Local artist Robert Lyon started noticing and admiring the work of Alex Colville as a kid leafing through art books. These days, he\u2019s paying very close attention to Colville\u2019s style and technique, but not so much when it comes to painting. Instead, Lyon has been interested in how Colville created the frames that surround his paintings. Lyon was commissioned by the Owens Art Gallery to re-create a frame for a Colville painting that has been missing its artist-created frame since sometime in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
Emily Falvey says the Owens originally borrowed Alex Colville\u2019s painting Nude and Dummy <\/em>from the New Brunswick Museum for an exhibition that opens Oct. 29 called Room for One<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it came from the museum, it was in a frame that was added later,\u201d says Falvey. \u201cPeople don\u2019t often think about preserving the frame on a work, but when it\u2019s made by the artist, it\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n When they saw the non-original frame, Falvey and Owens conservator Jane Tisdale wondered if they could replace it with a frame that replicated one Colville would have made himself. Tisdale thought of local artist Robert Lyon for the job.<\/p>\n \u201cShe knew he was an artist and that he made his own frames,\u201d says Falvey, \u201cand she thought that was a really nice parallel.\u201d<\/p>\n For Robert Lyon, the project is a challenge, and a bit of a thrill. Thinking back to his memories of discovering Colville\u2019s work as a child, Lyon says \"it\u2019s pretty cool to be the age I\u2019m at now, and here I am building a frame for an Alex Colville original.\u201d<\/p>\n Lyon worked in consultation with Tisdale to make sure the frame is as close as possible to those Colville made at the time he would have framed Nude and Dummy<\/em>. The process starts with a healthy respect for the importance of the frame, something which Lyon has after decades of framing his own work.<\/p>\n \u201cA frame really is an extension of the work,\u201d says Lyon. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to bring out the best in the work with the frame.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a very specific style that he was doing at that time,\u201d says Lyon.<\/p>\n Between pictures sent by the National Gallery and going into the Owens vault to view some framed Colvilles, Lyon established the desired look and design. \u201cHis work is very particular,\u201d says Lyon. \u201cVery clean, very precise. And from what I\u2019ve seen of his frames, he took that same approach, it\u2019s a very clean line. Very nice angles. Not ornate, not gaudy. Just really clean.\u201d<\/p>\n Physically constructing the Colville-style frame would also have it challenges. \u201cHow do I build this frame to match up to what he would have been doing in the 60s?\u201d Lyon asked himself. Shortages in materials, especially a lack of available pine, meant some workarounds were in order. And the oil paints that Colville would have used to finish his frames in the 60s had been replaced by water-based paints.<\/p>\n In the end, Lyon says he\u2019s happy with his end product, and felt like he had Colville\u2019s scrutinizing eye observing his work. \u201cI was kind of channeling Alex Colville,\u201d says Lyon. \u201cI felt like he was in the studio and looking over my shoulder and kind of [saying] \u2018No, no, no, no, that\u2019s not the way we do it. We do it this way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n If all goes as planned Lyons\u2019 frame will be on view along with Nude and Dummy<\/em> starting at the end of the month, and then will remain part of the work from then on. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of nice to know that, hopefully, for the next 30-40 years, my frame is going to be on an Alex Colville original and I will have played some small part in helping to exhibit his work,\u201d says Lyon.<\/p>\n Nude and Dummy<\/em> is part of an exhibition called Room for One<\/strong>, opening Oct. 29 at the Owens, and curated by Emily Falvey.<\/p>\n \u201cIt sort of comes out of how the enduring inequalities of invisible labor were brought to the fore during COVID-19,\u201d says Falvey. \u201cThe show explores that issue through these paintings that are in our collections. I\u2019m looking at the relationships between artists and their partners, their friends and families and just domestic life in general.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Colville\u2019s partner and wife Rhoda Colville modelled for Nude and Dummy<\/em>. \u201cPart of what I\u2019m trying to say is that her activity as a model is also a form of creativity and that there was a creative relationship there,\u201d says Falvey.<\/p>\n Other artists featured in the exhibition include Mary Pratt, Elizabeth Cann, and Andrea Mortson.<\/p>\n Alex Colville: Throwing Light<\/strong><\/em>Currently on at the Owens:<\/h2>\n
\n4 July \u2013 23 Oct.
\nLight Lounge (Special Project)<\/strong><\/em>
\n5\u2013 25 Oct.
\nUndone<\/strong><\/em>
\nWorks by Adriana Kuiper + Ryan Suter, Erika DeFreitas, Tara K. Wells, Andrea Mortson, Ursula Johnson, Roula Partheniou
\n8 Oct. \u2013 11 Dec.
\nShaheer Zazai: Are We Even<\/strong><\/em>
\n15 Oct. \u2013 11 Dec.<\/p>\n