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before ’64 1964-74 1975-87 1987-99 2000-07 paper sculpture

Complete Overview
of the Works
as 5 Periods and 2 Modes

On this page are five introductions to the main periods of Bloore paintings. These introductions link to Period Pages which in turn link to Series Pages. Also here are two overviews of artworks other than paintings: sculpture, mainly just one series in the early seventies, and works on paper series of which occur in almost every period, over a dozen in the eighties alone.

It is easy to get lost among the works pages. At the right side at regular intervals are four arrow links to the page top, next section, previous section and the page bottom. In the navigation bars along the top the page location is highlighted in light yellow lettering. And at the bottom is a map of all the works pages.

As everywhere on the site, the images have borders that light up when hovered over. Works with borders that light up blue are in the estate and for sale, those which light up green are in public collections and the red ones are in private or corporate collections. The prevalence of blue borders in certain categories does not always indicate an abundance in the estate so much as a dearth of usable photographs of works elsewhere.

   

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before '64

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1964-74

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1975-87

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1987-99

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2000-07

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drawings

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sculpture

These thumbnails link down this page.
Direct links to Period Pages are at the top.


   

Before 1964

To the Before ’64 Period Page

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before 58

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1958

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1960

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1961

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1961

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1962

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drawings

Early Days and Regina

Bloore said he painted his first fully non-representational work in the summer of 1958. He had just accepted a teaching position in Regina and he took the new work with him. He had always dreamed of someday becoming an artist and now, suddenly he had. “It was like bursting through the sound barrier,” he said. “Complete freedom. I knew I could paint that way - non-representationally - from that point on.”

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Sign, July 1961, 48x48", 122x122 cm, Oil on masonite, Private Collection, 610200744

Ron, after a childhood of difficulty and discouragement and a youth of difficulty and encouragement, Bloore felt ready to cause a little difficulty of his own. He was like a missionary in the frontier bringing what had rescued him to those who had not yet seen the light.

What followed were four years of extremely fruitful searching for a distinctive approach to painting non-representationally. He experimented with different types of paint and various methods of applying them. This resulted in a great diversity of surface textures and these sculptural features had major ramifications. Bloore produced many successful paintings in a number of successful styles, some of them flat and painterly, others with more relief.

To the Before ’64 Period Page


   

1964-74

To the 1964-74 Period Page

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1964

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1965

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1967

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1969

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1973

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drawings

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sploores

White on White

In 1962 Bloore went on a year-long sabbatical to Greece, Turkey and Egypt. It was an inspiring and productive time, but after seeing Egypt he destroyed everything he had done while there and upon his return to Regina summarily destroyed almost every painting he had done before his trip that he could get his hands on. Those that survived this grand elimination, were those which he now recognized were leading forward. He could continue to paint non-representationally. He now knew exactly what he would paint non-representationally.

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1968, 36 x 48", 91 x 122 cm, Oil on masonite

In 1966 Bloore gave up being a gallery director in Regina and returned to Toronto to teach Art History at York University.

To the 1964-74 page


   

1975-87

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1976

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1982

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1982

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1983

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1986

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inkworks

To the 1975-87 Period Page

Teaching and Talking in Toronto

Two particular effects divide Bloore's paintings into two particular types. They appear throughout most of his career but a shift can be seen from one of these being predominant in 1970 to the other taking completely over by 1979. The major paintings of the early seventies have a field that reads as a surface which supports the built up forms of the composition. By 1979 that field has transformed into a space of vast depth behind three dimensional shapes which seem to possess freedom of movement.

From 1981 to '86 breaking the surface, breaking the rectangle and breaking into three dimensions led Bloore to monumental constructions. From '80 to '86 his spectacular works on paper went into entirely new directions with figure/ground/space relationships. And all this culminated in 1989 - '91 with a run of over thirty very large, very dramatic new works.

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1979, 36 x 48", 91 x 122 cm, Oil on masonite

To the 1975-87 page


   

1987-99

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1988

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1989

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1992

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1998

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1998

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1999

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inkworks

To the 1987-99 Period Page

Synthesis

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1991 No.1 (910010716), 48x48", 122x122 cm, oil on masonite, corporate collection

To the 1987-99 page


   

2000-07

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2002

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2003

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2004

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2005

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2006

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2006

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2007

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2007

To the 2000-07 Period Page

Anti-synthesis

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2007 No.3 (207630328), 48x48" 122x122 cm, oil on masonite, Mackenzie Art Gallery

To the 2000-07 page


   

Drawings

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1960

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1979

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1981

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1982

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1983

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1986

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1994

To the Works On Paper page

Pen and Ink Drawings, Oil Paintings on Paper
and Brushed Ink Works

Rather than simply paint with brushes on canvas in the conventional manner, Bloore chose two supports from older traditions. He worked on paper one way and on panel in very different way. He never made prints (though he did do a few editions of bronze and silver and gold Sploores and once designed a tapestry.)

