Episode 006

The Guest Artist: Painter David Tycho 

The Host Artist: Carol McQuaid

The Bar: Milano Café  

Current Gallery: South Main Gallery

Fire and Rain; A Journey to Extremes with Painter David Tycho

Listen in as David and I talk about:

-Studio spaces; his is a 1500 square foot artists dream in the coveted Parker Street Studios in Vancouver

-His current show Fire and Rain at the South Main Gallery featuring 19 of the 44 paintings from his current series

-Road tripping for artistic inspiration; David travels from Tofino to Death Valley to gather reference for the landscapes of Fire and Rain

-On his current work; I think I probably learned more about painting doing this series than I have learned in any other series Ive ever done

-Blending representational and abstract, the difference between figurative and figural, and how to know when a body of work is show ready

-His years in Japan; being inspired by calligraphic paintings and experimenting with a huge, mop-like brush

-The  connection between painting and other creative ventures, and his 2001 Canadian Literary Award for an essay on Nevadaès Great Basin Desert.

-University years with instructors Jack Darcus and the legendary Gordon Smith

He shares great stories of his 25 years as a gallery artist, as well as one of my all time favourite quotes, from Japanese Printmaker Hokusai.  Here it is in its entirety:

“From the age of 6 I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was 50 I had published a universe of designs. But all I have done before the the age of 70 is not worth bothering with. At 75 I’ll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am 80 you will see real progress. At 90 I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At 100, I shall be a marvelous artist. At 110, everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokusai, but today I sign my self ‘The Old Man Mad About Drawing.” – Hokusai Katsushika

The inspiration artists mentioned in this episode: (links through the show website)

Jack Darcus

Gordon Smith

Willem de Kooning

Franz Kline

Robert Motherwell

Richard Diebenkorn

Hokusai

David Bowie’s Station to Station

And The Gordon Smith Gallery in North Vancouver