Since the 1960s, Saskatchewan artist William Perehudoff has ranked among the central figures of abstract painting in Canada. Involvement in the famed Emma Lake Workshops brought Perehudoff into contact with influential modernists, including Kenneth Noland, Donald Judd and Anthony Caro. A restless innovator, Perehudoff maintained a prolific output in the 1980s, continuously experimenting with the wide range of potential qualities of acrylic paint. The use of gel mediums allowed him to layer thinned veils of colour with glossy, opaque layers of impasto. The flat plains and expansive skies of the Canadian prairies appear to have influenced Perehudoff’s sense of composition. "AC-80-27" features a visually compelling range of surfaces, from the soft, neutral underpainting to the delicate pinkish frosting, to the bursts of coloured forms which act as focal points for the viewer’s gaze. Closely associated with the Colour Field movement, Perehudoff’s bold compositions can be found in numerous public and private collections, including that of the National Gallery of Canada, the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
