Sold for: $2,000

PROVENANCE
Collection of the Artist
By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver

Please note: This work is unframed.



A graduate of the Vancouver School of Art, Joan Balzar was a prominent figure in West Coast abstraction.

Her work stood out amongst that of her peers for its bold luminosity. Later works incorporated actual neon lights, but the vibrance shows in this work, in the two prominent horizontal white lines which appear to glow. This painting also incorporates long vertical lines which according to her family are unusual in her work, but the structure of the abstract design is typical of this period, showing her keen interest in science, structures and technology. She was influenced far more by urban forms than nature.

This work is unsigned because the artist was reluctant to sign her paintings at the time. Being a woman in an art world of primarily men, she believed a signature would draw attention to this and single her out. She wanted her art to be taken seriously. She struggled very hard to gain recognition, and achieved it. Her work has been in group exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and the Seattle Art Museum amongst others, and she has had retrospectives at the Belkin Satellite in 2003, West Vancouver Museum in 2009, and Simon Fraser University Gallery in 2011. Her work is in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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