Landscape conversations at the Westland Gallery’s Near and Far

The Westland Gallery’s commitment to providing an ongoing exhibition space in Wortley Village has given many local landscape artists a platform to contribute to the artistic conversation on settler colonial landscape art which can be seen in exhibition Near and Far.

Tracy Bultje conveys depth of space and varying forest light through strips and rectangles of thick oil paint. Texturally gratifying, Bultje carries on the tradition of Canadian settler meaning-making through images of an unoccupied landscape. There are no representations of people, animals, or the tents which adorn the river banks, instead there are the elemental blocks of colour. Swatches of deep blue and green represent the leaves through dappled light. They are noisy, lively interpretations of the green world.

Christopher Cape expresses vastness through the presence of absence. Broad horizons of glowing orange and rose call to mind early autumn sunrises and sunsets. The use of simple lines expresses massive space, while light layers add atmospheric depth, inspiring melancholic awe.

Together, Bultje and Cape create art that represents the relationship of Canadian landscape art; Bultje’s wild green world is the chaos of the unknowable in an unknowable land, whereas Cape’s relationship to the land is solitudinous, contemplative, and detached. It is nearly impossible to read Canadian landscape art without the cliché of mentioning the Group of Seven, however this art is about the continuation of the dialectic between settler and land. How do settler Canadians find themselves and their souls on stolen land? 

Near and Far is running at the Westland Gallery in Wortley Village until June 22, 2024. Be sure to attend the Westland Gallery’s En Plein Air Live Painting event June 29th from 10A to 2P.