Peace Stars for Vince #IV, 1988

Collection of the artist Gift of the artist to Casey House, Toronto

“Ronald L. Bloore: Not Without Design”, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Saskatchewan, travelling to Art Gallery of Hamilton, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Edmonton Art Gallery and Glenbow Museum, Calgary, 1992-1993, no. 24

Terrance Heath, “Ronald L. Bloore: Not Without Design”, MacKenzie Art Gallery, listed page 92, no.24 Roald Nasgaard, “Abstract Painting in Canada”, Vancouver/ Toronto, 2007, pages 151-52

Ron Bloore studied art history and archaeology at the University of Toronto and at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. He completed his MA at Washington University in St. Louis. As Roald Nasgaard writes, “His broad interest in cultural history and antiquity was a persistent and sustaining influence throughout all his work.” “In Peace Stars for Vince #IV”, a quintessentially characteristic Bloore work, we see how he has built up layer upon layer of white pigment, then scraped and sanded areas away to reveal the star shapes as an archaeologist does to reveal what is hidden. Nasgaard continues, “White for Bloore is of course not a simple non-colour.... asked why he doesn’t paint in colour, Bloore exclaimed that on the contrary he does, by his own account using twenty-six varieties of white, playing one against the other, varying them with textures and the shadows of the edges as well as their tones, modified by close values of creams and grey. The play of light across these embossed surfaces is furthermore an aspect of both their material presence and their transcendence.” He has built his composition around the large central star hovering in the middle between the two panels, with the smaller stars vibrating in the background. Bloore donated this work to Casey House in 1988, the year it was founded by June Callwood. Cowley Abbott is privileged to have been entrusted with the sale of this exceptional work, of which the proceeds benefit Casey House’s HIV/AIDS hospital in Toronto.