Dark Valence

About Dark Valence

This modern abstract painting by Harold Feist appears to be the sky at night.

The celebrated work of Harold Feist has hung on the walls of auspicious public and private galleries in both Canada and the U.S. Known for his expressive, vividly colourful and highly textured work, Feist was a devoted modernist. He first discovered this simple ‘spoke’ shape in the 1970s and continued to experiment with it for several years. This impressive horizontal piece features the spiral shape—its ‘spokes’ radiating out from the center. The dark palette of blues, with metallic gold flecks throughout the canvas, suggests a night sky.

“(Using colour) I could turn off any logic when I worked, and this leaves the door open for some other faculty to come through.” Harold Feist

“I've been fascinated by the apparent contradictions embodied by the man and his work. Why? Because Feist's abstract paintings, with their subtly modulated surfaces and sensuous colour, whether intense or subtle, have usually seemed, at least at first viewing, to be the exuberant products of uncalculated intuition, while exuberance and abandon are among the last things we would attribute to the author of those paintings. “ Karen Wilkin, Art Critic

Harold Feist was born in Texas(1945-2021) but held citizenship in both Canada and the U.S. He won a scholarship for the University of Illinois and changed his studies from architecture to fine art acquiring a master’s at the Maryland Institute College of Art. While pursuing his own art, he took a job teaching at the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, followed by the University of Regina and Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. He decided to paint full-time in the late seventies. His work is held in both private and public collections in Canada and the U.S., including the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.