Untitled_2003

About Untitled_2003

This contemporary abstract acrylic painting on paper by Paul Fournier is predominantly bright orange-yellow.

Paul Fournier is regarded as one of Canada’s most important abstract artists. Christened the ‘exotic modernist’ by the distinguished NY art critic, Donald Kuspit, Fournier’s singular vision has explored the potential and power of colour and expressive form over six decades. He works without a sketch and chooses colors as he paints—a highly intuitive process that results in uniquely colorful artwork. Traces of Fournier’s influences—the storied abstract artist Jack Bush and Matisse, the French artist and leader of the early 20th century Fauvist movement can be seen in his lyrical form and inspired palette. This is one of a series of pieces that remain untitled. Here, a joyful burst of brilliant orange-yellow applied in fluid brushstrokes dominates the canvas. A melange of red, blue, green and black in one corner adds intriguing detail and contrast.

"There is a beauty and a sense of rightness about things that happen immediately.” Paul Fournier

“His best works continue to be joyous metaphors for intense feelings about the natural world, filtered through experience of the painters he admires most, and translated into a non-specific language of gesture, inflection and color.”
Karen Wilkin, Art Critic

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 Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in 1996, where he’d also been the artist in residence. Fournier became a member of a group of artists in Toronto who were mentored by Jack Bush and together explored modernist expressionism. During a career that spans six decades, 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 and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington.