Down With the Shine

Description

‘Down With the Shine’ by Candace Twance – First Nations Woodland Art presented by DaVic Gallery of Native Canadian Arts

Condition:       No condition noted.

Description by Artist:     ‘Down With the Shine’ –  is a vibrant & textured abstract work featuring beads melded with the canvas. Beads contain energy and my abstract paintings are always trying to convey this notion.  “Down with the Shine” is a song title I listened to while creating the piece. The other titles on back were likely old titles from previous work which I painted over, which I am known to do. If I am unhappy with a piece I paint over, it creates more layers, and in fact that’s what this painting is about. All of my abstract work including this one, deals with the idea of layers to reality. Where does or world stop, and the spirit world begin? It’s about vibrational energy, and the fact that there is more than what we can see with the naked eye. I use the beads to pay homage to the traditional artisan work of my ancestors, beads and bead-work being a huge part of or artistic expression as Ojibwe people.  I’m using that material here, in my painting, with that in mind, and it brings the symbolism of what it is traditionally used for, and it is juxtaposing it in this modern sense, this abstract painting, the way that I am working today, as an Anishnabe woman. So the shapes, the colours, they are chosen for composition purposes, the colour choices are made for healing, colours have optical vibrational energy so that’s why I use blocks of colour, in the same way that Norval Morrisseau used his bright colours. In his Woodland Style, he said that it didn’t matter what picture he painted. It was just a means so lay down his colours. People think his work is about stories and legends, and it is, but as a vehicle for him to apply his colours for healing. I’m using these same teachings and ideas, but implementing in a different way.

Notes from DaVic Gallery:     Another personal favorite that it joyfully hangs in my daughter’s bedroom where she and her friends enjoy looking and talking about.   See picture number 7.   Please excuse the minimal effort attempting to stage but would have taken me all day cleaning her room…

So rich in texture and many different shapes from sea-shells, berries, plants, beads, plaster, ….