Lot 17
Fair Market Value $15,000
oil on canvas
signed and titled on backing;
framed 36x32x1
Harry Kiyooka has been one of the major proponents of modernism in Western Canada and a key figure in the abstract art of this Province. Born in 1928 in Calgary, Kiyooka received an extensive education in visual arts: B.A in Education from the University of Alberta, B.A in Fine Arts in 1954 from the University of Manitoba, an M.A. in Fine Arts in 1956 from the Michigan State University, and an M.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Colorado (1957). From 1958 to 1961 Kiyooka studied in Italy on a Canada Council Scholarship. In 1961 he returned to Calgary where he taught at the Art Department of the University of Calgary for 27 years, retiring with the rank of Professor Emeritus of Art in 1988. For the past 35 years, Kiyooka has been active in the visual arts community and has served in local, provincial and national boards of several arts organizations. He was a founding member of the Calgary Contemporary Arts Society (1982), the Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts in 1988 (currently Contemporary Calgary) and , most recently, co-founded Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre (KOAC) with Katie Ohe. Kiyooka’s art has undergone a series of transformations. He began experimenting with stylized, and later with geometric abstraction (late 1950s), then turned to abstract compositions executed in a colour hard-edge. A decade later he explored Op art idiom (1960s/1970s), followed by a gradual return to representational and metaphoric/symbolic compositions. Kiyooka has also been recognized as an accomplished print artist. In the mid-1960s, Kiyooka was among the first Canadian artists to use serigraphy in a contemporary manner in his large vividly coloured prints falling into the hard-edge category, but gradually leaning toward an Op art idiom. His serigraphs, which were showcased nationally and internationally, have won him numerous prizes, awards and honorable mentions. Kiyooka’s recent, more representational works are metaphoric in their context with a rich symbolic vocabulary. His works were included in several group exhibitions and showcased in Canada and Europe, and are held in numerous museums, corporate and private art collections.Harry Kiyooka has exhibited extensively, nationally and internationally over the years and is a Professor Emeritus, University of Calgary, having taught 27 years. He is a founder of the Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts and most recently the KO AC With Katie Ohe.
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