PROVENANCE
Caswell-Lawrence Gallery, Victoria
2022 September, Hodgins Art Auctions, September 12, 2022, Lot 97
Private Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
Robert Amos, Victoria Times Colonist, February 21, 2002, reproduced page D5

Harrison started painting this canvas shortly after the events of September 11th, 2001. The painting was featured and reproduced in an article written by Robert Amos and published by the Victoria Times Colonist in February of 2002. Amos notes in the article how the painting is a return to Harrison's earlier style, with gradient tones of red in the sky as opposed to the boldly outlined colourful lines which characterize his later work. Harrison discusses further the symbolism and process behind the work: "I made a painterly sky, blood red it was, like fire, across the Juan de Fuca Strait. I made Canada – that’s Canada in the foreground – a cool blue. I wanted a solid building, a building that looked Canadian and solid, so I picked Munros’s Bookstore, and I added a bit at the top.

“The owl is the native’s symbol of death. Where you see an owl is death. On the right are two people scurrying away. I got the idea from a medieval painting of Adam and Eve hurrying out of the garden – the heavenly garden is going up in flames."

The original newspaper article accompanies the painting.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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