Page 33 - Studio International - July August 1973

On the Chilliwack river 1971. Gouache, 22 X 30 in. Archie Young down in Quebec 1969. Acrylic on canvas, 89 x 64 in.
A portrait of Hemingway in a Giorgione landscape achieves a kind of This painting in gentle greys and browns shows the artist's grandparents, who
impossibility, in which a contemporary hero appears in a Renaissance setting were pioneers in French Canada. It was drawn from a family photograph. It had
with a North American title appealing to the writer's immortality. By the skilful potential not only as an image, but suggests the relationship between the two
combination of light and shade in the figure and the background the two are cast people in the ambiguous or paradoxical way of all Robert Young's paintings. Is
together permanently. she laying her hand on his shoulder as a gesture of respect, or is she holding the
old man down ? The tense pose caught by the eye of the camera has been caught
in the painting, and enlarged.

quality which attracts the eye in a Their magical aura is achieved with a concise The autobiographical nature of some of the
cool manner without ever resorting to manner of painting which gives them their images is fascinating, yet in a poetic way (in the
sentimentality. Their stillness conveys tension, clarity. Modern images are treated without best meaning of the word), they make a
their calm portrays suppressed excitement nostalgia, they are combined with historic statement that can be understood by anybody
caught in a moment which has become sources without the transitions being too who cares to look. From this body of work it is
permanent. Their dream quality owes much apparent. Young's work happily transcends its apparent that Robert Young has an enormous
to the unconscious, where the mind records sources, whether from the mind or outside, to wealth of material at his disposal, which he
images to be recalled at a later date, and also portray an ultimate situation which would himself understands, and can therefore relate
conveys the impression on first sight that they be impossible for a less talented artist to to other people through painting. q
have been seen before. achieve. PAUL WHITE

23