Western Canadian Contemporary Fine Art from Vancouver Island
Western Canadian Contemporary Fine Art from Vancouver Island
Caroline Moore, art consultant and ex-gallery owner.
"I am really impressed with Pyx's work and her methods. It's sophisticated as is her understanding of art, nature and life. There is an integrity to her work....not pretentious or created for the sole purpose of marketability, which of course as you know inspires me. She has a range .....draws and sketches incredibly well and is a talented printmaker. The work is warm and has depth inspiring a sense of deep understanding and during these economic times, her palette creates a feeling of hope, embrace and connection to nature".
Nicholas Tuele, Victoria art consultant; former deputy director and chief curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria:
"Roberta Pyx Sutherland's virtuoso use of materials and colour are nothing short of breathtaking, as she makes important work that is at once personal and universal.
"Sutherland's work evokes the beautiful space between the microcosm and macrocosm. A space to which contemplation and meditation provides access.
"I first learned of her distinctive work when we featured her in a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in 1987. Her series of stunning works, entitled "Earth Birthing," was highly resolved, demonstrating her distinctive vocabulary wherein she provides the viewer with timely meditations.
"The series was critically acclaimed, and judging from her vigorous exhibition record and most recent work, she has continued to grow as an artist and guide."
Lance Olsen, artist, art rental and sales director, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria:
"I have known Roberta Pyx since the late '70s and have always been intrigued by her work. I used to love the way she would bury things in the earth and leave the planet to work on them for a while.
"The move to mapping as a way of grasping her thoughts and giving them to us has been very successful, and during this mature period, her own inner glow has inhabited her works. They have taken on a transcendent quality."
Judy Fitzgerald, writer, Gibsons, BC:
"... I often have the feeling of seeing it for the first time. It breathes, it changes, it surprises. It is luminous, multi-layered and meditative. Some days when I look at the piece it illuminates my profound connection to the natural world, and other days it guides me deeper into myself."
Pauline Le Bel, performance artist Bowen Island
"Paul and I continue to appreciate the layers of beauty and meaning in 'anima mundi'."
Artist of The Pearls of Wisdom Tarot Deck
A painting workshop, given by Pyx Sutherland, was life changing for me.
Pyx inspired me...
To paint... from within.
To look... deeply into the painting and
To see... my own inner wisdom shining through.
Pyx's guidance through myth and story helped me, later, to find my way through the symbolism, myth and story of the Tarot.
The Pearls of Wisdom Tarot Deck is a series of 79 paintings, all painted... from within.
Thank you Pyx.
Roxi Sim
King Anderson, Vancouver artist and archivist:
"In Sutherland's paintings a meditative silence, a vulnerability and a stillness allows one to enter and explore visual meaning. Besides reflecting the landscape and the world outside, they are about the reality that lies within human beings. Hers is an art that doesn't stop at the retina, but enters the mind.
"Sutherland works with the power and forces of nature when certain collage materials are left to weather and age outdoors. These are integrated into sensuous colour schemes so that deep abstract and richly textured forms are realized as meaningful.
"The evolution of Sutherland's paintings, as well as her personal journey, have been in response to her travels around the world and to encounters with a wealth of images and ideas. Many points of view contribute to the finished mixed-media paint-scapes: Buddhism, aerial views of the land, the symbology of mapmaking, satellite images of the planet, archetypal symbols out of human history, and subtle depictions of the underlying mystery."This has created much depth, and a realization of the spirit pervading all things everywhere."
Brian Grison, Victoria artist, Historian and Critic:
"Some of the specific and almost secret things that one might see in Roberta Pyx Sutherland's work, such as tiny or faint drawings of natural objects, texts, horizon lines or mapping lines, are visible at only inches from the surface. Other elements, like faint or implied grid systems, or the contours of unknown landmasses, are visible only from more than five feet away.
"She employs materials and techniques that are difficult to identify, and therefore intriguing and mysterious… Almost all her art includes both drawing and painting, as well as collage, printmaking, tearing, creasing, fine realistic rendering, meditative doodling, patterns and randomness, careful design and free association, oil-like opacity and watercolour transparency, smooth flatness and rough bas relief, pristine newness to weathering decay.
"These surfaces suggest art and craft from all history throughout the world; Medieval book decoration, Pompeiian fresco surfaces, Tibetan ceremonial sand drawing, raku ceramics, Zen calligraphy, shimmering Byzantine mosaics, to a few secret ones that she has invented.
"Her art is like the slow, gentle and deep breathing of a patient planet. To read and appreciate her art fully, the viewer might need all the knowledge and wisdom of Earth. Then, finally, holding this consciousness in their eye and mind, the viewer can relax and calm their own breath to the rhythm of the endless pattern of matter and energy that creates the universe."
Review: Roberta Pyx Sutherland's Internal Landscapes
"Pyx's sojourn on the west coast has been both kind and influential to her extensive talents. Her work grows and expands in ways that a true talent is always compelled to do. Using ragged remnants of rich hues, across colored fields, and painterly abstractions with allusions to nature, she expresses her radical sense of space, talks to us about where she fits into the scheme of things and expresses her inner direction.
The need for positive emotion in the world has never been greater than today. Positive emotional force emanates from these recent paintings and can be absorbed directly by the receptive viewer. If you are capable of suspending disbelief you can see aging skin mingled with slabs of rock, earth and sky. Pyx's works could, and hope to spotlight what is pivotal in the evolution of important contemporary art and the current milieu. The thoughtful viewer observes in this art a plethora of visual information and an articulated language of space, color, composition, and painterliness. In a typical work of this period she paints asymmetrical, emotionally intense abstractions that combine several styles and expressions in one picture; hard edge borders, hard edge lines, stacks of brushed smears, on a deep red field or dark layer of weathered material.
The viewer is quickly connected to these works. The theme of rough landscape, the technique of staining, smearing, calligraphy and articulate use of color have been streams of consistent interest in Pyx's work. These paintings create a dialogue resonating with meaning and power which, if nothing else, delve into and illuminate the mysteries of current styles, thought, abstraction, and spirit.
J. Whistler said of William Turner that he "ought not to have painted. He should have written." Pyx's treatment of her media has so much depth of character I want to say please continue to paint! . . . . but perhaps write as well."
- Anne Gilroyed
Executive Director - Nanaimo Art Gallery
