Blue Crossing Green, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 55 inches
Diane Farris Gallery is pleased to present “Vivid”, an exhibition of new paintings by Pat Service. Pat Service is a prominent Canadian landscape painter whose work has been featured in exhibits across Canada. In recent years, Service has simplified the concept of landscape to symbolic depictions of isolated landmarks against solid colours. These large-scale canvasses capture a non-specific essence of geography and glow with the technical and stylistic assurance of a mature painter.
Although born in Port Alberni on the lush west coast of Vancouver Island, Service has a strong affinity for the even, effortless landscapes of northern Saskatchewan. As a frequent attendee and instructor at the Emma Lake workshops, she is drawn to the prairie landscape with its possibilities for a reductive approach. Her abstract configurations include bodies of water, cabins, groups of trees, docks and boats. Reminiscent of New Image paintings, they manage to be both minimal and engaging at the same time. Colour fields of thin glazes in brilliant hues provide the primary impact while the small markings conjure easy-going narratives of summer holidays. There is a fine tension between the smooth planes of colour and the more expressive lines of definition between sky, water and foreground.
In the 1960s, Service studied at the Glasgow School of Art and earned a BA at the University of British Columbia. In 1972, after living in Eastern Canada, Scotland and Venezuela, she settled permanently in Vancouver. As well as participating in numerous prestigious artist workshops and residencies across Canada and in New York, she worked alongside other professional artists from Canada, the U.S and Britain yearly for over a decade (1980-1991) in the eminent Emma Lake Artist’s Workshop in Saskatchewan. Pat Service first became well known for her impressionistic prairie landscapes which were inspired by this experience. A survey of her works was presented in a solo exhibition at the Mendel Art Gallery in 1997.
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