Sea Span

About Sea Span

This minimalist abstract acrylic painting is by Canadian artist Milly Ristvedt.

Sea Span is one of a series of paintings Milly Ristvedt produced in the 1970s that used a clean, bold format to display color. In this piece, three bands of rich colors—bright blue, moss green and aubergine stretch across the canvas. Glimpses of the white raw canvas appear in each row as half-circle shapes.
For more than five decades, Ristvedt has explored color through abstract expressionism and in creating her own distinct visual language has won international attention.

“Although Morris Louis’s Unfurled series had made a lasting impact on me when I first saw them at the Mirvish Gallery in Toronto ‘Mecc ‘Sico and other works in this period in which strong color strokes descend from the top of the raw canvases, are the closest I came to acknowledging their influence.” Milly Ristvedt

“.. Ristvedt’s colors are her own. They are applied layer on layer of varying colors to arrive at a final hue. They have a poetry of their own. They are rich rather than clear, earthy rather than light-filled. But always the composition tenses and dominates the color.” Michael White, The Montreal Gazette

Milly Ristvedt was born in British Columbia and studied at the Vancouver School of Art (now the Emily Carr University). Her first solo exhibit was at the Carmen Lamanna Gallery in Toronto. Her work has been included in many publications, She was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2004 and honored with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. She has won seven Canada Council awards and two Ontario Arts Council awards and had over 50 solo exhibitions and been part of countless group shows.
Ristvedt's work can be found in major public collections throughout North America including the National Gallery of Canada.

Milly Ristvedt is represented exclusively by the Oeno Gallery.