Charles Pachter

Blue Barn Green Field - landscape, Canadian, contemporary, acrylic on canvas

2021-2022

The textured surface of water, still and dark meets a strip of cream coloured sky in this long horizontal canvas. A cloud of green and pink on the far right horizon balances the atte...

Above the Beach No 5 is a part of a series in which Rick Rivet is probing the environmental crisis in Arctic regions. The polar territories of Canada are under serious and imminent threat resulting from pollution, global warming, and poor resource management. Sport hunting is depleting animal resources that local populations need to survive, global warming is melting the polar icecaps threatening polar bear populations, and lead pollution is resulting in poisonous biomagnification levels in some sea animals while plastic pollution is trapping and suffocating others. The major degradative pollution began in the 1950s from nuclear testing which introduced radioactive isotopes produced by nuclear fission into plant and animal life, the effects of which are lethal and long-lasting. The melting resulting from global warming has increased to such a degree that the previously, and notoriously, challenging Northwest passage has opened wide now allowing tourist ships to glide through, further contributing to oil pollution and environmental wear and tear. The red horizon line in Above the Beach No 5 sketching the intersection of the land with the sky demarcates the pollution that is penetrating every pore of our environment. The snaking cream-coloured lines in the foreground indicate the different paths taken, the journeys that were cut short, the short-sighted policies that taxed the land and fell flat leaving no solutions, the hunting paths, the lack of direction and clear vision. Nevertheless, this painting is not about doom it is about hope. The shock of bright green grass edging the bottom is flecked with yellow from the radiating sun. The sun, high in a cold blue arctic sky, is twice hallowed by a glow of white suggesting reverence for its ability to regenerate life and for us to carry forward together if we build a sustainable and long-sighted path together. Richard James Rivet was born in the remote area of Aklavik in the Northwest Territories of Canada in 1949. His early years were spent growing up in the delta in a Metis family which made their living by trapping, hunting and fishing. Of Metis background, Rivet's Indigenous roots, and his experience in growing up in Canada's North, have been important factors in his development as an artist. Since 1989, Rivet has worked fulltime on his artwork, mainly concentrating in acrylic painting, mixed media and collage on canvas, with some drawing. Influences in his artwork are varied and derive from Shamanistic imagery of ancient peoples the world over (North American Indian, Inuit, Australian Aborigine, Norse, Oceanic, Siberian). Equally influential are Western and contemporary influences from various artists and art movements (such as: Edvard Munch, German Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, Antoni Tapies, and Paterson Ewen...

This particular painting is a play on the form of the Canadian flag, the military history of Canada, the journey implied by the use of the tent, and of course, the primary symbolism of the pyramid. In true Pachter form, he manages to challenge and evoke all these ideas with riveting simplicity. One of Canada’s leading contemporary artists, Charles Pachter is a painter, printmaker, sculptor, designer, historian, and lecturer. His work is pursued by significant private and public collections. Born in Toronto, he studied art history at the University of Toronto, French literature at the Sorbonne, and painting and graphics at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. His work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the McMichael Gallery. He is represented in public and private collections throughout Canada, and internationally. He has held solo exhibitions in France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and India. Pachter worked at Expo 67 in Montreal supervising the installation of 60 contemporary sculptures from around the world. He taught printmaking at the University of Calgary in 1969-70. He spearheaded Toronto’s Queen Street West revival in the 1970s and 80s by restoring 20 old buildings into facilities for arts usage. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier of France’s Order of Arts and Letters, a member of the Order of Ontario, and holds honorary doctorates from Brock University, OCAD University, and the University of Toronto where he is a Senior Fellow at Massey College. He is a recipient of the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals. His images of the queen, moose, and maple leaf flag are icons of Canadian contemporary art. McClelland & Stewart publications include an illustrated book on his life and work, and The Journals of Susanna Moodie, his celebrated collaboration with poet Margaret Atwood. His murals of Hockey Knights in Canada can be seen in Toronto’s College Subway Station. Mr. Pachter lives and works in downtown Toronto in an award-winning studio designed by Canadian architect Stephen Teeple. His work is on permanent display in his adjoining Moose Factory Gallery. From 2004-2014 in summer he painted in The ICE HOUSE...

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Oil paint and acrylic paint on canvas Signed lower right Unique work 1 / Hélène DUCLOS, 2016 – Artist Statement “Questioning the human condition and the position of being alive – W...

Oil and acrylic on canvas Signed lower right Unique work 1 / Hélène DUCLOS, 2016 – Artist Statement “Questioning the human condition and the position of being alive – What is it to...

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