Roald Nasgaard, “Abstract Painting in Canada”, Vancouver/Toronto, 2007, page 291
William Perehudoff had a close connection to the Emma Lake Artists’ Workshops and owned a cabin near Emma Lake with his wife, Dorothy Knowles. Perehudoff attended the workshops of Will Barnett and Herman Cherry, as well as those of Clement Greenberg, Donald Judd and Kenneth Noland. It would be Noland’s workshop in 1963 that would have the greatest impact and influence. At Noland’s suggestion Perehudoff became acquainted with Jack Bush in the mid-1960’s, regularly visiting the artist. Like Bush, Perehudoff worked as a commercial artist. In “AC-83-94”, we see Bush’s artistic influence on Perehudoff.
The vertical orientation of “AC-83-94” creates movement in the large areas of colour as it appears they are floating down against the ground. In discussing the later works of the artist, Roald Nasgaard cites Nancy Tousley: “Perehudoff may not have shared the formalists’ constant worry about figure-ground compositions - which resurfaced dramatically in the paintings of the 1980’s and 1990’s - for the simple reason he had more complex roots and orientations than they usually allowed,” concluding, “Since those early Emma Lake workshops, Perehudoff continued to see painting as a space in which a dialogue among forms gives rise to feelings.”
