Table Of ContentWILF PERRE AULT
IN THE ALLEY / DANS L A RUELLE
© the contributors, Coteau Books and the MacKenzie Art Gallery, 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or
by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency
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Conception / Creative Direction by Timothy Long.
Edited by Dave Margoshes.
Designed by Rio Saxon Design.
French translation by Brigitte Haguès and Françoise Stoppa, courtesy of the Institut français at the University of Regina.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Wilf Perreault : in the alley = Wilf Perreault : dans la ruelle.
Publié en collaboration avec: MacKenzie Art Gallery.
Texte en anglais et en français.
ISBN 978-1-55050-595-5 (relié)
1. Perreault, Wilf, 1947- --Critique et interprétation. I. Currie,
Robert, 1937- . Back alley man. Français. II. Wilf Perreault.
Français. III. MacKenzie Art Gallery, organisme de publication
IV. Titre: In the alley. V. Titre: Dans la ruelle.
ND249.P44795W55 2014 759.11 C2014-903788-0F
Available in Canada from:
2517 Victoria Avenue 3475 Albert Street Publishers Group Canada
Regina, Saskatchewan Regina, Saskatchewan 2440 Viking Way
Canada S4P 0T2 Canada S4S 6X6 Richmond, British Columbia
www.coteaubooks.com www.mackenzieartgallery.ca Canada V6V 1N2
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Coteau Books gratefully acknowledges the financial support of its publishing program by: the Saskatchewan Arts Board,
The Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, the Government of
Saskatchewan through Creative Saskatchewan Inc., and the City of Regina. Directed funding for this book was provided by
the Museums Assistance Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage. This support is gratefully acknowledged.
PRINTED IN CANADA
WIL F PERRE AULT
IN THE ALLE Y / DANS L A RUELLE
Table of Contents / Table des matières
Director’s Foreword / Avant-propos du directeur
ANTHONY KIENDL vii
Sponsor’s Message / Message du commanditaire
DONALD W. BLACK xii
Back Alley Man for Wilf Perreault / L’homme des Ruelles pour Wilf Perreault
ROBERT CURRIE xiv
Wilf Perreault: Up My Alley / Wilf Perreault : Mon truc, c’est les ruelles!
TIMOTHY LONG 5
Wilf Perreault’s Reflective Day (1985) / Reflective Day (1985) de Wilf Perreault
BYRNA BARCLAY 96
Wilf Perreault’s Guiding Light (2002) as Sanctuary /
Guiding Light (2002) de Wilf Perreault comme sanctuaire
JUDITH KRAUSE 100
Wilf Perreault’s Night Light (1995) / Night Light (1995) de Wilf Perreault
KATHERINE LAWRENCE 104
Belief / Croyance
GERALD HILL 108
Alley (A Way to Go) / Ruelle (Il fallait y passer)
TRACY HAMON 112
iv
The last lit house, after Evening Silence by Wilf Perreault /
La dernière maison éclairée, selon Evening Silence de Wilf Perreault
DEE HOBSBAWN-SMITH 116
Black Windows / Fenêtres noires
CONNIE GAULT 120
Reggie (The Grasshopper) Takes a Hop / Reggie (la sauterelle) fait le grand saut
KEN MITCHELL 125
Returning Home / De retour à la maison
T.F. RIGELHOF 131
Wilf Perreault at Work / Wilf Perreault au travail
DON KERR 147
Chronology / Chronologie 188
Exhibitions & Collections 204
Bibliography 209
Plate List 211
Photo Credits 213
About the Contributors 214
Thank You / Remerciements
WILF PERREAULT 217
Blue Evening, Perreault Style / Soirée en bleu, façon Perreault
ROBERT CURRIE 222
v
Fresh Start, 1987
Director’s Foreword
ANTHONY KIENDL
W
ilf Perreault has created a body of work abstraction and the appropriative gaze of traditional
over four decades that wrestles with the landscape [painting] ” Similarly encompassing a wide
great artistic preoccupations of our time—those of field, Perreault’s tableaux bring together the pensive,
modernity and its complicated byways and intersections psychological and social weight of consciousness with a
Simultaneously Perreault addresses the specificities of matter-of-fact narrative of the traditionally unremarkable
his locale, the social dynamics and perspectives rooted alley ways and backyards of suburban life
in neighbourhoods and communities Interestingly,
It is timely that the MacKenzie Art Gallery collaborates
these scenes are generally devoid of people, and yet their
on this book with Coteau Books, investigating the
presence is emphatically communicated by delicate
impressive and varied career of one of Saskatchewan’s
implication—perhaps a light left on, or tracks in the snow
most important artists Within these pages, we may see
These cues speak volumes to the viewer of Perreault’s
the fascinating and unpredictable turns that he has taken
unique endeavour, which has knit together the abstract
in his work, as well as the dedication and skill that has
with documentary, and the ethereal with the concrete
made Perreault a beloved artist, teacher and mentor
A geographer of the overlooked, Perreault’s art makes
the familiar exceptional, and imbues the quotidian and I would like to thank Nik Burton, Managing Editor, and
practical with emotional and psychological substance Dave Margoshes, Editor at Coteau Books for all their work
