Since my childhood in Ottawa, I often admired the many acrylic paintings by Alex Janvier hung in the Canadian Galleries at the National Gallery of Canada, as well as his colourful, awe-inspiring 137-square-meter ceiling mural entitled Morning Star at the Museum of Civilization in Hull. Janvier’s impressive contribution and influence on the contemporary art scene in Canada for the past 40 years makes him a true living legend of Canadian art history. The artist’s signature style of calculated, sinewy and vividly colourful lines on a white or neutral background seems as fresh an idea today as it was when I first experienced it several years ago. It is because of this timelessness associated with Janvier’s art, as well as his relentless passion in defending the rights of First Nations people, that makes him the ideal choice as the leader of the pack for this year’s politically charged Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art.
The fact that Janvier’s survey exhibition spans the entire three floors (excluding the downstairs media room) of the Art Gallery of Calgary (AGC) is an indication of this painter’s importance. Visitors to the AGC are greeted in the main gallery by a brightly painted turquoise wall with a large rectangular painting by Janvier that showcases his signature style (developed as a third-year art student at ACAD in the ’60s) in all its stunning glory. Surrounding this central work is what seems like an endless variety of paintings that were composed following the same artistic guidelines.
Janvier’s “delicate line,” a term coined by Duke Redbird and used to illustrate the artist’s painting style, can evoke slippery tendrils or crawling vines, depending on the feeling and colour palette of each piece. These lines often seem to originate from a central cluster of forms, like those of a spider web. By limiting his creative repertoire over the years, Janvier has produced a body of work so consistent that it heightens the viewer’s reading of the most subtle shifts and differences between each painting. Surprisingly, every work offers a new visual experience, and every work is as unique as the one that came before it.
For example, English Bay West, painted in 1980 on a round canvas, has a very different allure than its neighbouring works. The illusion of movement is so powerful in this painting as its five wispy, curvilinear tentacles originating from a central source seem to make the work sway precariously back and forth.
Another stunner is the painting entitled Ma’zeyas #18 from the Trapper Family Series, located in the top north gallery. Painted in 1993 on an unprimed beige canvas, Janvier’s line evolved into something less wispy and more solid. Here the shapes are flatter, the lines are thicker and the glowing tones of oranges and blues seem to float a few centimetres off the neutral background.
When viewing a great painting such as this one, it becomes apparent that Janvier understood colour in all its complexity and had a very steady hand. However, due to an illness that has robbed him of his steadiness, Janvier has been unable to paint in his celebrated signature style. This unfortunate circumstance has forced the artist to find new ways to express himself with his brush. He has experimented with various techniques, including dripping paint from the top of a ladder to a canvas on the floor à la Jackson Pollock, and is now working with oil paint to create much more figurative works. He has recently found inspiration in the vegetation that grows untouched on the land of the Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range near his home in Cold Lake, Alberta. Seven small works from this series are also on view at the AGC, including Muskeg Rug from 2005, a painting that echoes the vitality through line and colour of Janvier’s earlier works.
Janvier, of Dene descent, had a troubled and torn youth and was forced to attend a residential school. He has fought the government for Native rights throughout his life, but he’s still proud to be called Canadian. “We’re a lucky bunch of people, us Canadians, but we sometimes don’t know it. There’s much to be appreciated here,” he says. Canada appreciates him as well: Janvier will be receiving the highest national honour, the Order of Canada, this October.
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