Lot 28
JACK LEONARD SHADBOLT, R.C.A.
Additional Images
Provenance:
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver
Private Collection, Vancouver
Literature:
Scott Watson, Jack Shadbolt, Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver & Toronto, 1990. p 204.
Note:
For Shadbolt, structure is what emerges from a fusion of matter and memory: “What I am thinking of is a form which would seem to indicate the very live organic process, not imposed from the outside by the artist through stylization but in which nature itself seems to be yearning to reveal itself as reaching from an inchoate state toward a declaration of abstract structure.”
Here, smattered red amoebas are scattered across a purple field, separated by narrow vertical striped elements - we can think of dappled sunlight through a dawn forest, or leaves shaken free from the first frost. Below, a patchwork of greens, browns, and reds seems to suggest a vegetative floor or tangled deadfall. By offering a subtle twist to the landscape tradition, Shadbolt depicts visualizations of the vital, irrational forces and primeval turbulences that construct the natural world.