In Spite Of

About In Spite Of

This colourful abstract painting on paper by Milly Ritsvedt has a green backdrop.

In the 1980s, Milly Ristvedt’s artistic journey continued to embrace colour and abstract form as her visual language. But the shapes were now pared down to their most basic elements. Her focus became the “character and skeleton” of lyrical gestures--brushstrokes and dabs of paint in saturated colour.
This is a pretty piece—the colours are a refined mix of light and dark hues in pinks, yellow, red, orange, deep purple and turquoise played against a background wash of light green and blue.
Gestural strokes of paint dance around the canvas both horizontally and vertically, giving the painting visible energy. Dabs of paint add intriguing detail.

(Colour allows one ) “a wonderful freedom.” Milly Ristvedt

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. In the late 1960s, Ristvedt shared a studio with famed Canadian painter Jack Bush, met art critic Clement Greenberg and was inspired by American painters Jules Olitski and Frank Stella. 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 has 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.