About

About About

This large modernist abstract colorful acrylic painting was created by Milly Ristvedt.

Art critics and collectors alike applaud the masterly expressive style and extraordinary sense of color that defines the work of Canadian artist Milly Ristvedt. Early in her career, In the late 1960s, Ristvedt shared a studio with famed Canadian painter Jack Bush, met the renowned NY art critic Clement Greenberg, and was inspired by celebrated American painters Jules Olitiski and Frank Stella. Milly Ristvedt has spent decades exploring her own unique visual language.

About is characteristic of a time when Ristvedt’s style was still informed by the formal structure of a grid. But in the 1980s her use of color was more fluid and spontaneous—the gestural brushstrokes now appear to dance around the canvas, varying in size and density. The background is soft and muted allowing the fresh modern palette of yellow, melon, lilac, chartreuse, and turquoise to take center stage.

“The rhythm and flow of my paintings (are) the rhythm and flow of my life. The necessity is to show what I have seen, felt, understood, and intuited. The latter is my grace. It’s my connection with all that is much larger than myself.”
Milly Ristvedt, 1989

“Life arises from stillness and takes form, thereby emerging into movement. Being and becoming. I think this profound truth lies at the heart of Milly’s paintings.” Bobbi Dahlman, art collector

Milly Ristvedt was born in British Columbia and studied at the Vancouver School of Art (now the Emily Carr University). Her first solo exhibit was at the Carmen Lamanna Gallery in Toronto. Her work has been included in many publications, She was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2004 and honoured with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. She has won seven Canada Council awards and two Ontario Arts Council awards and had over 50 solo exhibitions and been part of countless group shows. Ristvedt's work can be found in major public collections throughout North America including the National Gallery of Canada.

Milly Ristvedt is represented exclusively by the Oeno Gallery.