Lorimer-brian

Jeff Green | Jun 25, 2009

Autumn, by Brian Lorimer

Brian Lorimer has been working as an artist for 25 years, and before that he studied at the Ontario College of Art. Yet, after all that time he is having his first gallery show.

The reason for the delay is that he has worked in a more commercial vein in the past. From 1985 until 1989 he worked as a designer for corporate events, and in the '90s he established himself as a muralist, producing large-scale works for the Metro Toronto Zoo and the Peabody awards, and murals for the Hard Rock Café. The Iron Horse Saloon in Nashville and Labatt's Breweries were among his clients.

All told he painted over 200 murals under the company name Lorimer Studios Inc.

Then, in 2003 he sold his business and left Toronto to begin building a house on Mississigagon Lake in North Frontenac Township and to work on his solo career as an oil painter.

On June 12 his first solo show opened at the Gallery Artplus in Belleville.

Brian's solo work is varied. Among the pieces in his show, which is called “Landscapes of Solitude” and runs until July 19, is a large (5' by 5') canvas called “Autumn” that has echoes of Group of 7 painters and even Emily Carr, but with a use of colour and design that is more reminiscent of Gustav Klimt than other Canadian painters.

Among other pieces are “Wishing you were Here”, a deceptively simple winter scene with a man and a dog that packs some emotional wallop, and “Little One of the Orang Asili” which has a similar palette as “Landscapes of Solitude”, and portrays the expressive face of a child from the indigenous population of the Malay Peninsula in South Asia.

There are 15 pieces in the show, which, although varied, share a similarity of technique that makes them a coherent body of work.

For Brian Lorimer, who is the subject of one of the paintings in the show, “His Mother’s Son” the show is a return to home, because he was born in Belleville back in 1961, and is bringing his art there in 2009.

Gallery Artplus is located at 54 Front Street in Belleville, and is open from 10-5 Mon. to Fri. and 11-5 Saturdays. The phone number is (613) 961-1977 ext. 246.