By Kelsey Klassen
Ian Thom's ultra-modern clear-framed glasses sparkle under the lights of his newly curated exhibit, Lights Out!, as he leads a tour of art lovers through an advance preview at the .
His attire is casual but crisp, his pose thoughtful the senior curator stands in front of a painting that practically shouts its colour at you, yet he commands the attention of the room.
It isn't until he begins speaking, though, that you know he doesn't just look the part. Ian Thom, respected historian and author, lives the story behind every line of the 88 paintings chosen to represent the experimental Canadian art scene in the '60s.
Stopped beside a colourful Molinari, Thom smiles as he imparts that the sensitive artist began painting squares for a time after he took affront to the suggestion he always painted stripes.
Thom reveals Carla Bley as the sultry jazz musician whose silhouette inspired Michael Snow's 1963 painting that gave the exhibit its name.
He lets you in that iconic Canadian artist Greg Curnoe died tragically in a cycling accident while most others lived long productive lives.
At one point, a colleague stops the tour to ask whether one of the East Coast artists ever made his home in Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»and Thom doesn't miss a beat before responding, "No, but his children do."
He points out to his audience where each artist's mastery is most evident, be it a subtle stroke of colour along a collar, or in the complexity of the technique behind the work.
Drawing on the gallery's rich permanent collection of over 200 canvasses from the Canadian modernist era, the national debate between realism and abstraction and what paintings could (or should) be is arranged regionally as you drop in on the decade's most exceptional artists.
Works by Jack Chambers, Claude Tousignant, Jack Bush, Paterson Ewen, Takao Tanabe, Yves Gaucher and many others provide a trip through a dynamic period in our visual culture.
The vibrant exhibit radiates the energy of its curator, who believes in the significance of each piece long before it plays a part in a bigger theme.
Lights Out! Canadian Painting from the 1960s is at the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Art Gallery until April 29.
Enter to win two passes to Lights Out! at the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Art Gallery:
1) Leave a comment on this story telling us which singer inspired Michael Snow's Lights Out! painting (1 entry)
2) Answer the same question on the (1 entry)
3) Tweet "RT to enter to win two passes to #LightsOut @VanArtGallery from @WEÂ鶹´«Ã½Ó³»http://ow.ly/9bhPm" (1 entry)
Contest closes Feb. 29 at 5pm
