Abstract painting is close to Helen Zenith’s heart. Before opening Newzones Gallery in 1992, of which she is now the director, Zenith was an abstract painter, willing to go to any length to soak up the work of the masters.

“I remember as a student driving during a blizzard to Edmonton to see a Jack Bush show at the museum,” she says. “At this time he was the abstract painter that students looked at and studied.”

Now many years later, Newzones is hosting the works of Jack Bush alongside the work of William Perehudoff, who is one generation further down the line of great Canadian abstract artists.

Perehudoff, now 92 years old, is “the most important living Canadian abstract artist,”according to Zenith, and is perhaps the greatest of Bush’s disciples.

“Although both artists’ paintings are abstract, about, colour, shape and form, the work is different and this will be evident in the show,” Zenith adds.

Jack Bush & William Perehudoff: Modern to Contemporary dovetails neatly with the Glenbow Museum’s own upcoming exhibit, The Optimism of Colour: William Perehudoff, a retrospective, which opens on June 28. But the Newzones exhibit is far more than just a sneak-a-peek. “When we were told of the museum show,” explains Zenith, “We thought we could bring in some of William’s work for collectors, and juxtaposing Jack with William is important to see two generations of Canada’s best abstract painters.”

She points out the Glenbow is also showing the works of younger artists, such as Jonathan Forrest and Marie Lannoo, whom Perehudoff mentors, completing the multi-generational survey of Canadian abstract art.

Not to mention that the selection pools of artwork are also different; while museums can borrow the oeuvres they exhibit, Newzones as a commercial gallery primarily deals with artists’ estates. While Zenith admits that bringing in Bush and Perehudoff paintings can be a challenge in terms of finding paintings to sell, Zenith took particular care in choosing the works to display.

“I spent a day in his [Perehudoff’s] studio in Saskatoon with his daughters and selected larger than usual paintings for our gallery from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s... they are great examples of each decade, are museum-quality to complement the Glenbow, and will show off his virtuosity.”

As for Bush, Zenith says, “What made him great was his colour, his shapes, and the depth of every painting, basically the form. He was a great formal colourist and thus abstractionist.”

And the colour and power of his work has not faded with time.

“If you look at his paintings in 2011, they are fresh as if they were painted yesterday rather than 1950 or 1968 — almost 50 years ago. His colour combinations are very ‘au courant,’ and artists and designers are looking to his canvases for inspiration.”

And so might you. One way or another, Calgary will have a healthy dose of abstract art this summer.