Feature Project at Art Toronto
Greg Curnoe’s “Three Pieces” is a Featured Project at Art Toronto from October 24 – 27, 2014.
This will be the first time this monumental free-standing painting will be seen outside of Curnoe’s studio and our gallery.
Three Pieces was discovered by the Michael Gibson Gallery in October 2013 in storage during a studio visit. What was revealed when the three 4’ x 6’ intensely coloured paintings were re-assembled was a monumental billboard-sized triptych painted in 1965.
In researching this relatively unknown work, the gallery contacted many of Curnoe’s contemporaries, but very few knew of Three Pieces. Some remembered only seeing it in the studio storage, while others spoke of its fragility when it stood on its once rickety legs. Despite Curnoe’s impeccable list keeping, extensive papers, and inventory cards kept in the AGO’s archives, nothing was discovered on the work.
The only reference found for Three Pieces was a brief mention in a July 1966 Canadian Art Magazine article where the writer compared the painting to the contemporary billboard. As Canadian Art Magazine noted in their recent Summer 2014 Back- story review: “it was a work without a past”.
It is uncertain how Curnoe intended to support this major work on its original flimsy legs. It is known that the original legs were not strong enough to prevent it from swaying to and fro, and at some point Curnoe simply cut them off to alleviate storage issues. The gallery has built three new legs in the manner of Greg Curnoe, and with new supports properly executed Three Pieces has once again come to life.
Art Toronto is happy to present Three Pieces in collaboration with Michael Gibson Gallery (booth#602)