Exhibition of oil paintings by Canadian artist Yehouda Chaki.
Chaki shares with us his discovery of the Toba River valley, a remote and pristine wilderness that was new to him, but one that is very much part of the quintessential Canadian panorama. In British Columbia, the Toba River originates in the Coast Mountains and flows generally southwest from Toba Glacier to the head of Toba Inlet.
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"For nearly twenty years the Odon Wagner Gallery has worked together with Chaki to bring collectors of fine art the pleasure and excitement of viewing and acquiring works by this unique Canadian artist. With this most recent series of paintings, Chaki shares with us his discovery of a remote and pristine wilderness that was new to him, and possibly is to many of us, but one that is very much part of the quintessential Canadian panorama.
Chaki is a painter of landscapes, yet he frees his work from the confines of rendering exacting forms and minutiae of the real world. His world is one of dreamlike impressions and memories. The artist's colossal mountains, serrated trees and turbulent waters are borne of a dynamic brush that uses colour as its primary language in constructing a surreal vision. Whether a single block or a chain of giant rocks is painted blue, ochre, orange or green, our sense of awe at the untamed majesty of Chaki's moutainous landscape is heightened beyond pure representational limits.
This is after all one of the principal purposes and roles of expressive colour in art. Our ordinary perceptions and sober wisdoms are transplanted by the painter's innate sensibility and burning passion to unveil a condition of time and place we are otherwise unable to envision. It is this unique vision that Chaki again so ably permits us to see and feel through his Toba River paintings. We invite you to join us in experiencing this enriching moment."
Rafael Wagner
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"Yehouda Chaki was born in Athens in 1938, lived in Tel Aviv from 1945 until 1960, and then emigrated to Montreal, Canada in 1962.From 1967 until 1989, Chaki was head of Painting and Drawing, Department of Fine Arts, at the Saidye Bronfman Centre.Presently, he still acts as an artistic advisor for the centre.
Chaki was educated both in Tel Aviv and at the École des Beaux Arts, Paris.He began exhibiting in group exhibitions in 1959, and solo exhibitions in 1962.Chaki is represented in collections around the world, and the subject of "Chaki: A Language of Passion", published by Buschlen Mowatt Fine Arts, Vancouver, 1994.
The essence of Chaki's work has been described as a collision of the outside world with the artist's innermost visceral perceptions.His most recent work: landscapes and still-life's, are created by selecting and assembling commonly known elements of nature so as to present us with a newly ordered vision of the world.Although no element in his artworks can be traced to actual places and plants, he presents us with a believable reality that is entirely of his own making.The essence of the painting is to be found in their execution.Shapes are defined by forceful lines or clashes of colour, distance is conveyed by subtle shadings contrasting with brutal overlaps, light and mood proceed from chromatic interplays laced with telling brushwork.
Emotion and reason coexist and complement each other in these works.Reason being the product of Chaki's extraordinary drawing skill, emotion guiding his sense of colour.When read in depth, a landscape done by Chaki leaves us with substantial intellectual pleasure and vast emotional enrichment."
Excerpts from "Introduction", "Chaki: A Language of Passion", by Leo Rosshandler, IAAC.
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