Oasis 4/4

About Oasis 4/4

Horizontal bands of fire-orange, rose pink, mauve and turquoise float on a ground of rust orange in this acrylic painting on canvas. The poised geometric composition is a meditation on the intersection of music, color and form -- Kramer's lyrical abstractions "do not abstract the experience of reality, as we know it. They provide the viewer with an alternate reality, just as music often does." Here the experience is named after a place that holds life saving water in a vast desert.

Like 20th century European painter Wassily Kandinsky, renowned for his experiments with synesthesia of color and music, Kramer explores the language of visual forms and sound. Kramer trained at Yale University (MFA), The Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology (BSc), The Royal College of Art, London (Fulbright Scholar) and The State University of New York, Kramer gained international success with a number of group and solo exhibitions in North America and Europe. He is one of Canada's most influential graphic designers. Notably, Kramer designed the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation logo in 1974.

In 1999, Kramer received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Arts Ontario and in 2002 was awarded The Order of Ontario and an Honorary Doctorate from Ontario College of Art & Design. His work is in many private and public collections including the Royal Ontario Museum.