Herald Nix’s new
paintings, titled “The Long View,” at Headbones Gallery
form a musical rhythm of repeated motifs. Like
music, passages repeat, but our perception changes each
time it’s heard, or in this case seen. For this
series, Nix, who is also a musician, painted one view of
Shuswap Lake over and over again, and as he noted, “it
doesn’t change as much as your perception of it does
each day.”
At Headbones
Gallery, Nix’s small oil paintings on wooden panel line
the long narrow gallery space. The same scene of
the Shuswap repeats, yet with each image, shifts in
weather, light, and mood are conveyed materially in
thick or thin paint, bright color or grays, deeply
carved lines and scraped surfaces. Walking through
the gallery is like experiencing a year on the Shuswap
as the days lengthen in spring, then a dark rain cloud
moves overhead, only to clear into a hot, sunny August
day. The artist began each panel on a new day with
its ensuing shift in perception affecting his methods.
In this series
titled “The Long View” Nix’s repetitions also reveal
artistic growth and progress. Skill develops from
controlled corrected repetitions of an act. Here
it becomes clear that skill, whether facility with paint
or music, is a product of practice and self-criticism.
We are allowed in to experience the artist approaching
the topic anew, questioning and exploring with each
panel and day.
Visitors
familiar with the Shuswap will recognize and connect to
the lake and landforms. These places are so
familiar, yet with each day and year, we’re different
people. Like the days, we have changed. Like
the weather, we have altered.
A portion of
this series travels back from Calgary’s Jarvis Hall
Gallery where Nix’s September 2016 exhibition received
an enthusiastic welcome. Herald Nix is a visual
artist and acclaimed musician born and raised in Salmon
Arm. He began painting as a child and attended the
Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University) as a
teen before also pursuing a career in music. His
paintings have exhibited across Canada and in the United
States.
Amy Modahl - 2016