작품 상세

TONY SCHERMANTHE M.C.encaustic on canvassigned, titled and dated '87 on the overflap 72 ins x 60 ins; 182.9 cms x 152.4 cms Provenance:Gallery One, Toronto Private Collection, TorontoNote:Toronto-based painter Tony Scherman received his training in art in London, England at the Byam Shaw School of Painting and the Royal College of Art.  Since the mid-1970s he has been recognized internationally for his mastery of the encaustic technique, an ancient method of painting which combines pigment with hot wax.  Extremely difficult to perfect, the encaustic technique is almost unequalled in terms of depth and colour retention over time, and is celebrated for its tactile nature. In the mid to late-1970s Scherman directed his signature style toward vignettes of real and invented situations that comment on contemporary urban life and popular culture.  By the mid-1980s he had advanced this dialogue to examine the relationship between culture, representation, and perception.  In addition to portraits, he also focused on realistic renderings of desserts, flowers and fruit, many of which show a strong alignment with the still life paintings of the Dutch Golden Age. The M.C. was painted in 1987 when Scherman was working through a series entitled The problems of the rich and the comfort of food.  That year he was the subject of solo shows at the Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, and Waddington & Gorce in Montreal.  Many of Scherman's pictures of this time appear staged due to their shallow depth, and the positioning of the subject near the viewer, as seen in The M.C. Also evident is the hazy atmosphere frequently imposed by the artist as a result of working with wax in a semi-liquid state.