Abstracting Colour Photography At The Ferry Building Gallery
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
I first met Ian Bateson as an editorial
illustrator in 1977 at a Vancouver Magazine end-of-the-month contributor’s get-together
(we called them piss-ups) where food consisted of chips and the drink Portuguese
vinho verde and cheap beer.
Our friendship progressed and Bateson
became a graphic designer for a one-of-a-kind Baseline Type & Graphics
Cooperative.
Through the years we discussed often the
change in the magazines, newspapers and the diminishing needs for editorial
photographers and graphic designers. We spoke of the need of re-defining what we did.
The Bateson I chatted with last night at
the opening of Abstracting Colour Photography at the Ferry
Building in West Vancouver was Bateson the artist.
The show, a beautiful show not featuring unintelligible
installation/conceptual art that is so frequent a downer for me in local
exhibitions, had work that was happy in colour, demanding enough that I had to
look at the work several times and inspiring enough that I just might attempt
to photograph peeling paint (and not after waiting for it to dry) like North
Shore News photographer (and artist) Mike Wakefield whose large inkjets were
sharp and most handsome. Wakefield a happy newspaper photographer for the North Shore News since the mid 80s in my short chat with him did not reveal any of those I-make-the-motions-until-I-retire syndrome but was excited about that art side of his profession.
Kelly Selden’s abstract photographs taken
with a low resolution digital camera intrigued me as they were somehow “printed
or etched” on metal. I am now inspired to call her up to enquire to see if her
method can be adapted to my portraits.
 |
| Ian Bateson |
Bateson’s work is work of a consummate man,
who draws, and paints, and air brushes, who eschewed all that to work on an
iPad using an app or method called brushes and Procreate. His work begins as
low resolution photographs. The theme of his work was Vancouver. It was a Vancouver I had not seen.
Again, any work that inspires me to emulate,
rip off, copy has to be work that fulfills what art is supposed to be. It
challenges us into activity.
Should I live longer (I am 71) I wonder
what Bateson’s next incarnation will be. Perhaps I need not wonder. The
beginning artist (or the artist that hid that talent for so many years) will
probably become the consummate artist some of us suspected he always was.
The show will be on until March 9. There
will be a meet-the-artists this Saturday, March 1 from 2 to 3 pm
Ferry Building Gallery
1414 Argyle Avenue
West
Vancouver, 604-925-7290