Working on paper was always, naturally, much more improvisational than panel painting. Drawings were approached with complete seriousness of intent but without preconceived design: the imagery would be developed on the fly. New techniques were tried with the utmost of care and attention but with maximum speed. Speed was the key to bringing out surprises, while focussing on technique could help prevent gesture. Gesture was never permitted because it would imply expression.

Extra Large Ink Work

1985 June 7th (851090607) 29x41" 78x105cm, ink on paper

Works on Paper, undertaken as, and finished as artworks in their own right are given series pages just like the painting are. The first four of the five Major Period pages have sections introducing the drawings of that time. The Works On Paper Mode page provides an overview of them all.

Sketches and unstructured explorations on paper are presented among the Miscellaneous pages. Also, there is an article there about Painted Working Drawings and one about regular Working Drawings, the sketches done as designs for paintings. Images of working drawings, when we have them, will be included in the Catalog entries of the artworks they relate to.

To the Works On Paper page


   

Sculpture

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1960

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1972

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1973

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1985

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1985

← To Win Hedore, To the Sploores Page, and the Monumentals Page

Sploores etc

Bloore went sculptural three separate times three different ways. On one occasion in 1960, he and a couple colleagues made a few casual found object assemblages which for a lark Bloore gave a full exhibition in the MacKenzie Gallery, attributing the works to a fictitious sculptress, Win Hedore. A second time, in 1970, he began idly fiddling with some wooden spoons he had picked up during his travels. This quickly evolved into a surprising sculptural series called Sploores completely unconnected to his work as a painter. The third time Bloore went into the third dimension was for the Monumental Series in the 1980's and this time it was simply a development of his current manner of painting. He experimented with overlapping multiple panels within a single composition which stacked forward off the wall.

Bloore did do some multiples of bronze and silver and gold Sploores and even once an edition of tapestries. The thumbnail in the centre above shows a pendant.

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1971, painted hardwood, 29 x 16 x 8cm, Private collection Toronto

Above: a classic Sploore flanked by a couple of improvised doggies made from window blind mounts.

← To Win Hedore, To the Sploores Page, and the Monumentals Page


THE WORKS
In 5 Periods and 2 Modes

← shows / TOP / texts →

HOME PERIOD PAGES

Before ’64 Early Days
1964 to ’74 White on White
1975 to ’87 Back to Toronto
1987 to ’99 Sythesis
2000 to ’07 Anti-synthesis

MODE OVERVIEWS

Works on Paper
Small Maquettes
Black Works
Works With Colour
Sploore Sculptures

MISCELLANEOUS

Sunday Sketches
1975-76 Sketches
Working Drawings
Oil Working Drawings
SERIES PAGES

’54 TO ’64
pre-’58 abstracts
58-59 enamels
59-60 relief
60-61 signs
61-62 mandalas
62-63 white lines
60-63 others
59-63 drawings

’64 TO ’74
64-66 after Egypt
67-68 murals
67-70 after Regina
70-74 after Cape Dorset
67-74 maquettes
64-68 drawings
70-72 sploores
SERIES PAGES

’75 TO ’87
75-76 byzantine lights
77-80 Sackvilles
79-83 stick relief
83-84 chasubles
80-84 stick chasubles
85-86 assemblages

78-79 Sackvilles on paper
1980 mixed media on paper
80-83 sumi ink on paper
80-81 gouaches on paper
1982 chasuble sketches
85-86 template drawings
1987 paper collages

80-83 small inkworks
80-81 large inkworks
80-83 very large inkworks
80-81 extra large inkworks
SERIES PAGES

’87 TO ’99
87-88 the X's
88-90 grand diptyches
91-93 squares continue
93-94 4-by-4's continue
1994 inkworks on paper
94-97 white white gold
97-98 brushed lines
98-99 News Series I

2000 TO ’07
2000 New Series II
01-02 move to Spadina
2003 back on the horse
2004 late series begin
04-05 back to the square
05-06 an old man's style
06-07 the Yellow Series
2007 the Last Series
TOP