Sunset and Passing Storm

About Sunset and Passing Storm

This imposing and strikingly beautiful large tondo by Otto Rogers is at once contemplative, spiritual and uplifting. The prominent Canadian abstract artist was well known for his exquisite use of colour and form in his paintings, mixed media and sculptural work that re-imagined the prairie landscape he grew up in.

This tondo (Italian for round) interprets the colours of a sunset in a stormy sky—moody passages of green and black intersect with the brown landscape against a mauve backdrop. Rogers was recognized by the NY art critic, Clement Greenberg, as a ‘big attack’ painter early in his career and stated that his artwork showed a ‘fullness of inspiration.’ A devout follower of the Baha’i faith, Rogers did not view art as simply a ‘decorative thing.’

“One of the purposes of nature is to inspire the human heart. So, we are all inspired by nature, and that is part of the artistic process as well." Otto Rogers

Otto Rogers (1935-2019) was born in Saskatchewan and acquired his MA in Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin. He later taught art at the University of Saskatchewan for 30 years. His work is included in more than 30 public collections across Canada, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the McMichael Canadian Collection, and the National Gallery of Canada. Roger’s work is also in the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and the National Gallery of Iceland, as well as numerous private and corporate collections.
Rogers also helped sustain the Emma Lake Workshops, which provide 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, and Helen Frankenthaler. In 2007, a book of his work, Otto Donald Rogers, including a foreword by British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro, was published.