Anyone who grew up on the island – or even in British Columbia – knows the appeal of seeing a highway in the middle of the night, enveloped by never-ending forest. Some islanders might even know all too well the horror of stumbling across a sinister problem in a rural trailer park or a car on fire out on an empty road. And in case you don’t, Mark Laver is going to show you.
One of Legacy Art Gallery’s current art exhibits is Shining Examples – a combination of two collections of paintings from the local artist. The subject matter runs the gamut from dark and subtle to bright and furious.
Laver, who graduated from Camosun in 1991, has a visceral control of the diverse abilities of paint that tie his work together.
“I like to get a mix of just juicy, thick, or thin, or drippy, or whatever: everything the paint can do,” he says.
Rural Disasters is a series of paintings inspired by internet photographs of car crashes along stretches of rural highway or burning buildings. These roaring images bring flares of red and orange into nights that rarely exhibit those colours naturally. For this spectacle we must undoubtedly acknowledge that suffering took place. Laver is careful not to exaggerate the event; he adopts his own creative angle, but maintains certain details from the original: rain spots on the lens, reflected camera flash, and even the odd date stamp.
“Something about that original image strikes me so strong that I want to keep that. I don’t want to just do a big expressionistic version,” says Laver.
Camosun visual arts instructor Ralph Stanbridge, one of Laver’s art teachers when he was at Camosun, is thrilled to see that Laver is still at it.
“It’s been apparent since he began his studies here at Camosun that he’s thoroughly engaged by the practice of painting,” says Stanbridge. “It’s very commendable for that engagement to have continued 21 years.”
Laver’s Night Paintings depict more peaceful scenes created in single sessions under moonlight, street lamps, his car’s interior light, or darkness, if necessary. His use of available light is purely practical.
“I want the dark and the contrast of the outside. I want to be able to see, so if the light is too bright inside I can’t see through the windshield very well. So it’s just a matter of necessity, it’s not a conscious thing,” he says.
These paintings typically begin as a quick glance from behind the steering wheel. “It was always while driving that I would see things that I loved,” says Laver, who realizes that, unfortunately, when you’re driving you can’t always act upon every artistic impulse. “Quite often I’ll see things and just won’t end up getting it that day because I can’t park anywhere.”
Dark and quiet landscapes are the perfect place to pursue his love of paint; amidst even the dreariest night are sparks of beauty that glisten and glow, just waiting to be found.
“It’s really the light within the dark that gets you,” says Laver, “whether it’s just a very slight glow in the sky, or sometimes it’s a glare of a street light on the sidewalk on a wet street.”
Mark Laver: Shining Examples
Until March 31, 10 am – 4 pm
Legacy Art Gallery (630 Yates)
legacygallery.ca