Mercurio Artist
Myles Lowry:
Miles Lowry is one of a small group of artists influenced by the practice and teaching of Chinese born, Calgary based artist Lin Chien-Shih whose style is a confluence of Eastern calligraphic brush painting and a form of Divisionism, a theoretical framework championed by the Neo-impressionists also evident in much of the work of Jack Wise. Each stroke of the brush deposits pure colour intended to vibrate against the colours laid down immediately next to it. Lowry has added to this technique by spraying translucent pigment held in thin layers of beeswax - to create an opulent, hazy depth to his painting that draws the eye beneath the surface.
Lowry has been exhibiting paintings and sculptures since 1981. His exhibitions, Two Tribes, Rites and Passages and his ongoing series of cast fibre figures Crucial Fragments, have established him as one of Western Canada's most versatile contemporary artists. He has also been designing for theatre, dance, and film in Victoria, and for several years has been exploring his painting techniques at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Ireland.
There are those who believe a portrait steals the soul by capturing one¹s image at a particular moment. The first photographs taken of a new tribe offer a window to this mystery. Sacred paintings illumine flashes of otherness. Sixteenth century Holbein portraits exude the confidence and grace of the classes. Egyptian funeral portraits on papyrus or wood maintain a clear-eyed vision of the dried skins they once covered. The close-up framing of the face, long before cinema, established the idea of the intimate icon- the saint, the hallowed visage.
My Saints of Circumstance are glimpses of face-to-face encounters with friends and strangers transformed through the act of capturing their form. To create these portraits I first draw with pencils on translucent mulberry paper - chasing the resemblance that a photograph gives. Then through a process of spraying and brushing colors a familiar face emerges, an ecstatic moment, a brief attitude. I crush and distress the paper while continuing to paint and the resulting works reveal various personas materializing through intersections of drawing, painting and chance.
- Miles Lowry
| Rimbaud 10"x 8" | Fionn 12"x 9" | Song 12"x 9" |
The Work:
These portraits are at once haunted and crackling with energy, evoking spiritualist "ghost" prints, Kirlian photography, casual snapshots and religious icons. To quote Robert Amos (about previous Lowry work): "somewhere between mug shots & Tarot cards...." The depictions of persons known & unknown to the artist present the potential of every person to exhibit the marks of grace, however fleetingly.
The paintings are highly textural. They are are informed and directed by the material they are painted on: mulberry paper, folded, distressed, crushed and flattened again, creating a surface veinous and topographical, which guides the strokes of the brush almost automatically. They are gauzy, deep and opulent. Layers of rich, translucent colour, and vivid, articulate brushwork draw the eye into and beneath their surface.
Lowry is one of a small group of artists strongly influenced by the practice and teaching of Lin Chien-Shih. This is a confluence of Eastern calligraphic brush painting and a descendant form of Divisionism, a theoretical framework championed by Seurat and other Neo-impressionists, also evident in much of the work of Jack Wise. Each stroke of the brush deposits pure colour intended to vibrate against the colours laid down immediately next to it. A powerful optical effect is thusgenerated, as the eye finds a balance between the hues presented in this fashion. Though rooted firmly in the physical, this practice tendstoward a profound metaphysical aspect.
- Andy Graffiti
The Artist:
Miles Lowry has been exhibiting paintings and sculptures since 1981. His exhibitions, Two Tribes, Rites and Passages and his ongoing series of cast fibre figures Crucial Fragments, have established him as one of Western Canad'¹s most original contemporary artists. After receiving the Peoples Choice Award at ARTROPOLIS in Vancouver BC, his work received national coverage on CBC Television. He has for several years been creating a collection of paintings Breathing Spaces at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Ireland where he has been exploring his painting techniques.
As a multi media artist he has created OPIUM, inspired by Jean Cocteau, and the dance film AISLING We Saw a Vision - based on Irish poet Liam Mac Uistin's poem.
His 2008 book Blood Orange is based on the life of writer Paul Bowles.
Lowry has also created designs for COURTYARD FOR A BIRD (Suddenly Dance Theatre); THE MAGIC FLUTE (Pacific Opera Victoria); and AGNES B.(The Belfry Theatre's SPARK! Festival 2010).
He is a Founding Artistic Co-Director for Suddenly Dance Theatre in Victoria. His second Bravo!FACT short GUTHRIE SWIMS THE LAKE, will premiere on Canadian Television in 2010.