Gary Aylward - 2005

Apostrophe to the Ocean (at 2260 Oak Bay Ave.)
PREVEIW: Saturday, July 9, 2005 10:00 am - 5:30 pm (work subject to prior sale) OPENING RECEPTION: Sunday, July 10, 2005 1:00 - 5:00 pm.Exhibition continues until July 30, 2005. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean - roll! Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain; Man marks the earth with ruin - his control Stops with the shore - upon the watery plain The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain A shadow of man's ravage, save his own, When, for a moment, like a drop of rain, He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan; Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown. - Lord Byron. Gary Aylward has spent much of the last thirty years travelling and painting the Canadian landscape. Originally from Hamilton, he now makes Vancouver Island his home where he has access to much of the content that has inspired his work during the past decade. Early training took the form of degree studies in Art at Sheridan College, McMaster University, and University of Toronto. Since his formal training, Gary has searched and broadened the subjects and techniques of his repertoire. Initially, most works dealt with architectural themes, but soon grew to include still life, figures, and pure landscapes. Since his arrival to British Columbia in 1990, Gary has found inspiration in the spectacular coastal and mountain regions of the western provinces. Often a seemingly mundane and unremarkable tree or rock, captured at the right time of day or year, becomes an inspiring artistic connection for the artist and viewer. These subtle qualities, coupled with powerful design and editing, create for the artist the aesthetic connection needed to commit to a major work of art. Although representational in style, the works rely heavily on the underlying abstractions of light, shape and texture found in nature. This is the foundation for all Gary's paintings, and perhaps is at the root of their conscious and subconscious appeal. The pursuit of a suitable painting technique and medium has taken Gary from watercolour during the 70's to glazed oil paint in the present. While both techniques make use of thin transparent layers of paint, glazed oil demands far more time and results in a greater degree of depth and brilliance upon drying. Each thin layer of paint is repeatedly applied until the desired effect is achieved. This technique, coupled with modern fast drying alkyd oil paint provides the artist with the best non yellowing paint surface available today. While some artists limit themselves when using glazing techniques to very controlled and regularized brush strokes, Gary employs more spontaneous effects such as splattering, scratching, wiping, heavy impasto, under painting and over painting. Each subject dictates its own technical construction before and during the actual painting; this results in an individual look to each new work. Major influences upon style and technique can be traced to the classical works of the Renaissance and Baroque period as well as modern painters such as Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper, Christopher Pratt and others. Gary's work has been well received by art patrons and is represented in corporate and private international collections in London, Hong Kong, Philadelphia, Toronto, Ottawa, Victoria and Vancouver