Lot 41
Thomas Sherlock Hodgson, RCA (1924-2006), Canadian
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario
Note:
“For me, process is more important than content,” Tom Hodgson has said. “In fact, the process of painting is the subject of the painting.” A long career of experimental and varied practice produced a body of work that ranged from drawing to collage, figuration to landscape. Most evocative was his expressionist painting, utilising bold gestures done in bright palettes to push the limits between material and form. A founding member of Painters 11 in the 1950s, Hodgson continued to experiment with painting into the 1990s. “Untitled” is emblematic of the artist’s late career, presenting a quietly emphatic approach to his expressionism. The canvas is dominated by a mauve field, ingrained with tarnished artefacts of blue and brown. Oranges and yellows sizzle from the top corner like a grindhouse film burn. Wide brushstrokes and drags of pigment sweep across the canvas, emphasizing the surface of the work and registering the mark of the artist’s hand.