Untitled, 2004.01

About Untitled, 2004.01

This contemporary abstract mixed media piece is by Otto Rogers.

Renowned internationally as a masterful abstract artist, Otto Rogers' distinctive aesthetic often combined geometric passages with forms found in nature.
His signature style echoed the bold cubist-constructivist form of work he admired--Pablo Picasso, Julio González and David Smith. But his superb use of colour, light and form was his own. He often presented familiar forms (i.e. a mountain) without faithfully representing them. Otto Rogers was profoundly affected by the landscape he grew up on--the vast skies and infinite horizons of the windswept Canadian prairies.

“The view in every direction was endless…and I was suspended in time and space and took constant delight in the diversity of colour and form.” Otto Rogers

Rogers was one of the earliest ‘adopters’ of acrylic paint in the late 1950s.
He painted in layers, and with each layer added subtle texture. This mixed media piece is rendered in a rich tapestry of earthy colours—a central bold diamond shape in sky blue, gray and dark brown plays against a neutral backdrop. Gestural brushstrokes, curated markings and several shapes appear to dance around the canvas enlivening the composition.

“Art is a means of elevating consciousness and can reflect attributes of the soul.”
Otto Rogers

“He stands apart from much of Canadian abstract art, in which colourists working with a high-keyed palette so often held the lion’s share of critical attention. This preoccupation with shifts in values reflects Rogers’s love of light. It is tempting to credit that love merely to the vast, sunlit expanse of the prairies he was raised on. But light has a special meaning for him beyond that. He associates it with knowledge and wisdom, in part because of his Baha’i faith.”
Ken Carpenter, Professor Art History, York University

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, where he mentored a generation of young artists.
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 provided a meeting place for many of North America's most respected visual artists and critics, including Clement Greenberg, Barnett Newman, Jules Olitski, Kenneth Noland, Jack Shadbolt, and Helen Frankenthaler. In 2007, a book of his work was published called ‘Otto Donald Rogers’, and it included a foreword by famed British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro.