Emergence #10

About Emergence #10

This large abstract expressionist painting by Paul Fournier has a tropical theme.

The fantastical worlds of Paul Fournier capture the beauty of nature in all its colorful glory. This is one of a series of paintings inspired by the light, vivid colors and dreamlike imagery of the tropics. Fournier doesn’t work from a sketch. His weightless, lyrical form is created by ‘drawing with a paintbrush.’ This joyful painting attempts to emulate the explosion of color one sees in tropical azure blue waters—yellow, orange, green, melon, red, purple and white.

“You can do so many things with paint…it’s a wonderland.” Paul Fournier

“No matter how potent the allusion, Fournier as a highly intuitive artist with a profound belief in the expressive power of his materials, always makes us aware of the sensuality of paint, the excitement of the act of painting.” Karen Wilkin, Art Critic

Paul Fournier was born during the Great Depression in Simcoe, Ontario. He first studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1959 and went on to study printmaking at McMaster University in Hamilton in 1967. Fournier also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from McMaster in 1996 where he’d also been the artist in residence. During a career that spans six decades, Fournier has had solo exhibitions in several Canadian cities and in the U.S. His work is held in private collections in North and South America, and Europe. Public collections include the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Sculpture Garden in Washington and the Tate Museum in London.