Abstract painter, Nathan Athay, formally invites you all to his exhibition opening on April 1st. The show will take place at the new Extempore Studio/Gallery at 141 Spadina Ave (at Richmond). This solo event consists mostly of large abstract works as well as some of the Nathan’s new personal explorations. This will be a surprise. The opening starts at 5pm until 11pm next Thursday, “and it would be great if you all could make it. There will be plenty of free adult refreshments as well”, says Nathan. “So please come in, say hi and enjoy yourselves!”
In the following text Nathan shares a significant part of his career as painter:
“I have been painting off and on for 15 years. I started in Barrie, Ontario in 1995/1996 when I had a small live-in studio, and I was doing mostly portraits and landscapes. And it wasn’t until a year or two later when I discovered Postwar American art. A friend of mine gave me the book “Jackson Pollock: An American Saga”. After having read it I was hooked! I wanted to read more about all the artists of that era like Franz Kline, Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko etc.
Those artists really inspired me, and I noticed that my painting style was starting to flow a little more loosely, and that the sizes of my canvases were getting larger. Yet, a lot of people have told me that they can tell my paintings apart from a lot of other abstract or colour field painters by the shapes and colours I use. I have always liked the unbleached titanium, black and red colours that Asian artists generally use, because I find it very comforting and appealing. I do branch out from time to time, but you will see a lot of Asian influence in my work especially in this show on April 1st.
I have shown in London Ontario, Detroit and here in Toronto, but this is my first “official” showing in over 8 years. I’m looking forward to it and I hope the public will like what they see.”
