by Sarah Arnott
There is something so irresistibly quaint about the Newfoundland artist; one who allows us to peek into cozy, welcoming family homes, and to imagine adventures of life on the sea. David Blackwood's “Black Ice” series, currently displayed at the Art Gallery of Ontario, visually explores a deeply visceral, yet still overtly narrative side of Eastern Canadian lifestyle. Immediately when entering the exhibit, goose bumps crept up my arms – perhaps a result of the deep indigo and dark algae greens surrounding me, or perhaps from the eerie illusion that the ghostly gray figures in each scene were still moving about, as if not to have noticed their watchers from outside the frame.
Blackwood's large-scale mixed media prints tell a story of loss, fear, and a shoreline community so close it moved in unison like the ocean waves. His caricatured representations of people he knows, or once knew, are depicted in major events Blackwood recalls; mainly revolving around the hardships and fear of losing local fishermen to stormy weather. You feel a sense that Mr. Blackwood is such a cool, collected observer that he has been able to, over time, detach himself from the heartbreak taking place in much of his imagery. It has distinctly become a cloud of nostalgia. His style references old biblical illustrations, which he claims on video at the end of the exhibit were a treasured part of his childhood. However, the style has inarguably been made contemporary. I would even go so far as to say it looks very much like popular illustration among OCAD students, but with a remarkable maturity from his 60+ years of practice. It reminds me somewhat of Inuit drawings; exaggerated bodies with delicate thought put into the action or story role of each figure, but also a great focus round, smooth shading. Instead of creating a realism, it reached a very knowledgeable animated look. Further enhancing the nostalgia, each scene is set in the night – or feels very night-like, with blue washed and white speckled skies. When light is portrayed, it is always in a soft red glow – a feature which ties the series together. The medium of choice to accomplish these washes is aquatint: an intaglio printmaking technique using acid and acid-resistant resin to form a smooth gradation of colour. It could nearly fool for watercolour or calligrapher's ink – in fact, this is what I assumed it must be. I have never seen an artist make such beautiful use of aquatint before, and it was truly a treat to the imagination.
Blackwood has an incomprehensible ability to take urgent situations from the past and tint them with the look of a memory; slowed so much that you can spot every detail. Beams of white light on the horizons, birds floating atop the breeze, and men with tall, sleepy eyelids make numerous appearances throughout the show. Every flowing garment appears heavy and sheepishly rises for the ocean's bluster. The signs of winter, snowstorms and occasional peeking of dead, browned grass, seem to tell the psyche: “it's time to rest.” Being the viewer of these scenes makes me feel very much as if I were looking outside a window in wintertime; warmed from the indoors, but feeling a sort of internal chill with the whitescapes before me. I feel like I know each figure personally and treasure their company, as Blackwood undoubtedly did. He truly brings a personable aspect to his work that not many others have done.
Much like a statement that has been said about Lucian Freud by critics abound, I feel that David Blackwood captures an incredible psychological depth in his paintings. Clearly the foundations of this man's life have been rattled so hard, all he could do was allow the images to overflow. One of the most intriguing things about Blackwood, I find, is the life he's lived. As a boy, this man saw all his school friends' fathers set sail and vanish past the tallest icebergs, sometimes never to return. He's carried practical, self-sustainable knowledge and tradition from his family that many of us in western culture hunger for – as if it's become a fragment of the past. To experience a life based on such permanence, yet having to gain acceptance that the next day may take everything you knew away, is a very humbling thought. With a global focus on rising individualism and consumer culture, it is not often that we encounter communities anymore which rely so heavily on each other, and the ability to be in touch with the earth's ever changing moods. Art may have been Blackwood's way of telling it, but his life stories are very profound, precious old knowledge that his community will no doubt carry with them for generations.
Sarah Arnott is a second year Drawing and Painting Major at OCAD University.
Instructor: Pete Smith
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