A meditative reflection between figuration and abstraction, Geoff Farnsworth puts mundane life at the focal point of his exhibit Blurs and Vagueness.
Located at the Marilyn I. Walker campus in downtown St. Catharines, Blurs and Vagueness features over 20 pieces of work produced by local artist Farnsworth. Consisting mostly of small drawings, the Exhibit showcases art that is rarely shown to the public, even though these drawings make up a significant portion of his work.
Farnsworth has studied with the Federation of Canadian Artists, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Capilano University and the Art Students League of New York. After careers in both New York City and Toronto, Farnsworth now lives and works in downtown St. Catharines. His work has been showcased throughout many parts of urban North America, as well as in Norway, Sweden and Trinidad.
The main piece of the Exhibit, “Blurs and Vagueness,” is populated by bright colours and eye-catching brush strokes. While the painting appears to have very little rhyme or reason, a closer inspection reveals a man sitting in a living space.
The background of the piece features a variety of colours, the most prominent being a peach colour that contrasts the general mood of the exhibition. The entirety of the main piece feels separate from the rest of the work that is being shown, as it is a full-size piece rather than a small drawing.
Larger paintings closer to the size of “Blurs and Vagueness” can be found at the 13th Street Gallery. The work at the 13th Street Gallery further sets this main piece apart from its sister pieces as a lot of its display features blues, greens and purples as their main base colour. This is similar to the smaller works being showcased at Marilyn I. Walker.
The through-line of Farnsworth’s work appears to be mundane scenes surrounded by a chaotic mix of colours. In a quote given to the 13th Street Gallery, Farnsworth said that when painting “[his] attention moves between the intentional forming of images with abstraction and allowing cues outside my immediate awareness to become melded in the work.”
The work presents people existing in a world surrounded by chaos. This is very prominent in the piece “Figure with Red Hair in Misty Landscape.” The figure, who appears to be sitting on a bench, almost fades into her background. She appears to be see-through as if her circumstances rule her life more than she does. In his interview with the curators at the 13th Street Gallery, Farnsworth said that by working with certain objects or ideas, his process becomes “less tied to initial and habitual impulse, and more open to surprise and transformation. A running dog turns into a fox… an orange becomes the sun.”
This is very clearly seen in the “Figure with Red Hair in Misty Landscape.” Perhaps she was not the initial figure and was just an added feature that came with time, as she became a part of the landscape.
Farnsworth’s work bridges the gap between human beings and the constantly changing world of everyday realities and the dreamy fantasies of the imagination. It places with a plethora of mediums, brush strokes and colours and no one painting looks the same.
The Geoff Farnsworth exhibit can be seen until Oct. 22nd by the 2nd floor theatre entrance at the Marilyn I. Walker Schools of Fine and Performing Arts.