The work of Vancouver artist Graham Gillmore could attract curious writers just as easily as it attracts art lovers. Whether he creates a painting, panel or sculpture, words figure heavily and have so for years.
Gillmore says that when he attended Emily Carr University of Art + Design in the early ’80s, German neo-expressionism convinced him to paint figuratively.
“That was the flavour of the month. It became kind of tedious after a while to explain what things were supposed to look like,” he says.
“I still wanted to follow a narrative and a story behind the work, even though I wanted to make abstract paintings. Using language enabled me to tell stories and be quite specific about the direction of the story, while maintaining an allegiance to non-representational art.”