Peter Harris’ work supply a hyper-realistic reflection of recent Canada

To Peter Harris, the center of Canadian magnificence extends previous mountain ranges, rugged coasts, and sprawling prairies – when requested to outline the quintessential Canadian panorama, his thoughts’s eye veers away from acquainted areas like Lake Louise or Peggy’s Cove.

As a substitute, the Ontario-born oil painter attracts inspiration from city settings others might deem mundane or fail to spot altogether.

“I’m an city individual,” Harris informed CTV Information Toronto from a brief studio in Spain Friday. “I really like town. That is what will get me excited.”

His artwork displays that sentiment – his hyper-realistic work depict TTC stations, dimly-lit parking heaps, fuel pumps, native eating places, and absolutely anything a city-dweller might encounter on a each day commute. Very not often do the completed merchandise function any pure lighting, with automotive headlights, neon indicators, or fluorescent overheads guiding the viewer’s eye. 

“The problem is to take one thing actually banal, like an escalator in a subway station, and make it into an attention-grabbing portray,” Harris mentioned.

Escalator to Line 1, 24 x 32″, oil on canvas, 2022, by Peter Harris (peterharris.ca)

The artwork of portray landscapes was handed on to Harris throughout childhood visits along with his grandmother.

“She would arrange the eating room desk together with her watercolor paints and pastels, and I might sit down after faculty and work on little mountain landscapes – not that we might see any mountains, however we labored from photographs in books,” he defined.

In the present day, he nonetheless sees these early periods mirrored in his work.

“I feel [the hyper-realistic urban style] truly does relate again to these early mountain landscapes in a means.”

Night time Imaginative and prescient 10:45, oil on canvas, 30 x 60″, 2006, by Peter Harris (peterharris.ca)

Inside his artwork, Harris works to problem viewers’ concepts of Canada’s magnificence and the way it’s represented. Stretching way back to the nineteenth century, artists like Anne Savage, Emily Carr, and the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson have lengthy dominated that realm with detailed landscapes showcasing forests, rivers, glaciers, and extra.

Harris takes a unique strategy.

“I have been interested by what precisely is the quintessential panorama representing Canada,” he mentioned. “Most individuals stay in cities, [..] and so I simply began considering increasingly more about what a ‘actual’ Canadian panorama is.”

“For me, it’s town, the streets, even suburban parking heaps. That is what I see each day, and so I actually wished to color issues that I noticed in my each day life, however that additionally signify a unique means of viewing the Canadian panorama.”

One of many work Harris holds closest to his coronary heart is of a long-standing culinary establishment in Toronto – Okonomi Home, a small Japanese restaurant tucked away on Charles St. within the coronary heart of downtown.

“It is identical to this unusual little glowing beacon amongst all these excessive rises – It attracts you in, it is simply so evocative.”

Okonomi Home 8pm, oil on canvas, 26 x 36″, 2021, by Peter Harris. (peterharris.ca)

He’s additionally significantly fascinated by liminal areas.

“Numerous my work lives in these form of unusual transitional areas that we discover ourselves in, just like the subway station, an elevator, or an escalator – an area that you just occupy for 30 seconds,” he mentioned. “Areas like these signify a side of impermanence in these landscapes we’re touring by way of on a regular basis, however by no means actually stopped to pause and meditate on.”

Degree 3 (icebergs), 24 x 34, 2017, by Peter Harris (peterharris.ca)

In Harris’ most up-to-date work of the Dufferin TTC station, he inserted a Lawren Harris portray the place an commercial would usually be discovered – a juxtaposition between many Canadian’s each day environment and the landscapes Canada chooses to promote to the world.

“Once more, I wished that concept of those two totally different Canadian landscapes — one being Lawren’s model of it after which this actually trendy model of Canada, my model, which is Dufferin station with its structure, and the tiles, and a little bit of grime in there,” he defined.

“It is form of ironic as a result of right here’s the station — my model of Canada — and there’s what we outwardly promote [Canada to be].”

Harris travelled to Spain, after greater than two years of the pandemic, as a solution to reset and “discover new inspiration.” He says he plans to spend the subsequent couple of months studying new methods and dealing on new initiatives overseas. 

Regardless of the change of surroundings, Harris says his artwork will nonetheless centre all issues city.

“I actually do not know what path [my upcoming projects] will go in, however I can guarantee you that it will be extra city landscapes, subway vehicles, and issues like that.”

Harris’ work may be considered on the Mira Godard Gallery, at 22 Hazelton Ave. in Toronto. 

Streetcar 11:15 pm, oil on canvas, 20 x 36″, 2010, by Peter Harris (peterharris.ca)