Deep World Radiance

About Deep World Radiance

This colorful abstract expressionist painting was inspired by nature.

A master of colorful abstraction, Paul Fournier attained international acclaim during a career that has spanned more than six decades. Moved by the beauty of the natural world, this piece appears to capture life beneath the sea using lyrical, organic form and thickly applied brushstrokes in vivid colors. The palette of bright yellow, red, purple, pink, red, green, white, and turquoise radiates against a deep blue background. Fournier’s signature use of extensive mark-making and drips adds both texture and movement to his work. In the sixties, Fournier was part of a group of gifted Toronto painters…Milly Ristvedt and David Bolduc, among them, explored the techniques and forms of abstraction. Fournier works from memory and intuition, often mixing colors in unusual combinations to create his own unique visual language.

“(Art) It just was always there…So often we talk about something that we choose…but we don’t talk about being chosen…Art chose me.” Paul Fournier

Paul Fournier was born during the Great Depression in Simcoe, Ontario. He first studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1959 and went on to study printmaking at McMaster University in Hamilton in 1967. Fournier also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from McMaster in 1996 where he’d also been the artist in residence. Fournier has had solo exhibitions in several Canadian cities and in the U.S. His work is held in private collections in North and South America, and Europe. Public collections include the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Sculpture Garden in Washington, and the Tate Museum in London.