Here and Now
I am glad to show my works in a place whose prime concerns are the sacred and the spiritual, because to me art and religion seem closely related.
They both deal with the Great Mystery of Being Here and Now. They both flower in an atmosphere of meditation. Both provide an intense focus on the present (which is our precise contact with Eternity). And all too often (unfortunately) both seem to be without much influence or importance to the day-to-day goings-on of humankind. Religion tends to be restricted to the churches, art to the galleries. If our days were shaped by art and religion, the environment in which we lived our days would be full of reverence -- neighbourly, healthy and beautiful. MARIONETTES, oil on canvas
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Robert Yates at SAINT PAUL'S ANGLICAN CHURCH Westdale, Hamilton, Ontario Nov 1 - Dec 14, 1994 THE LAST SPIKE
(In Advance of the Great Canadian Icon) featuring: gold foil background for a quote from Tom Thomson's Jackpine (at the top), separated from the viewer by thorn-like barbed wire. A painting of a painting of a crucifix crucified with real railway spikes. The spear-pierced rip in the canvas is a quote from Marcel Duchamp's Tu m' (Tomb) painting. Below is a quote from the famous photo of Lord Strathcona driving home the last spike of the coast-to-coast Canadian Pacific Railway while the patient workers look on. For the most part, oil on canvas. (A painting about painting.) |