000.00$2,000.00 - $3,000.00

Price Realized $7,800.00
Sale date: December 3rd 2020

Provenance:
Gallery One, Toronto
Private Collection, Ontario
A restless experimenter, Joseph Drapell achieved an artistic breakthrough in 1973 when he developed a painting technique using broad spreading tools attached to a movable support. Drapell would often begin by pouring paint close to the centre of the composition. He then used his customized tools to paint in fluid, sweeping layers. By cutting notches into some of his spreading tools, Drapell could create evenly spaced grooves and striations within each large gesture. “Life Fulfilled” exemplifies the results of this experimental technique, with its unusual painterly content and complex surface. The painting has a shimmering, iridescent quality which shifts and changes in the light. The radial movement of the painted surface contrasts with the unusual geometry of the format. The painting features bevelled edges, which add another visual dimension to the work. Directly inspired by the landscape of Georgian Bay, Drapell has used mechanical means to arrive at romantic results. Intensely interested in pushing his materials in new directions, Drapell eschewed traditional brushstrokes while creating a distinctive and personal mode of image-making.

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Joseph Drapell
(1940)

Drapell was born in the small occupied town of Humpolec, near Prague, in 1940 and immigrated to Halifax in 1966 in search of western freedoms. He developed his compression technique in the late 1960s and founded the Museum of New New Painting in 1998, devoted to exhibiting advanced art. Drapell's artwork is in national and international collections including the Guggenheim, the National Gallery in Prague, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the British Museum, and others.