There is a back-and-forth grounding and unleashing and support of this publication I wish to acknowledge
that is the action in his work In this book, curator the impressive contributions of the writers—Byrna
Timothy Long describes Perreault’s formal strategies Barclay, Robert Currie, Gerald Hill, Connie Gault, Tracy
as “encompassing the absorptive gaze of colour field Hamon, dee Hobsbawn-Smith, Don Kerr, Judith Krause,
vii
Katherine Lawrence, Ken Mitchell, and T F Rigelhof— Saskatchewan Arts Board; Jeanette Slupsky; University of
who provided their creative responses to Perreault’s Lethbridge; University of Saskatchewan; Susan Whitney;
work, beautifully translated by Françoise Stoppa and and those lenders who wish to remain anonymous
Brigitte Haguès In addition to his biographical essay, I
The exhibition was organized by the MacKenzie
would also like to thank the MacKenzie’s Head Curator,
Art Gallery and presented by Greystone Managed
Timothy Long, for initiating and steering this project for
Investments Inc and sponsored by The Hill Companies
the MacKenzie Art Gallery, along with the accompanying
This project was made possible through a contribution
exhibition Thanks are also due to numerous other staff
from the Museums Assistance Program, Department of
and supporters—too numerous to mention here but
Canadian Heritage and generously supported by Donald
nonetheless essential to the success of the project
and Claire Kramer Translation for the publication was
Many collectors have made this exhibition possible sponsored by the Institut français at the University of
through the loan of artworks We are extremely grateful to Regina In-kind promotional design was provided by
the following for their loans and assistance: Jim Arsenych Brown Communications Group
Family; Art Gallery of Alberta; Byrna and Ron Barclay;
MacKenzie Art Gallery core funding is provided by: the
Donald W Black, C M , S O M ; Bill Borbely; Keith and
Canada Council for the Arts, SaskCulture, Saskatchewan
Rosemarie Brown; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation;
Arts Board, City of Regina, University of Regina, Regina
City of Regina; Co-operators Life Insurance Company;
Catholic Schools and Regina Public Schools
Douglas Udell Gallery; Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina Public
Library; Craig Francis; Dr Gordon and Mrs Candace Finally, but not least, we would like to thank Wilf Perreault
Franke; Greystone Managed Investments Inc ; Kim Jones; for his kindness and generosity throughout this project
Robert and Darla Kerr; Donald and Claire Kramer; the
Anthony Kiendl
Estate of John Kutarna; Mayberry Fine Art; Robert and
Executive Director and CEO
Pat McEwen; Mary McNutt and John Brown; Mendel
MacKenzie Art Gallery
Art Gallery; Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery; Nouveau
Gallery; Donalda Parker and David Anderson; Dawn
Redmond-Bradley and Tom Bradley; Sask Sport Inc ;
viii
Avant-propos du directeur
ANTHONY KIENDL
W
ilf Perreault crée depuis plus de quarante ans stratégies formelles de Perreault « englobent à la fois
des œuvres qui traitent des préoccupations le regard d’absorption de l’abstrait des couleurs et le
artistiques majeures de notre époque — celles qui regard d’appropriation du paysagisme traditionnel »
concernent la modernité, ses embranchements et ses Les tableaux de l’artiste, englobant pareillement un
enchevêtrements complexes En même temps, Perreault vaste domaine, allient de profonds aperçus sociaux et
aborde les particularités de son milieu, la dynamique et psychologiques à une narration prosaïque des ruelles
les perspectives sociales ancrées dans les quartiers et les et des jardins de la vie urbaine, dans leur banalité
communautés Détail intéressant, on remarque dans ces traditionnelle
scènes l’absence d’êtres humains Pourtant leur présence
La collaboration entre la MacKenzie Art Gallery et Coteau
est manifeste, mais elle se traduit implicitement et
Books arrive à point nommé sous forme d’une recherche
délicatement — par une lumière restée allumée peut-être,
sur la carrière impressionnante et polymorphe d’un des
ou encore des ornières dans la neige Ces indices en disent
plus importants artistes de la Saskatchewan L’ouvrage
long sur l’effort unique de Perreault qui a uni l’abstrait et
nous permet de découvrir les tournants fascinants et
le documentaire, l’éphémère et le concret Géographe du
imprévisibles qu’il a pris dans son œuvre, ainsi que
laissé-pour-compte, par son art Perreault rend le familier
l’engagement et le talent qui ont fait de Perreault un artiste,
exceptionnel et imprègne le quotidien et le pratique d’une
un enseignant et un mentor très apprécié et très aimé
substance émotionnelle et psychologique C’est ce va-et-
vient entre immobilisme et déchaînement qui constitue J’aimerais remercier Nik Burton, rédacteur en chef, et
l’action dans son art Timothy Long, le commissaire Dave Margoshes, rédacteur à Coteau Books de leur travail
de l’exposition, déclare dans le présent ouvrage que les et leur soutien pour la réalisation de l’ouvrage Je tiens à
ix
