Gordon Halloran's Ice Gate: Extreme Painting

Monday, January 4, 2010

Extreme Painting

We stepped out of the elevator this morning and the Olympic sign in the lobby said 39 days, which for us means 35. Yikes! New Year’s. In the interim, Canada’s Olympic hockey team was chosen (with Iginla and Crosby in Canada red on the front page), the grandson rolled over for the first time and The Province published an article with several full color photos of the Ice Gate gang. These photos by Les Bazso.

Damian Inwood opened aptly with: “Gordon Halloran and his crew look as if they’ve just stepped off the set of the sci-fi movie The Day After Tomorrow.” And he coined this great term, “kaleidoscopic wall of ice”.

It’s nothing if not Extreme Painting.

On the last day of 2009, Gord spilled a bucket of blue paint, which froze instantly; today I got some ‘aerobic oxygen’ because we suspect we’re not getting enough oxygen in that extreme cold – (now that the fans have been turned down). Symptoms seem similar to altitude sickness, and we're going to suggest more frequent breaks outside, water laced with 'aerobic oxygen' and co-enzyme Q10. Thanks, Eliya!

Gord spent the few days on the coast sketching his plans on paper print-outs of the plates/wall. Brianna came to work full time today. This morning Vancouver Sun headlined: “2010 Winter Game Resident’s Guide”; a huge white tent is being constructed in front of the hotel in preparation for the IOC who will be staying here for the duration. Jaz sent us designs for the invitation; Global-TV, Shaw Cable and City TV are visiting the gulag with their cameras this week.

Just got a call from The Discovery Network. It’s dark at 7:30 AM and the rain is still coming down, but I can feel the excitement gathering - about the event - and about the work itself.

At Artigiano, discussion centered around the ‘hefty’ pieces the ‘jagged edges’ and the ‘fat boys’ – poured before New Year’s; Erik couldn't wait to see what the cold had done to them.