Vapour

About Vapour

This modern abstract painting was created by Harold Feist.

A masterful contemporary artist, Harold Feist’s original oeuvre has been held in high esteem by both art critics and art lovers alike. An unrepentant modernist in form, his expressive abstract works were dynamic, richly textured and known for their bold use of colour. Early in his career Feist was mentored by the famed NY critic, Clement Greenberg and the American painter, Jules Olitski.
This acrylic painting features a signature ‘spoke-like’ spiral form where ‘rays’ in thickly applied creamy yellow and white radiate out from the center. A charcoal background makes the ‘spokes’ pop. Feist’s first ‘Spoke’ painting was completed in 1975, a moment he described as ‘genuine eureka.’

“Paintings came one after the other like it was a matter of letting them loose…it was obvious that they wanted to exist and should exist. My job was to get the paint right.” Harold Feist

“…no matter how disciplined the format, the 'other faculty' that is allowed to come through is a kind of intuitive romanticism, a complete surrender to the emotional resonance of colour and surface relationships.” 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.