Breaking Away

About Breaking Away

This abstract contemporary still life painting has a floral theme and was created by Jennifer Hornyak.

For this beloved and internationally celebrated Canadian artist each painting usually begins with a sketch. Often Jennifer Hornyak then experiments with acrylics as a foundation for the oil painting that follows. Hornyak’s ethereal work lies somewhere between figuration and abstraction. In the past few years much of her art has explored floral themes. But for Hornyak flowers are not ‘just flowers’—they are metaphors for life. This recent large painting showcases the familiar dark palette of the European masters she studied but, as always with Hornyak there is the unexpected—a burst of colour—an almost fluorescent orange that moves the work into a modern style. Against a dramatic dark backdrop—a mix of midnight blue, black and gray, floral-like forms in bright pinks, greens and white appear to float across the canvas in a beautiful tangle. The texture is enriched by expressive brush strokes and multiple layers of paint.

“I like rich dark palettes that echo the classics but are rendered in a more contemporary, abstract way.” Jennifer Hornyak

Jennifer Hornyak studied at the Grimsby School of Art in England. In 1961, she moved to Montreal where she attended McGill University, the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal and the Centre Saidye Bronfman.
Hornyak has exhibited throughout North America and Europe including the Paris World Exhibition in 1987 where her work was shown alongside that of Modigliani, Picasso and van Dongen. Hornyak’s work is represented in many private and corporate collections including Bombardier Transport, Burroughs Wellcome, McCarthy Tétrault, Power Corporation and Hyatt Regency Hotel.