Single Tree in Moonlight by Otto Rogers

About the Work

A black silhouette of an abstracted tree planted at the centre of the picture plane is framed by passages of pale green, pale blue and cast light in white and tan in this acrylic painting on canvas. Rogers work, rooted in a cubist-constructivist tradition, was recognized by art critic Clement Greenberg in 1963 as having a "fullness of inspiration". In keeping with this sentiment, Rogers' tonal expression in this piece is contemplative, spiritual and uplifting. Rogers is a prominent Canadian artist whose paintings, mixed media and sculptures are included in more than 30 public collections across Canada, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the McMichael Canadian Collection, the National Gallery of Canada. His work is also in the Museu d'art contemporain de Barcelona and the National Gallery of Iceland as well as numerous private and corporate collections Rogers helped sustain the Emma Lake Workshops which provides a meeting place for many of North America's most respected visual artists and critics including Clement Greenberg, Barnett Newman, Jules Olitiski, Kenneth Noland, Jack Shadbolt, Helen Frankenthaler. In 2007, a published book of his work Otto Donald Rogers, included a foreword by British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro.