Paintings capture rainy emptiness of COVID-swept Vancouver
In the early days of COVID-19, artist David Wilson couldn't go into his studio to work.
He thought returning to his brushes and paint seemed self-indulgent during a pandemic.
“For about six weeks, I just stopped working and didn't come down to the studio,” he said.
“I was watching TV and seeing what was happening in Italy and New York. The world was on fire. I couldn't paint.”
He was also feeling the impact of the pandemic at home. His wife, the well-known publicist Marnie Wilson, and his daughter Jessica both live with chronic illnesses that make them vulnerable to COVID-19. Marnie has Addison's disease, a rare and serious adrenal gland disorder, and Jessica, Type 1 diabetes.
“Because of COVID, I wasn't interested in going out,” David Wilson said.
“I didn't go downtown or anywhere really — other than food and groceries and maybe a walk down the street or in a park.”
Eventually, he realized he had to get back to making a living. One thing that was on his mind during the pandemic was how to create a visual record of what he was experiencing.
His process includes taking photographs of the subject matter he's interested in, putting them through different programs, and manipulating them into a composition he wants to use for a painting. He estimates he has taken about 30,000 photographs.
“What is it I want to do this time?” he asked himself at the time. “I'll look at the past and go into my archive.”
The acrylic-on-canvas paintings he's created are haunting images of urban landmarks and streets. They include paintings of rain-swept city streets and sidewalks at night populated by single figures or by figures that blend into their surroundings. I look at them and feel what it's like being alone amid the bright, shiny lights of the city.
Feels Like Only Yesterday is dominated by the neon lights of Granville Mall reflecting off of wet pavement beneath a dark, featureless sky. On the street, there are only a couple of buses; on the sidewalks, a few barely visible pedestrians with umbrellas. In Late Show, only cars are on the street in Dunbar. In Dreams of Distant Memories, a single pedestrian in the foreground stands in front of the Stanley Theatre.
Wilson likes rainy streets because they allow him to create semi-abstract paintings.
“When it's raining, especially at night, the light sort of bounces back,” he said.
On the wet pavement, reflected light creates distorted mirror images.
“I like that looseness that comes with painting rainy streets,” he said.
When he was painting the current group of works, Wilson was thinking both of the uncertain future and our shared past.
“I really enjoy doing what I do,” he said. “It's a gift every day to come into my studio and create something that someone will buy.”
Wilson's exhibition Close to Home is from Oct. 1 to 22 at Kurbatoff Gallery on South Granville. Because of the pandemic there will be no exhibition opening.