signed lower right; titled on the stretcher; titled and dated 1979 on a gallery label on the reverse
55 × 65 in (139.7 × 165.1 cm)
(including Buyer's Premium)
Marlborough-Godard, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
Ian M. Thom and Andrew Hunter, Gordon Smith: The Act of Painting, Vancouver, 1997, page 46
A restless innovator, Gordon Smith’s paintings moved into a loose, gestural style in the late 1970s, breaking with the structured grids of his Seawall series from the previous few years. In 1978, Smith travelled to Egypt for the third time, an experience which resulted in a new series of works on paper. The studies occasionally depicted palm trees and pyramids, though the artist was here increasingly interested in colour and atmospheric effects. The warm desert hues of these works would influence Smith over the next few years.
Smith spent the summer of 1979 teaching in Sackville, New Brunswick, where he continued to explore a distinct visual territory between landscape and abstraction. Though the title of A1 does not reveal a connection to a specific locale, the work alludes to a coastal scene. The horizontal patchwork of brushstrokes conveys depth while falling away towards a clearly delineated horizon line. The painting is energized by lively, painterly strokes, and concentrated areas of bold hues peak through the neutral greys and blues, which dominate the picture. Art historian Ian M. Thom noted: “When asked to characterize his art from 1979 to 1980, Smith commented that his new works were about ‘colour, the act of painting, surface sensitivity and space’”.
