Jerry Grey on the Grid: 1968–1978

June 24 – September 25, 2016 

Jerry Grey, Bloor Street, 1973, gouache on paper, 44 x 33.3 cm. Courtesy of the artist. 

Opening Reception: June 23, 6 PM 

Download a copy of the Summer Exhibitions booklet.

Jerry Grey’s mindful practice of the 1970s traces back to a period a decade earlier, during the time she spent at Emma Lake, Saskatchewan. During those germinal years, modern painting in North America was evolving toward ever more austere, reduced realms of colour and form. Grey participated in the 1964 and 1965 Emma Lake Artist’s Workshops just as their scope was broadening to include composers and musicians as well as painters. The workshops she attended were led by Jules Olitsky and Stefan Wolpe (1964) and Lawrence Alloway and John Cage (1965). 

Since arriving in Ottawa in 1968, Grey has made her presence felt in the artistic community. This celebratory exhibition invites visitors to experience this lesser-known, albeit important, aspect of Grey’s career. Although none of the pieces included in this exhibition date from her time at Emma Lake, her art was clearly influenced by the ideas that were exchanged there. 

Trained in her native Vancouver, Grey arrived in Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1964. Grey believed in the transformative power of abstraction. Winter, Victoria Park, Regina (1972) stands as a meditative monument to Grey’s time at Emma Lake, in addition to the grid as a visual structure that continues to offer up transformative possibilities. 

The resulting work reveals a meticulous attention to detail. Every mark on the surface of each work represents a well-thought-out exploration of space. Each stroke of paint speaks to a practice of controlled study of the interplay between colours. Grey’s engagement with Josef Albers’ The Interaction of Colour (1963), which she came to know well as an educator working at the National Gallery of Canada, is evident. 

Jerry Grey’s period of post-painterly abstraction is distinguished by her willful refusal to separate her artwork from the world. While her grid paintings do demand a certain level of introspection, Grey’s work simultaneously implies both a mapping of the space of the canvas and an acknowledgement of the world beyond the frame. For example, the triptych Memento-Mori (1971–72) pays homage to Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (1918–1970), the second president of Egypt who overturned the monarchy in 1952 and introduced progressive land reforms. 

The Great Canadian Equalizer (1978), a mural commissioned by the Department of Public Works for the Jean Talon building that houses Statistics Canada, is the fullest elaboration of the grid structure. It is designed to provoke thought. In the wake of the rise of the sovereignty movement in Quebec, Grey felt compelled to “rearrange” Canada’s geographic regions so that the differences that make each territory of our country unique could be seen. As only Grey could explain, “I don’t know how I made the connection, but it occurred to me that my approach to painting and the art of governing Canada presented similar problems.” 

Michelle Gewurtz
Interim Senior Curator 

ACTIVITIES INSPIRED BY JERRY GREY ON THE GRID: 1968–1978

Tuesday, July 26, 12:30 PM 
TOUR: THE GREAT CANADIAN EQUALIZER

Wednesday, July 20, 7 PM 
IN CONVERSATION WITH JERRY GREY 

Wednesday, July 20, 8 PM 
OPEN MIC NIGHT AT CAFÉ LE HIBOU 

Tuesday, August 9, 6 PM to 10 PM
BEATS AND BOARDS: ON THE GRID

Wednesday, September 21, 7 PM
THE GRID, IN THEORY