Gazing out on the open ocean is a common pastime for those lost in thought or contemplating the ways of the world, a feeling that Peter Gynd Medley has tried to capture in a series of paintings to be shown in Powell River.
The Malaspina Art Society will be hosting a show of seascapes by Medley at Vancouver Island University starting on Thursday, September 8 and running through to Friday, September 30.
The paintings have been Medley’s focus for the past two and a half years. Inspired partly by time visiting his mother, local artist Ursula Medley, who is curating this show, in Lang Bay and partly from camping on beaches in Hawaii, Medley said that he has been heavily influenced by the act of gazing out over the horizon of the sea.
“It’s just a powerful thing, the ocean. I found that the horizon line becomes a contemplative place,” he said.
The paintings began as a series of sketches and notes that Medley eventually started translating to a variety of sizes of canvases, ranging from four by six inches to five by five feet. Many of the seascapes use darker colour schemes and invoke images of the sea in stormy weather or in colder seasons. Rather than aiming for a morose emotional reaction, however, Medley sees the works as asking for reflection and contemplation on the part of the observer. The images are often more abstract than literal, capturing the feeling invoked by the sea more than a detail-focused representation.
Medley hopes that people looking at the paintings enjoy them in a layered process. Initially he expects someone to see the painting as a representation of a seascape but then to absorb more from the piece the longer a person looks at it. In the end Medley sees the viewers own memories and relationship to the contemplative nature of the sea as coming to shape their relationship with the work.
“I’d like them to see the works as metaphors for their own thoughts and any blank spaces on the horizon line should be seen as somewhere that’s for them to incorporate themselves into the work,” said Medley. “I think it’s important that it’s known that they’re based on feelings rather then literal or actual places.”
Medley relocated to Brooklyn, New York this past February more on a whim than any tangible plan. He visited the city the prior November and “fell in love with the place.” Following a feeling that he was meant to move there, Medley packed up his life in Vancouver and made the change. He said that so far the move is working out well and the change of setting has been refreshing.
“It’s kind of amazing what the universe conspires to make happen when you chase after something,” said Medley.
Since moving Medley has been putting more time into curating than painting, although he is starting to once again get his brushes wet. Medley said that he sees his next focus as being on figures, something he believes stems from moving from the natural landscapes of BC to a city of 14 million people. His first works in the series will revolve around Medley himself, shrouded in a Hudson’s Bay Company blanket, a comment on the interaction of being a Canadian in an American city.
Medley is unable to attend the opening reception for his show, taking place from 7 to 9 pm on Thursday, September 8, but will be calling in via Skype to talk to attendees and answer questions. For more information on the show call 604.487.4579 or for more information on Medley visit his website.
