Additional Images

Provenance:

Private Collection, Toronto
Private Corporate Collection, Toronto
Bau-Xi Gallery Ltd., Vancouver

Note:

Though completed in 1984, this painting by Toronto-based painter Chris Temple feels timeless, instantly recognizable for visitors and citizens of Toronto alike. Situated on Front Street, the facades of this particular stretch have not been radically altered since their construction, and impart a charmingly historical feel to the painting. Temple’s interest in the urban landscape has remained a preoccupation. Citing Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Hopper as inspirations, Temple “encourages the viewer to look at their urban environments in new ways, to approach the familiar as if it were unknown, and to discover that the extraordinary exists within the common world.”

Temple made this work early in his career, at the age of 27, making this a wonderful opportunity to collect early work by an artist whose work is featured in prominent collections of institutions such as the Art Gallery of Mississauga, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Price Waterhouse Toronto, the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, and the Canada Council Art Bank.