Andy Patton
Andy Patton at Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou, China, 2012.
Photo Credit: Jenny Tong
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Andy Patton is a painter who lives in Toronto with his partner and artist, Janice Gurney. He represented Canada in the Fifth Biennale of Sydney. In 2014, his text paintings were included in "The Transformation of Canadian Landscape Art" exhibition in Xi’an, which later travelled to Beijing, China. His recent book, "Little Testament," was published in 2017 by Blue Medium Press. With the poets, Roo Borson and Kim Maltman, Patton was part of the poetry collaboration, "Pain Not Bread'; together they wrote "Introduction to the Introduction to Wang Wei" which was published by Brick Books in 2000. Patton is represented by Birch Contemporary, Toronto. Andy was active in the Embassy Cultural House programs as his partner, Janice, was member of the board for several years. The ECH was awarded an artist in residence grant from the Ontario Arts Council for Andy Patton and Janice Gurney to spend a month in London in 1988 - meeting artists and curators in the London community and preparing for a solo exhibition at the ECH which took place in 1989. Andy Patton returned to London to Western University in 2009 to pursue a PhD in Art and Visual Culture. His research area was the calligraphy of China's Northern Song dynasty and the aesthetic practices that sustained it. He was awarded the 2013 Governor General's Gold Medal Award for his research and thesis.
Andy Patton with Janice Gurney and Jamelie Hassan at Gramsci ‘s grave in Rome, 2010. Photo Credit: Ron Benner
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Paintings from Andy Patton's solo show at the ECH
“There was a Father”—oil on etching ink on canvas, 1987. Collection of Museum London
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“White Threads of the Waterfall” —oil on canvas, 1987. Collection of Museum London
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Both paintings used exactly the same image, which was a Letraset image of canvas, greatly magnified, which Janice Gurney had used in her work, “Screen.” These were painted during the years of the AIDS epidemic at its height. Andy thought of these paintings, and then others which also used the same image, as nets to catch mourning in. He felt as though all he could do was to paint the same image again and again.
Recollections from Andy Patton's London residency
“After the Revolution”, Andy Patton's painting in the home of Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner, one of the artworks in their private collection
HAndy shared some recollections from his time as an artist in resident in London when he and Janice Gurney stayed in Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner's home while they were travelling in Cuba:
"Janice and I were invited to London to meet and connect with the artist community there. We stayed at 514 Pall Mall while Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner were in Cuba for the Havana exhibition of the Havana-London exchange. Jamelie's teenage son, Tariq Hassan Gordon, was there at Pall Mall as our chaperone. For some reason, I remember especially going for dinner with Tariq at Mykonos Restaurant, a Greek restaurant nearby on Adelaide St.
Artists could contact us there and invite us for a studio visit—or simply conversation about art, as they needed. During this period we got to know many of the active members of the Embassy Cultural House and other London artists including: Wyn Geleynse, Thelma Rosner, Fern Helfand, Gerard Pas, Jennie White and David Merritt—as well as curator, Judith Rodger.
When Greg Curnoe returned from Cuba, he came to Pall Mall for a visit and indicated that he was slightly miffed that we hadn’t asked him if we could visit him in his studio at 38 Weston Road. Because we admired Greg so much, we had been too shy to ask! So we made a visit to the studio where we were immediately struck by his new text works, which were made after his large rubber letters had been cleaned. Janice decided that Greg had to do a show entirely of text works, to which he replied that he never did this, that he always mixed text works and image works in an exhibition. Janice, in her stubborn way, ignored his protest and insisted that it was important for his work that these new text works be shown on their own, without reference to images. When Greg eventually agreed, we approached YYZ, which almost instantly agreed to host this show.
When Jamelie Hassan returned from Havana, I believe that was when we decided to trade works with each other. I received one of the tall beautiful watercolour paintings of water lilies from her series, “Water Margin.” Each one is labelled by a period of Chinese pre-history. She gave me the one labelled “Slave”, saying, “Because you know what it is to be slave to your work.” I still see it every day. From my work, she selected the painting, “After the Revolution” which quotes a still from Bernardo Bertolucci’s film."
-Andy Patton, August 23, 2020
"Janice and I were invited to London to meet and connect with the artist community there. We stayed at 514 Pall Mall while Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner were in Cuba for the Havana exhibition of the Havana-London exchange. Jamelie's teenage son, Tariq Hassan Gordon, was there at Pall Mall as our chaperone. For some reason, I remember especially going for dinner with Tariq at Mykonos Restaurant, a Greek restaurant nearby on Adelaide St.
Artists could contact us there and invite us for a studio visit—or simply conversation about art, as they needed. During this period we got to know many of the active members of the Embassy Cultural House and other London artists including: Wyn Geleynse, Thelma Rosner, Fern Helfand, Gerard Pas, Jennie White and David Merritt—as well as curator, Judith Rodger.
When Greg Curnoe returned from Cuba, he came to Pall Mall for a visit and indicated that he was slightly miffed that we hadn’t asked him if we could visit him in his studio at 38 Weston Road. Because we admired Greg so much, we had been too shy to ask! So we made a visit to the studio where we were immediately struck by his new text works, which were made after his large rubber letters had been cleaned. Janice decided that Greg had to do a show entirely of text works, to which he replied that he never did this, that he always mixed text works and image works in an exhibition. Janice, in her stubborn way, ignored his protest and insisted that it was important for his work that these new text works be shown on their own, without reference to images. When Greg eventually agreed, we approached YYZ, which almost instantly agreed to host this show.
When Jamelie Hassan returned from Havana, I believe that was when we decided to trade works with each other. I received one of the tall beautiful watercolour paintings of water lilies from her series, “Water Margin.” Each one is labelled by a period of Chinese pre-history. She gave me the one labelled “Slave”, saying, “Because you know what it is to be slave to your work.” I still see it every day. From my work, she selected the painting, “After the Revolution” which quotes a still from Bernardo Bertolucci’s film."
-Andy Patton, August 23, 2020
