Collection to: Museum London / (Provided by Gary Spearin)
Fanshawe’s Fine Art program coordinator, Gary Spearin, now has a piece in Museum London. His piece, 401Exit232 East and West, was recently bought and placed in their permanent collection.
401Exit232 East and West is part of a bigger exhibition he did for the Woodstock Art Gallery in 2018.
“The whole exhibition was inspired for that place by Jack Chambers’ painting, 401 Towards London, number one, 1968-69,” says Spearin. “That painting was done from the same place I had taken on this exhibition, which is the bridges at Woodstock that goes over the highway.”
Spearin’s goal with the piece bought by the museum, in particular, was to capture the endless flow of traffic.
“I did about four or five trips to the bridge with camera and tripod and shot thousands of photos. You always know the highway is loud. But when you stand on one of those overpasses for hours, you just notice the river if traffic never stops. I wanted to capture that essence and I wanted the straightforwardness of a photo.”
The idea sprung on him when the 50th anniversary of Chambers’ painting was coming up. He reached out to the Woodstock Art Gallery curator of art and he began his exhibition.
Museum London was very excited to buy his piece and put it into their collection. It will be displayed in a permanent art exhibition called “Taking the Long View” for anyone who would like to see it.
“It really pays a lot of attention to the different looks of our city,” says Cassandra Getty, curator of art at Museum London. “People generations from now will have access to it and see what it was like to live in this area.”
Comments