Untitled_2008

About Untitled_2008

This colourful abstract acrylic painting on paper by Paul Fournier is reminiscent of tropical waters.

Paul Fournier is an intuitive artist who works without a sketch and chooses colours as he paints—a creative process that results in uniquely colourful 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 brightly coloured watercolour features a central image rendered as a burst of bright yellow. Several fluid shapes in purple, green, blue, red, orange and turquoise float across the picture plane, suggesting sea life. One of a series of untitled pieces.

“My painting is just a world that I jump into.” Paul Fournier

“Fournier continues to explore and extend the limits of his own imagery, his own handwriting, his own ability to use colour and paint. His new pictures are personal and expressive: lyrical, generous and decorative in the best Matissean sense of the word.” Karen Wilkin, NY Curator, 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. He 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.