Artist Lori Goldberg. – Photo by Jocelyn Halle
When renowned Vancouver artist Lori Goldberg thought about her new exhibition, a part of her painting series around travel, she decided that her next journey would take place in very familiar territory: her own garden. From June 13 to July 7 at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery in Vancouver, Into the Garden invites viewers to step into Goldberg’s personal garden and travel through her poetic paintings.
For her new painting series Travelogue, Goldberg decided to focus on her observations on the road, using her various travels as a source of inspiration.
“Travelling challenges my creative sensibilities, develops my awareness and connections to the world around me. I am inspired by the unexpected experiences that occur in the field,” she says.
But for her new exhibition, the field that she selected to create that narrative of experiences happened to be a familiar place that could have easily been overlooked: her own Vancouver urban garden.
“There’s a saying among artists – you don’t have to go far,” Goldberg says. “So I took it literally and decided that my garden would be my departure place, the entrance into a new journey.”
Spring Anew by Lori Goldberg – Painting by Lori Goldberg
To bring us on a journey through her garden, Goldberg spent countless hours in her new outdoor studio watching and observing everything around her, from a flashing hummingbird to the slow evolution of a blossoming plant in the spring. The artist immersed herself fully in the surrounding environment, painting “from within nature” and engaging of all her senses, much like New York painter Arshil Gorky used to.
“Not just seeing, but watching what goes on, what I hear, but also what’s happening inside of me. There are different layers,” she says.
The artist loads her brush with vivid colours and manages to paint fleeting moments, making them blossom in our minds. According to Goldberg, the subjects of her paintings are always things that only exist for a moment.
“It’s about the flower, about the wind on the leaves, about the dog barking,” Goldberg says. “I paint what’s going around and do not make judgments,”
To create this combination of movement and stillness, the artist reinvents traditional approaches and employs new tools and techniques. Her paintings feature random mathematical shapes made by spinning tops and spirographs, newfound tools that she uses on her canvasses.
“I can get very self-focused and self-serious when I work, but I want to stay young at heart. So I found that children’s toys can make great tools!” Goldberg says.
This bold artistic statement makes her body of work more accessible to all viewers. Goldberg, who wants to get rid of her “painter’s painter” label, took up the challenge to reach a wider audience and take more travellers on her poetic journeys.
More than a painter, the active mother of two also contributes to the community through her work as an art facilitator, teaching art at the Emily Carr University for Art and Design and organizing workshops in Vancouver and across the world. Through art, the painter brings people into her city, into her community and into her garden.
Her next project will be Through the Garden, a continuation of her travel series. Several workshops are also on her agenda, involving walks in the woods of British Columbia and travels to Italy.
To see Goldberg’s art and accompany her on a fantastic journey within the boundaries of her wild garden, visit the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery between June 13 and July 7 for a delight of the senses.
Into the Garden
Paintings by Lori Goldberg
Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery
Free admission
June 13–July 7
http://www.jccgv.com
