Art Articles & Reviews

Regina artist, Wilf Perreault picks a gem out of the Queen City with his latest show at the Douglas Udell Gallery in Edmonton, entitled "Two Paths". Back Alley scenes never seemed so romantic, as the spring thaw creates twinned ribbons of iridescent waterways that cut through the snow. One painting shows the taillights of a police cruiser in the alley, as it straddles the water filled ruts and heads into the sunset. This subtle observance of the social times in the city is rare for Perreault to comment on. Previous back alley paintings tended to be lovingly familiar, of bright spring days, with crisp lighting, sparkling snow and a concentration on the out of site alley distractions. Neighbourhood Watch Customarily, we have come to expect the real forensic of an urban culture to be buried in the landfill, but he has shown us it is actually just out of view of our own backyards. In past pieces he has edited these alley scenes, not always thought of as picturesque, for the sake of design, texture and a pleasing remembrance. Yes, this latest series has all the elements we typically expect to see from a Perreault painting. "Evening Calm" is a classic behind the scenes portrait. ( Similar image - Home Time) The garbage can stands separate the garages, the power poles diminish into the center space, silhouetted trees scratch the sky and fences jump, dip and jut back and forth as they separate the garages while trying to stay close to the roadway.

An effective complementary palette of orange skies and cobalt blue snowy foregrounds garner remembrances of the end of a prairie winter in the city. But I sense there's more. The vigorous pathways of this image triangulate their way from the foreground cutting the alley into two slices. These two converging paths were conceived - fooling the eye with a mirror image that widens the viewer's spatial perception; yet it collides in the inner space at the heart of what is normally a claustrophobic pathway. A few other paintings depict a third row of houses in the middle of the canvas bordered by a back alley on both sides. A whole New World has been opened up. I asked myself, was it his intention for us to take a look at a growing social dilemma in our own back yards? This latest nocturnal series glazes over a storybook wonderment of a changing urban prairie, in social flux. The residences are ageless and are from a simpler time; where you knew and looked out for your neighbors, you worked a 44hour week and you could leave your door unlocked.

As I walk these back allies I can hear the dogs bark and the smell of someone's supper mixes with kids being called in by their parents. The golden warmth emanating from the windows welcome you from house to house as you proceed down the way. These alleys are safe to walk, except for the occasional loose dog that rushes the fence as you walk by. In another work entitled, "Horseshoe Bay" you are transported as if in the final decent from Peter Pan over a sleepy ring of houses, all snow capped and uniformly placed along the crescent forming an arch. As the viewer is lead in and out of the space from the bottom of the canvas, the trees nestle in and around the homes and feather off against a Prussian sky, awakened with sparkles of fairy dust.

This dream like quality places this latest work into that magic space where the viewer wants to live on that street. He has touched the viewer's subconscious, as the image personifies our basic underlying hopes and dreams for our future as a society. We live harmoniously side by side with the fronts of our homes manicured and visible, yet we all have our own back alleys to contend with. Perreault's image hunting ground, the back alley, has grown up - becoming his refuge and universal stage. This is an artist's utopia, where different thoughts and reactions can be conceived - reusing a known subject, yet not be boring or compromise past works.

Wilf Perreault has hit all the buttons. He has painted what he wanted to paint, made his statement, yet subtle; and pleased his audience and gallery with consistent sell out shows.

More of Wilf Perreault's work may be scene at Nouveau Gallery or online at http://www.nouveaugallery.com