Tribute in Calgary, 2011

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A Retrospective Tribute

Thumbnails of the works in the show are arranged here in chronological order. They link down the page to larger images. Artworks that light up red have been sold.

The Remarkable and the Everyday

This show was the Wallace Galleries' tribute to Bloore's fifty years of painting. And this web page is a tribute to the show, but it is also a tribute to the gallery itself. It is a unique and remarkable place.

Glancing in from the sidewalk, which is almost impossible to not do, you are struck by an incompleteness of separation. The artworks on their various partitions within do not feel set apart from you but rather in the same place as you. Some of the works are in fact only visible from outside.

Inside there is an incredible mix of light and space, a constantly changing and surprising, yet always comfortable series of nodes all connecting to one another every which way, and all under a high, high black ceiling that belies enclosure.

The magic of the place is in the partitions, offering up walls without closing off rooms. Every step reveals new walkways and each new opening affords glimpses of other walls: soon to be seen works and already seen works from new vantages. And every wall is washed in a different colour and a different amount of light due to its unique relation to the expansive windows and the varying light of the day. Few paintings are as responsive, as appreciative, of changing lighting as white-on-white Bloores.

“Ideally, the paintings would be outside and you wouldn't even notice them.” *

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Three works were only visible from outside and they all sold - two at the side and one by the entrance.

2003, June 5-30, oil on masonite
122 x 75cm (sold)

1986, July 30, ink on paper
55 x 76cm (sold)

This page, like the show it commemorates, is a rambling jumble: show shots and work shots in no particular order, with no consistency of scale. Fortunately the exhibition photos show the relative sizes fairly well and also the pleasantness that can come from disorder.

The image to the left, which has a border that lights up red because the painting was sold, is linked to a higher resolution photo. Generally on this page, however, the linked photos are not very large (not as large, say, as this one). The image above is, sadly, the only one we have of this piece, so it is linked to our gallery of contemporary inkworks.

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The ceiling is mysteriously dark and vanishingly, almost religiously high.

1995, Feb. 4-?, oil on masonite
122 x 122cm (sold)

Clicking either of these images will bring up a larger reproduction in a new window which can be zoomed into to some benefit in the case of the 1995 painting, and pretty much to no avail in the case of the 1978 one, the details of which really have to be explored directly.

1978, Oct. 20, oil on masonite
122 x 122cm

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The gallery is at 4th St. SW and 5th Ave. and you can see the stoplights changing from inside.

1969, oil on masonite, 12 x 18cm (sold)

For the 2016 Bloore exhibition here a few of the partitions were painted gray which really set off the white paintings beautifully.

(right)
1969, oil on masonite, 51 x 34cm (sold)

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Inside there is an incredible mix of light and space, constantly changing and surprising.

1969, oil on masonite, 31 x 61cm

1997, May 5-?, oil on masonite
Brushed Line #18, 61 x 61cm

1997, May 26-?, oil on masonite, Brushed Line #21, 122 x 122cm

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Each space affords glimpses of other walls: already seen works or soon to be seen others.

1982, August 18, sumi ink on paper, 36 x 51cm (sold)

1983, March 20, oil on masonite, 122 x 183cm (sold)

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Every wall is washed in a different amount and different colour of light.

2004, March 5-25, oil on masonite, 122 x 81cm
Dark Chocolate Series No.12

2004, Jan. 18-23, oil on masonite, 122 x 81cm
Dark Chocolate Series No.7

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The many partitions offer up walls without closing off rooms.

1965, oil on masonite, 61 x 91cm (sold)

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Late experiments with surface recession next to early experiments with projecting surfaces.

2003, June 21-?, oil on masonite, 91 x 61cm

2003, July 5-16, oil on masonite, 91 x 61cm (sold)

1984, August 30, oil on masonite, 35 x 36cm
Monumental Maquette

1985, oil on masonite, 46 x 61cm
Monumental Maquette

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Glancing in from the sidewalk is almost impossible to not do.

1982, October, oil on masonite, 141 x 122cm (sold)

1983, June 20, oil on masonite, 122 x 153cm (sold)

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Subtle tones and textures in 1983 and dramatic experiments of format in 1985.

1982, oil on masonite, 44 x 87cm

1982, oil on masonite, 29 x 58cm

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Works from 70’s hang behind one from the 90’s which leads to one from the 60’s...

1992, July 1-23, oil on masonite
122 x 122cm (sold)

Float frames, those which do not encroach onto the painted surface at the edges, were used by Bloore for many small works in the sixties and seventies. And he switched to using only gold- or silver-leaf floats for all his framing during 2003.

Exhibition frames have since early days often been replaced with floats, usually gold-leaf, by purchasers and the estate does this with most old pieces now. The painting to the right has had its original float replaced.