Clive Powsey has an exhibition of figurative drawings opening Sept. 10 at the Corre Alice Gallery in Cumberland.
Powsey, who has worked extensively in animated film with screen credits as an art director and background stylist, has also been a regularly exhibiting visual artist for three decades. While working mainly in watercolour, he has devoted considerable effort over the years to drawing.
"Frankly, if I didn’t draw, I’d pack in art," he says. "It’s at the root of everything I’ve done visually, both personally and professionally."
As a student, Powsey spent his final year at the Ontario College of Art in Florence, Italy. He recalls being allowed to visit the drawing cabinets at the Uffizi Gallery.
"I could sit in front of a drawing by Andrea Del Sarto, or Ingres, and risk drooling on it. I could feel the pores of the paper still breathing. It was still alive — very different from the oil paintings in the downstairs galleries, which seemed fossilized and inert under layers of varnish.
"The drawings on display at Corre Alice are recent pieces, but they’re part of an ongoing theme for me. When I looked at those drawings in the Uffizi, I would relish the way they were executed, the hatching, the line quality.
"The message to me was in the medium. The content was largely irrelevant. I’ve tried in these new drawings, using a simple but archetypal subject matter, to express my own ‘handwriting,’ so to speak, in a drawing style.
"For me, drawing evokes a tactile recollection of viewing those Renaissance drawings."
Since opening last year, Corre Alice Gallery has become a hub for the arts in Cumberland. It is located at 2781 Dunsmuir Ave. and is comprised of three spaces — exhibition space for the owner, artist Corre Alice, and for a guest artist, as well as a working studio.
The exhibition of drawings by Clive Powsey runs until Sept. 30. The public is invited to an opening reception on Sept. 10 from 7 to 9 p.m.
You can preview the work in Powsey’s upcoming show at www.clivepowsey.com and visit the gallery website at www.correalicegallery.blogspot.com.
— Clive Powsey