Late artist’s work goes on display
Yukiko Onley discusses the retrospective featuring her husband’s abstract paintings and landscapes
The B.C.-based watercolour landscapes by Toni Onley (b. 1928 on the Isle of Man, d. 2004 in a plane crash) have helped form the province’s identity, at least among art collectors. Later this month, Onley’s widow, Yukiko, will exhibit a retrospective of the artist’s work. Much of it is previously unseen by the general public and drawn from the private collections of local collectors and ranges from the artist’s abstract paintings from the ’60s to his later landscapes (many painted in remote locations in the province) and collages. We talked to Yukiko Onley about the retrospective. Q: Toni was quite a colourful character, wasn’t he?
A: Absolutely. He was known for his paintings but for other things, too. He was very outspoken and sometimes said the wrong thing and was criticized. But, he always intended well.
How did you two meet?
He’d been living in Vancouver for a long time. I came in 1976 as a nanny, and the couple whose child I was looking after said one day they had a friend who is living in a houseboat in Coal Harbour. In those days, there were houseboats in Coal Harbour! It’s hard to imagine now. We visited her. And, this artist was talking to this couple. Those days I didn’t really understand much English. Obviously, they were saying that it would be nice to find a nice guy for Yukiko, me. And, this artist said, “Oh, I know a guy who just broke up with his girlfriend,” and he happened to be on the next houseboat. So, they took me to meet him, and it turned out to be Toni. That happened within a few weeks of my arriving in Canada. It’s quite amazing when I think about all that coincidence.
How long did he continue living on his houseboat?
I moved in about 10 months after I met him. We lived there for a couple of years, and then all the houseboats were kicked out of Coal Harbour. We moved into an apartment in the west end for one year and then bought a house.
You were a painter first, and then became a photographer?
I tried to paint, but quickly realized I didn’t have much talent. But, I wanted to do something creative. Most of our friends and people around us were creative. I felt awkward not doing anything creative myself. By accident I came across photography, and that’s what I decided to do.
Is one of the reasons for this retrospective to ensure that Toni’s work isn’t forgotten?
I don’t think his work will be forgotten. His style of painting is very unique and the way he approached the subject matter was very unique. Nobody in British Columbia painted the way he did. Most of the time he painted on location and he used his airplane to go to inaccessible places. And, people recognize the B.C. landscape through his paintings. Since Toni passed away, not many exhibitions have happened in Vancouver, especially retrospective-style exhibitions.
Why now?
I’ve been doing the art gallery (Visualspace) for two-and-a-half years. I had this time available. Usually, summer is not a good time to put up an exhibition. But, I heard different stories from different sources, and when I talked to people, they said summer is a good time because not many major exhibitions happen in commercial galleries. And, I’d been thinking about this for quite a long time. I couldn’t come up with a better time than now.