Christine Reimer emerges anew with Transition - Visceral Landscapes this month.
The Saanich artist, well-known for her vibrant landscapes, effectively locked herself away in the studio to start 2014.
“There were weeks I couldn’t do anything except think about what I was painting,” she said. “It was very cathartic.”
There she slipped out of her three decades of stunning acrylic-on-canvas paintings capturing the rugged energy of B.C. and Alberta. She layered and layered and layered acrylic, then scratched away before adding acrylic again until a full collection presented itself.
“These pieces, they reference back to landscape and nature, but they’re quite abstract,” she said. “I’ve wanted to do this for some time. It’s a way to change by looking at things a little differently. You have to keep changing.”
The 35 works set to display in Saanich this month are thoughtful, with aspects of the artist looking at life, death, truth and beauty.
She knows it’s a bit of a departure and it will be “interesting to see how people react” to the abstracts.
“They’re interpretive,” Reimer said. “When I started I didn’t know what they would end up being. They’re very much an exploration. I’d like people to interpret. I want them to respond in a visceral manner.”
Thus the title Transition - Visceral Landscapes on display this month at the Arts Centre at Cedar Hill, 3220 Cedar Hill Rd. from May 15 to 27.
As a well-established artist, the dramatic shift in subject matter and technique is a risk, but one worth taking.
“I don’t think it’s art unless your just doing it because you have to do it, it’s something that needs to be expressed,” she said. “I don’t know if I’ll sell any paintings and that’s okay. Because I’ve learned an enormous amount … even if I go back to landscape painting tomorrow, I have changed.”
Visit christinereimer.ca for more on this artist.
reporter@saanichnews.com