The Thames Art Gallery is pleased to present “Raised Ranch,” an exhibition of paintings by Paul Dignan.
Dignan’s paintings are meticulous and graphic trompe l’oeils, configured on polygonal supports. Trompe l’oeils are a visual illusion in art, used to trick the eye into perceiving a painted detail as a three-dimensional object.
Ray Cronin, contributor to the gallery publication, writes “(Dignan’s) paintings are destabilizing, they make one feel off kilter, as if the room is shifting. Then, finally, [the viewer] settles on the lines, on the virtual spaces in the paintings where the surface seems folded or bent, complex internal geometries reminiscent of origami, except for the gaps in logic.”
Dignan was born in Dundee, Scotland and is known primarily as an abstract hard-edge painter. He received his Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Grays School of Art, Aberdeen before going on to complete his graduate studies at The Slade School of Fine Art, London in the mid 1980s. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including those from The Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council and The Scottish Arts Council. He is currently based in Elmira, Ontario.
“Raised Ranch” will be shown in conjunction with a mezzanine project produced by Franco-Ontarian group BRAVO-Sud. Creating a kind of contemporary archeology for itself, the work has traveled to and from exhibition venues unpackaged and unabashed. Twenty-five video works will accompany the physical work.
Both exhibitions will be at the Thames Art Gallery until March 5. An opening reception will take place Jan. 20 at 7 p.m., as part of Winter ARTcrawl 2017. The opening is open to all and free to attend. The Thames Art Gallery is located at the Chatham Cultural Centre, 75 William St. N., Chatham, and is open 7 days a week, from 1-5 p.m.
