A Kim Phuc, 2001

Sable-Castelli Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto

Born in Toronto in 1950, Tony Scherman spent much of his childhood in Paris, Europe, and London. His father was an accomplished violinist and conductor who worked and travelled throughout Europe. After studying at the Royal College of Art in London, Scherman returned to Toronto in 1976. As pop art and conceptualism dominated art discourse through the 1970s, Scherman committed to figuration and image-based painting. He developed mastery of wax and pigment encaustic techniques, creating distinctive, seductive surfaces. Scherman’s body of work demonstrates a deep engagement with art history and the traditional conventions of still life and portraiture. This still life is executed with vigorous gestural strokes. The dramatic contrast of light and dark lend the work a baroque, cinematic quality. Drips of light pigment streak down the painting’s surface like pouring rain. The closely cropped composition leaves the setting of these flowers to the viewer’s imagination.