High Five

About High Five

This contemporary abstract acrylic painting is by Fiona Ackerman.

The signature artwork of Vancouver artist Fiona Ackerman has found an international audience. Her unique visionary style often shifts, explores and embraces a new narrative with each series of paintings. Although her work appears rooted in abstract expressionism it often includes elements of realism and the playfulness of pop art. This is one of a series of paintings she called, ‘Paper Trail’ named for the notes left by strangers in her neighbourhood that she read while walking back and forth between her home and studio.
Here a series of white crumpled notes catching light and shadow sit in four rows—each one casually taped to a creamy-coloured wall. The effect is intimate and immediately engages the viewer in the ‘conversation.’

“I discovered that a very expressionistic piece, painted to feel loose, impulsive, and fleeting, could be transformed by the addition of a realistically painted piece of lightly adhered masking tape. With one small addition of something appearing less permanent than a gestural mark (tape, a post-it note), realism takes on an expressive fragility, and the gestural abstraction becomes the painting’s bones, the solid ground on which realism sits lightly.” Fiona Ackerman

“Through her work, Ackerman explores the world around her, bringing a sharpened curiosity and hunger for understanding on many different subjects, from botany to literature to music, and using her mathematical mind in the studio.” Elia Essen, Nuvo Magazine

Fiona Ackerman was born in Ottawa in 1978. She studied painting at Concordia University and completed a BFA at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2002. She has held more than 20 solo exhibitions internationally. Fiona’s studio practice extends beyond painting to include several large-scale murals, video and other public art projects. In her free time, she writes and records music and videos, often working with other musicians. She currently lives and works in Vancouver, BC.