Ian Bateson's Skull & Bones at the Federation of Canadian Artists
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
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| Skull # 8 - Ian Bateson |
Last Thursday I went
to the opening of a show, of digital imagery at the Federation of Canadian
Artists on the corner of Cartwright
Street (where it points to the Granville Island
Hotel) on Granville
Island.
This gallery in the
past has been a showcase of the more conventional medium of oil so its
one-year-at- the job Executive Director, Dutch-born Patrick Meyer is taking a
chance on a show that is all digital work.
Digital art in Vancouver seems to be
less considered than in other places of the world. Perhaps we are simply a
tradition-bound city of conservatives.
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| Skull # 20 - Ian Bateson |
I was at the opening
because this group show included three works by my friend (since 1977) Ian
Bateson. Like many of us who started with magazines (he as an illustrator and
yours truly as a photographer) Bateson has had to pivot quickly on one foot to
change courses as the industry changed. From being a stupendous editorial
illustrator he did comic book work, books for Douglas & McIntyre that were
beautiful textbooks on different cultures around the world and within Canada as his book on the Athabasca.
From designing books Bateson launched himself into a design cooperative called
Baseline and only recently was it dissolved. Now Bateson has his own design
firm, some of which specialized on things NDP, school boards and unions.
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| Skull # 1 - Ian Bateson |
The work that Bateson
has at the Federation of Canadian Artists is a real eye-opener as the only
information given (as it is with most of the works on display) is digital
print. I do know that Bateson’s pieces begin as photographs taken with his
iPad. He has taken pictures of skulls in various museums around the world, Venice, NY City, Alaska. Then using a
technique pioneered by British artist David Hockney (the app that Bateson uses
is called Procreate) he devolves and adapts to his own purposes.
What is particularly
interesting about Bateson’s adoption of the digital image is that from the first
time that I met him back in 1978 he was a brilliant illustrator particularly
one using minuscule and plentiful black dots. He was also adept with the air
brush. But I do remember that both he and Chris Dahl were early adopters of the
Mac when it first came out. Both mastered the first version of Photoshop when
it was introduced.
Bateson has told me
that he paints and draws still (and now) but at the moment he is taking this
digital technique forward and perhaps with the Federation Artists there will be
a new two-way avenue of art that is still misunderstood in our city.
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| Ian Bateson |
