John Meredith

Exhibited

• John Meredith, December 5 – December 29 1973, Isaacs Gallery, Toronto.
• John Meredith: Fifteen Years, October 26 – November 29 1974 Art Gallery of Ontario and circulating to the Vancouver Art Gallery, Winnipeg Art Gallery and four other venues.
• Contemporary Canadian Painters, an exhibition of works from the Canada Council Art Bank presented by the Department of External Affairs of Canada,circulating 1976-1977
• Canadian Cultural Centre Paris, The National Gallery of New Zealand and 11 other major institutions in Canada, Australia and England.

Literature

• Reid, Dennis, Concise History of Canadian Painting: Second Edition, Toronto Oxford Univ. 1988. p. 383. Japan of 1972 – a huge triptych over seven meters – wide looks as though its dense black washes where thrown on in a frenzy during a passing thunderstorm, yet every subtle twist and turn of the brush is evident in the original ink study.
• Kay Kritzwiser, Globe and Mail, Sat Dec. 8, 1973: In Japan, a three-part painting, there is brutal black and white imagery in the first section, for Merediths black slashes move up and across the triptych, like an inescapable sword. In Toshiro, there are some remarkably peaceful areas of gentle color. We need this contrasting serenity, for Merediths scale seems to be reaching out with massive energy. His energy in his paintings is like a black comet creating a backwash, those dragged back lines now a Meredith signature.
• Sol Littman, Toronto Daily Star, Fri. Dec 20, 1973: Meredith also makes a new use of black to outline, to anchor and to give bulk and mood to his strong reds and yellows.
• Art Gallery of Ontario John Meredith: Fifteen Years exhibition catalogue 1973, no.19.
• Gary Michael Dault, Toronto Daily Star, Fri. Nov.8, 1974: I like the terrific recent firestorms like Japan and Toshiro.
• Visions: Contemporary Art in Canada, Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver, 1983. P. 116.

Illustrated

• Art Gallery of Ontario John Meredith: Fifteen Years, exhibition catalogue 1973, no.19 illustrated full page.
• Exile: a literary quarterly, vol. 1 no 3, York University 1973, full color gatefold between p. 88-89.
• Contemporary Canadian Painters, an exhibition of works from the Canada Council Art Bank presented by the Department of External Affairs of Canada, circulating 1976-1977. Exhibition catalogue.
• Art in Architecture, Art for the built enviroment in the Province of Ontario, Visual Arts Ontario. J. Parkin, 1982, p. 226.

Now installed at the TD Centre – Mies Van Der Rohe & Bregman + Hamann Architects. 100 Wellington Street West, facing York Street. Arranged by Stephen Smart.

Installed at TD Centre, Mies Van Der Rohe & Bregman + Hamann Architects.
100 Wellington St West, facing York St.

Info on TD Centre:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzoVPHhNcII#t=23
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto-Dominion_Centre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgR2Umj6I4M

Biography

John Meredith ( Smith ) 1933-2000 OCA. Born in Fergus, Ontario. Brother William Ronald who was a founding member of Painters Eleven back in the early 1950s, and the first Canadian artist to make an impact in New York. ( For separate and private reasons, both brothers decided to be known as artists by their first two given names, rather than their surname; with both in the public eye, it turns out to have been a good idea. ) Drawing is central and crucial to Meredith’s work, developing a personal calligraphic vocabulary, malleable, palpable orbs and stretched, torn, tactile lines that speaks equally to the artists concern with basic forms and everybody’s visceral unconscious.