Untitled (Canadian Flag) by Gregory Richard Curnoe
Greg Curnoe
Untitled (Canadian Flag)
stamp ink, gouache and graphite on paper
dated October 19, 1980 upper right
4 x 7 ins ( 10.2 x 17.8 cms )
Price Realized $2,300.00
Sale date: July 20th 2017
Judith Roger, “Greg Curnoe: Life and Work” (online publication), Art Canada Institute, Toronto, 2016, pages 49-50
Sarah Milroy, “Greg Curnoe: Life and Stuff”, ed. Dennis Reid and Matthew Teitelbaum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2001, page 67
Beginning his artistic career in a politically charged decade, the distinct rise of American culture influencing Canada was a particular point of contention for the artist. For Curnoe, the impact to academia with an influx of American academics finding positions at Canadian institutions— in an effort to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War— was an affront to the work and intellect of Canadian academics being passed over in favour of their American counterparts. It was the over-arching American cultural-imperialism, as opposed to individuals or specific aspects of American culture, which outraged Curnoe and inspired his vibrant charged pieces.
“Untitled (Canadian Flag)” employs the national flag with altered colours— depicted using the artists signature technique of contrasting colours rooted in colour theory— as a comment and a visual play on the notion of national identity and how traditional symbols constitute feelings of national unity, culture and ultimate identity. Rather than a cohesive sense of togetherness on a national level, Curnoe instead felt that Canadian identity resided at a regional level within the distinct regional cultures and communities across the country. The question of what it is to be Canadian, then, is posed in this token of cultural symbolism.
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Gregory Richard Curnoe
(1936 - 1992)
Born in London, Ontario in 1936, Greg Curnoe was a fervent regionalist visual artist and musician who championed the distinct voice of Canadian locales and London, Ontario, specifically. He attended Beal Technical School (1954-1956) and the Doon School of Art (1956) before attending the Ontario College of Art (1957-1960) then returned to London in 1960.
While still attending Beal Tech he became interested in Dada art and joined the Société Pour L’Etude Du Movement Dada since he himself became dedicated to attacking existing standards of the establishment bound by international styles of art. Taking the opposite pole, Curnoe freed himself from this concern by choosing his subjects immediately around him and rejoicing in a people’s art he encountered in everyday personal experiences.
One can find in his work the elements of constructivism, op art, pop art, dadaism and comic-strip-like marriage of words and pictures, a facet of art which has been his keen interest from his earliest years (his childhood ambition was to be a cartoonist). Curnoe’s work is drawn together by colours ranging from a brilliant carnival-like intensity to softer blends of browns, oranges, pinks, greens, etc.
In an article on Curnoe’s work in Saturday Night, Barry Hale in 1970 gave this description, “Curnoe’s paintings are as immediate in their impact as superlative, blown-up comic books; they are figurative, but not ‘realistic’ - the outlines (in general) are hard edged, there is no modelling, and large, brilliant colour areas collide and vibrate to achieve a hotly overwhelming whole. Like comics, they are printed all over the works, in various manners – words as labels, or self-contained statements like cartoon-balloons; they may surround the picture frame and lead off the right edge (like the narrative print of a cartoon strip), or simply exist in conjunction as a kind of concrete poetry – so , as well as their hot impact, Curnoe’s paintings have a McLuhanesque cool, they must be read, with all the self-involvement that reading implies.”
In addition to his painting, Curnoe was involved in many other fields, including nihilist politics, writing, film making, pop music and non music. In 1961 he began publishing the magazine “Region” with friends, as his commitment to regionalism intensified. They also opened the Region Gallery. He co-founded the Association for the Documentation of Neglected Aspects of Culture in Canada and co-founded the Canadian Artist’s Representation (a national association of Canadian artists growing in stature); the Nihilist Party of London, a good natured group of hecklers of establishment parties (all members with equal say, no leader). His work was first recognized by Ronald Bloore in 1961 when Bloore was a juror of a show and awarded Curnoe a prize.
Curnoe went on to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale in 1976 and had a retrospective at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1981, which then travelled across Canada. Though the artist’s work has influences of Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and even musicality, Curnoe rooted his practice in the regional visual language of his native London and greater Canada. He is represented in the National Gallery of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Sources: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume I: A-F", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1977
